Tefflus meyerlei delagorguei Guérin-Méneville (1845: 285)

Mawdsley, Jonathan R., Sithole, Hendrik & Mawdsley, Alice S., 2011, Peaceful giant ground beetles: The genus Tefflus Latreille (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in the Republic of South Africa, Insecta Mundi 2011 (181), pp. 1-7 : 4

Tefflus meyerlei delagorguei Guérin-Méneville (1845: 285)

Figures 1, 5, 6.

Diagnosis. The larger of the two species of Tefflus in the Republic of South Africa (length 39-54 mm); vertex of head smooth with transverse rugae adjacent to eyes; pronotal punctures less distinct and often confluent; femora and tibiae with few if any stout suberect setae; elytral disc convex; elytral carinae as broad or broader than adjacent rows of punctures, top of each carina smooth and shining; integument black and shining. This is the species whose adult and larval forms were illustrated by Picker et al. (2004).

Historical records from South Africa. Free State Province, Vrede. Gauteng Province, Monts Zoutpans, Pretoria. KwaZulu-Natal Province, Durban, Nagana, “Tongaland,” “Zululand.” Limpopo Province: Nylstroom ( Basilewsky 1946). Tefflus meyerlei is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa ( Basilewsky 1946) and the subspecies T. m. delagorguei has also been recorded from present-day Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe ( Basilewsky 1946; Magagula 2003, 2006).

Specimens examined. REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA: KwaZulu-Natal Province, Dukuduku, 10.I.1903 (1 male, TMSA), Empangeni, XII.1976 (1 female, TMSA), Eshowe, 16.XI.1967 (1 male, NMNH), “E. Zululand” (1 male, TMSA), Frieschgewaag, II.1903 (1 female, TMSA), Mkuzi, IV.1950 (1 male, TMSA), Umfolozi, X.1924 (1 female, TMSA), Umfolozi River, 1.XI.1922 (1 male, TMSA). Limpopo Province, Koedoes River, XII.1902 (1 female, TMSA), Marieps Mountain, IX.1925 (1 male, TMSA), 25 miles N of Punda Milia, Kruger National Park, II.1960 (1 male, TMSA), Tzaneen, X-XI.1974 (1 male, NMNH), Tzaneen, Glen Allen, IV.1974 (2 males, NMNH), 12 miles N Tzaneen, 15.XII.1964 (3 males, 2 females, NMNH). Mpumalanga Province, Barberton, 8.I.1911 (1 male, TMSA), 7.II.1957 (1 male, TMSA), Loskop, XII.1959 (1 male, TMSA), Nelspruit, XII.1967 (1 female, TMSA), N’waswitshaka Research Camp, 19.XII.2009 (1 female, NMNH), Pretoriuskop, 19.XI.2010 (1 female, TMSA), Skukuza, Kruger National Park (1 male, 1 female, KNPC).