Drypta Latreille, 1796

Sciaky, Riccardo & Anichtchenko, Alexander, 2020, Taxonomic notes on the tribe Dryptini Bonelli, 1810 with description of a new genus and species from China (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Dryptini), Zootaxa 4731 (4), pp. 522-530 : 523

Drypta Latreille, 1796   Edit

Type species: Carabus emarginatus Gmelin, 1790   Edit (= Carabus dentatus P. Rossi, 1790   Edit )

= Desera Dejean, 1825   Edit (nec Hope, 1831) Type species: Drypta longicollis MacLeay, 1835   Edit

= Deserida Basilewsky, 1960   Edit Type species: Carabus distinctus P. Rossi, 1792   Edit

= Dryptella Jeannel, 1949   Edit Type species: Drypta cyanella Chaudoir, 1843   Edit

This is the nominotypical genus of the tribe; it contains around 47 species diffused in Africa, Asia, Australia and, very marginally, in Europe.

Liang et al. (2004) have correctly pointed out the reasons for which Desera   Edit must be regarded as a synonym of Drypta   Edit and its long-lasting confusion with Dendrocellus   Edit , due to the misinterpretation of Drypta longicollis MacLeay.   Edit

Deserida   Edit was erected by Basilewsky (1960) as a substitution name for the species near D. distincta   Edit , since this author regarded Desera   Edit as the valid name for the genus presently called Dendrocellus   Edit . This generic (or subgeneric) epithet has been frequently used for the pale species of Drypta   Edit , in which the elytra instead of being metallic are yellowish with darker margins or completely brown. This taxon has already been considered as a synonym of Drypta   Edit by Habu (1967) and we completely agree with this point of view. In our opinion the characters that should allow separation of this taxon from Drypta   Edit are inconsistent: the apical margin of elytra obliquely truncate instead of perpendicular to the suture is a character at the same time very variable and difficult to appreciate. Beyond that, we could not find any other reliable differentiating character. Even the shape of the body, shorter and stouter according to Jeannel (1949), is almost identical for example in the type species of Drypta   Edit ( D. dentata   Edit ) and of Deserida   Edit ( D. distincta   Edit ), while other species belonging to both groups are much more slender and elongate.

Dryptella   Edit is a subgenus described by Jeannel (1949) for the majority of the African species of Drypta   Edit , but also in this case the characters pointed out (shape more slender and elongate, occurrence of a carina on interval 9) are very doubtful and difficult to observe, sometimes almost illusionary, at least in our opinion widely insufficient for a subgeneric distinction. Dryptella   Edit has already been regarded as synonym of Drypta   Edit by Habu (1967) and we agree with this position.

The unique combination of characters distinguishing Drypta   Edit from the other genera of the tribe is: pronotal bead absent or rudimental (fig. 9); punctuation on head and pronotum dense, more or less regular, the punctures usually distinct from each other, not confluent; pronotum very feebly constricted towards base; elytral microsculpture well developed; elytral pubescence dense, usually arranged in two-three more or less regular rows; number of scutellar pores varied from 1 to 4, but most frequently 1; intervals flat or slightly convex; tarsal claws thick, strongly curved, and smooth on inner side; two or three evident setae on outer side of stylomere ( fig. 7 ).

Figures

FIGS. 4–8. Stylomere structure of: 4—Megadrypta mirabilis gen. n. sp. n.; 5—Nesiodrypta waterhousei (Oberthür, 1881); 6—Prionodrypta lugens (Schmidt-Goebel, 1846); 7—Drypta lineola W. S. MacLeay, 1825; 8—Dendrocellus australis (Peringuey, 1896).