Ophionea bhamoensis bhamoensis ( Bates, 1892 )

Sudhakar Anagha, V. S. & Sabu, Thomas K., 2024, Additions to the taxonomy of the genus Ophionea Klug, 1821 (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Lebiinae) and a new species from India, Zootaxa 5437 (4), pp. 523-536 : 532

Ophionea bhamoensis bhamoensis ( Bates, 1892)

( Figure 3F )

Ophionea bhamoensis (Bates) : Liebke, 1938: 80; Lorenz, 2005: 441; Terada & Wu, 2014: 23, 24; Löbl & Löbl, 2017: 634; Raj & Thomas, 2019: 5.

= Casnoidea bhamoensis Bates, 1892: 380 ; Jedlička, 1963: 500

Revised description. Length: 8 mm

Color: Head dark blue. Labrum blackish-brown. Mandibles reddish-brown. Palpi, antennomeres 1–3 and basal half of 4 th antennomeres yellowish-brown, rest of antennomeres reddish-brown. Prothorax and elytra reddish-brown. A broad transverse fascia behind the middle of elytra is black with bluish reflection. Elytral spots yellowish-white. Femora yellowish-brown basally and dark reddish-brown apically. Tibiae light reddish-brown. Tarsi yellowish-brown.

Head elongated, rhomboidal, convex, narrowed posteriorly forming a short neck. Dorsal surface smooth and shiny. Frons with a ‘V-shape’ impression in the middle. Frontal furrow shallow. Fronto-clypeal suture fine. Eyes prominent. Orbit faintly swollen laterally. A carinae along the inner margin of eye. Anterior and posterior supra orbital setae present, posterior one slightly away from the posterior margin of the eye. Antennae elongate, filiform, pilose from 4 th antennomere onwards.

Prothorax moderately elongate, convex, bottle shaped, widened slightly behind middle, more constricted towards the front than towards the back. Dorsal surface smooth, slightly wrinkled across the surface. One pair of setae present laterally. Anterior and posterior angles almost rectangular. Median line fine but distinct, obliterated at base and apex.

Elytra long, reaching maximum width slightly behind the middle; apex obliquely truncated; apical truncation moderately sinuate; lateral apical angle obtuse; surface convex with a shallow depression in basal fourth. Striae represented by rows of coarse punctures which are almost complete; interval 3 with 5–6 setiferous punctures; median transverse fascia much broader with 2 pairs of spots; interval 5 broadened at anterior spot. Anterior spot is tangent to anterior margin of transverse fascia. Posterior spot is larger than anterior spot and it is located on intervals 4 and 5, halfway embedded in the fascia. Hind wings fully developed.

Legs elongate and slender. Tarsomeres and apical half of tibiae with many setae.

Distribution. India: West Bengal (Gopaldhara); Myanmar.

Remarks. Ophionea bhamoensis bhamoensis resembles O. nigrofasciata in form and coloration. But it is easily distinguishable from O. nigrofasciata by the presence of lateral setae on prothorax and bluish reflection on dark transverse fascia on elytra.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Dorsal habitus of Ophionea. (A) O. nigrofasciata Schmidt-Göbel, 1846, holotype; (B) O. interstitialis Schmidt- Göbel, 1846, holotype; (C) Ophionea ceylonica (Baehr,1996), first report from India; (D) O. ceylonica (Baehr,1996), holotype; (E) Lectotype of Ophionea indica [Odacantha cyanocephala (Thunberg, 1784)]; (F) O. bhamoensis bhamoensis (Bates, 1892), cotype.