Brachinus piceus Chaudoir

Tian, Mingyi & Deuve, Thierry, 2007, Review of four species of the genus Brachinus Weber (Coleoptera: Caraboidea: Brachinidae) from the Philippines, Zootaxa 1546, pp. 15-22 : 19-20

Brachinus piceus Chaudoir

( Figs. 3 , 7 , 11–12)

Brachinus piceus Chaudoir, 1876: 53 ; Andrewes, 1930: 51; Csiki, 1933: 1625.

Diagnosis: Medium sized, dark brown, legs yellow, mouthparts with palpi slender, mentum without pit or furrow, labial palpiger unisetose; head as wide as pronotum, lateral margins of pronotum deeply sinuate before hind angles, proepisternum invisible from above; elytra distinctly carinate, costae much narrower than depressions.

Length: 10.0 mm; width: 4.0 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 3 .

Whole body black, except yellowish on antennae, legs and palpi.

Head longer than wide (HL/HW=1.18); labrum straight, sexsetose, clypeus quadrisetose, the additional two setae on inner portion; mandibular scrobe plurisetose, frons and vertex convex, frontal impressions punctured and setose, compound eyes rather small; palpi subcylindrical, pubescent; ligula dilated, plurisetose, adnated to paraglossae, labial palpomere 2 plurisetose, mentum without tooth and pit, with four setae, submentum with three pairs of setae; labial palpiger with one seta.

Antennae extending to middle of elytra, antennomere 1 with several long setae, pubescent from antennomere 2; antennomere 3 much longer than the 1 and 2 combined.

Pronotum quadrate ( Fig. 7 ), as long as wide, disc moderately convex, lateral margin long and gently sinuate before hind angle, hind angle nearly rectangular, not sharp. Disc wrinkled, sparsely punctured and pubescent.

Elytra without shoulders, elongate-ovate (EL/EW=1.63), sides not paralleled, widest at about apical onethird; depressions much wider than costae, punctures well marked, pubescent; pubescent distinct on base, edge and apex, but indistinct on median portion; costae distinctly carinate, very narrow and glabrous; apex of elytra truncated, with narrow membrane, fringe distinct, without long setae.

Fore tibia with subapical spur located externally; fore tarsomeres 1–3 of male slightly dilated, sponge setae diagnosed symmetric. Abdominal ventrites densely pubescent except proepisternum sparsely punctured and shortly setose.

Male genitalia: Median lobe of aedeagus bent ventrally, apical lamella long, slightly constricted at subapex, apex broad; virga absent (Figs. 11–12).

Female: Unknown.

Material studied: Known only from the unique male holotype, labeled “ piceus Chaudoir, I. Philippines ”, in MNHN.

Distribution: The Philippines.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 4. Habiti of Brachinus ssp. from the Philippines. 1. B. solidipalpis n. sp., paratype, male, 2. B. philippinensis n. sp., holotype, female, 3. B. piceus Chaudior, holotype, male, 4. B. luzonicus Chaudoir, female. Scale bar: 5.0 mm.

FIGURES 5 – 8. Pronota and aedeagi of Brachinus ssp. from the Philippines. 5, 9 – 10. B. solidipalpis n. sp., holotype, 6. B. philippinensis n. sp., holotype, 7, 11 – 12. B. piceus Chaudior, holotype, 8, 13 – 14. B. luzonicus Chaudoir. Scale bar: 5.0 mm for 8, 10.0 mm for others.