Baconia micans (Schmidt, 1889)

Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2013, A systematic revision of Baconia Lewis (Coleoptera, Histeridae, Exosternini), ZooKeys 343, pp. 1-297 : 237-239

Baconia micans (Schmidt, 1889) Figs 71 A–B72A–FMap 21

Phelister micans Schmidt, 1889a: 336; Baconia micans : Mazur 1984: 281.

Type locality.

BRAZIL: Santa Catarina: Blumenau [26.9°S, 49.0°W].

Type material.

Lectotype male, here designated (ZMHB): "Blumenau, Bras." / "micans Schmidt." / "coll. J.Schmidt" / "Phelister micans Schmidt, 1889 ex. Coll. Schmidt-Bickhardt" / "Caterino/Tishechkin Exosternini Voucher EXO-00419" / "LECTOTYPE Phelister micans Schmidt, 1889, M.S.Caterino & A.K.Tishechkin des. 2010". This species was described from an unspecified number of specimens, and the lectotype designation fixes primary type status on the only known original specimen.

Other material.

BRAZIL: 1: Santa Catarina: Nova Teutonia, x.1965 F. Plaumann (FMNH); 1: Rio de Janeiro:Rio de Janeiro, x.[year?] (MHNG).

Diagnostic description.

Length: 2.8-2.9mm, width: 2.5-2.6mm; body elongate oval, convex, glabrous; entire body metallic blue to greenish-blue, venter more faintly so; frons weakly, obliquely elevated anterolaterally, depressed at middle, epistoma convex anteriorly, frontal disk with ground punctation rather conspicuous, with few coarser secondary punctures within frontal depression and at dorsal margin, frontal stria present along inner margin of eye, curving mediad but otherwise absent across front, supraorbital stria absent; labrum about 3 ×wider than long, weakly emarginate apically; both mandibles with blunt basal tooth; antennal scape short, club oblong, weakly widened to apex; pronotal sides increasingly arcuate to apex, marginal stria complete along lateral margin, anterior portion transverse, detached behind eyes; lateral submarginal pronotal stria complete, pronotal disk narrowly depressed along its inner edge, more deeply so anteriorly, ground punctation of pronotal disk rather conspicuous, sparsely interspersed with small secondary punctures almost throughout, more densely to sides; elytra with two complete epipleural striae, outer subhumeral stria absent, inner subhumeral stria present in basal two-thirds, may be weakened at middle, dorsal striae 1-3 more or less complete, 4th stria variably abbreviated from apex, may be largely absent, 5th stria mostly present as short basal arch, sutural stria nearly complete, but weak to obsolete basally, elytral disk with coarse punctures in apical third; prosternum narrow, convex, keel emarginate at base, carinal striae convergent, abbreviated anteriorly; prosternal lobe short, about one-half keel length, apical margin broadly rounded, marginal stria obsolete at sides; mesoventrite produced at middle, marginal stria complete, mesometaventral stria arched forward, crenulate, interrupted at middle; lateral metaventral stria extending posterolaterad toward inner third of metacoxa, outer lateral metaventral stria short, present anteriorly, metaventral disk impunctate at middle; abdominal ventrite 1 with single lateral stria abbreviated apically, middle portion of disk with small punctures along basal and apical margins; protibia very weakly 3-4 dentate, marginal spines very small, outer margin finely serrulate; mesotibia with few weak submarginal spines; outer metatibial margin smooth; propygidium without basal stria, discal punctures generally rather small, separated by about their diameters basally, sparser apically; propygidial gland openings generally evident close to basal margin; pygidium with ground punctation very fine, interspersed with small secondary punctures mainly in basal third. Male genitalia (Figs 72 A–F): T8 broad, basal emargination shallow, sides weakly rounded, subparallel, apical emargination shallow, ventrolateral apodemes well sclerotized, reaching longitudinal midpoint beneath; S8 halves rather narrow, approximate near bases, inner margins diverging apically, sides subparallel, apical guides well developed toward apex, apices broadly rounded, setigerous; T9 with proximal apodemes about one-third entire length, apices narrowly rounded, convergent, ventrolateral apodemes short, barely recurved proximad; S9 stem desclerotized along midline, narrow, sides convergent to base, apical arms divergent, obliquely subquadrate, apical emargination broad, shallow; tegmen rather short, sides weakly narrowed at middle, weakly curved ventrad in apical fourth; median lobe about one-third tegmen length; basal piece about one-fourth tegmen length.

Remarks. Species in the Baconia micans group are among the few Baconia that are distinctly metallic-colored ventrally (Fig. 71B) as well as dorsally. In addition, the complete lateral submarginal pronotal stria, the basally arched 5th dorsal stria, and generally round and convex body form (Fig. 71A) will distinguish Baconia micans from its close relatives. The specimen from Nova Teutonia has much sparser propygidial punctation than the lectotype or the Rio de Janeiro specimen, but is otherwise consistent in all characters.