Discoderus thoracicus (Putzeys)

Shpeley, Danny, Hunting, Wesley & Ball, George E., 2017, A taxonomic review of the Selenophori group (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Harpalini) in the West Indies, with descriptions of new species and notes about classification and biogeography, ZooKeys 690, pp. 1-195 : 93-95

Discoderus thoracicus (Putzeys) Figs 66D, 68 D–F, 69D, 71

Selenophorus thoracicus Putzeys, 1878a: 59. TYPE MATERIAL: two specimens in Chaudoir-Oberthür Collection (MNHP), in front of following box label: "Haiti/ Mannerh", LECTOTYPE, first specimen, labelled: [female]; thoracicus Mann S. Dominique D [both labels on green paper, handwritten].- Csiki 1932: 1202.- Darlington 1934: 104, 105.- Blackwelder 1944: 50.- Erwin and Sims 1984: 441.- Lorenz 1998: 356.- Lorenz 2005: 377.- Perez-Gelabert 2008: 80.

Selenophorus excisus Putzeys, 1878a: 59. TYPE MATERIAL: in Chaudoir-Oberthür Collection (MNHP), in front of following box label, 3 specimens (and one empty pin hole) //nigriventris/ Chaud/ Rep. Dominicaine/ Sallé //. To right of series, hand-printed on yellow paper, // excisus //. LECTOTYPE male (first of three specimens, noted above).- Csiki 1932: 1198.- Darlington 1934: 104.- Blackwelder 1944: 50.- Erwin and Sims 1984: 441.- Lorenz 1998: 356.- Lorenz 2005: 377.

Discoderus thoracicus ; Ball 1992: 84, 85.

Note about synonymy.

Darlington (1934: 105) established the name S. excisus Putzeys, 1878a, as a junior synonym of S. thoracicus Putzeys, 1878a.

Type area.

Hispaniola, Dominican Republic, as recorded by Putzeys in the original description.

Diagnosis.

More slender habitus and shiny head and pronotum with few microlines visible readily separates this species from the similarly colored, but darker, D. cinctus . Males have the posteriolateral angles of the pronotum emarginate basally, such that the posteriolateral angle appears obtuse, whereas the females lack the basal emargination and the posteriolateral angles are rounded.

Descriptive notes.

Data for SBL in Table 1. Habitus as in Fig. 66D. Clypeus and labrum each with anterior margin moderately concave. Antennae, mouthparts and legs testaceous to slightly darker. Head, pronotum and ventral surface testaceous to rufo-testaceus. Elytra testaceous to rufo-testaceus, with darker median cloud in intervals 2-6. Head and disc of pronotum shiny, at 100 × no visible microlines in males, only few microlines visible in females; posteriolateral surface of pronotum with mesh pattern isodiametric; elytral surface with mesh pattern slightly transverse, sculpticells about 1.5 × wide as long. Elytral striae impunctate, except the standard setigerous punctures in striae 2, 5 and 7. Males with two terminal setae and females with four terminal setae near the posterior margin on sternum VII.

Male genitalia. Fig. 68 D–F. Apical portion of phallic median lobe moderately long, narrowly triangular, symmetrically rounded in ventral/dorsal aspects; endophallus without spines or darkened microtrichial fields; without lamina.

Ovipositor and female reproductive tract. Fig. 69D. Very similar to that of D. beauvoisii . For details, see this topic for D. beauvoisii , above.

Geographical distribution.

Fig. 71. This species appears to be confined to the Gearter Antillean island of Hispaniola, other than the single specimen labelled simply “Cuba”, to which Philip Darlington attached a label that reads "loc. doubtful". We believe that this species does not occur on Cuba.

Chorological affinities and relationships.

The range of this species is overlapped by the ranges of D. beauvoisii and D. cyaneopacus . It is geographically isolated from what would seem to be its closest relative, the Cuban D. cinctus .

Material examined.

In addition to type material, we have seen a total of 222 specimens (113 males, 109 females). See Appendix for details.