Laccophilus demoflysi Normand, 1938

Bistroem, Olof, Nilsson, Anders N. & Bergsten, Johannes, 2015, Taxonomic revision of Afrotropical Laccophilus Leach, 1815 (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae), ZooKeys 542, pp. 1-379 : 25

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Dytiscidae

Laccophilus demoflysi Normand, 1938 Figs 26, 387, 529

Laccophilus demoflysi Normand 1938: 343 (original description, faunistics); Nilsson 2001: 242 (catalogue, faunistics); Nilsson 2003 a: 76 (faunistics, list); Nilsson 2015: 211 (catalogue, faunistics).

Type locality.

Tunisia: El Hamma de Tozeur.

Type material

(not studied): Holotype: female: "El Hamma de Tozeur, 4. 1937 Demoflys" (Coll. Normand, kept in Tunisia, Institut National Agronomique de Tunisie, Tunis, specimen not located).

Material studied.

(1 ex.): Tunisia: "Tunisia, centralis oasis Douz env. 31.5.-1.6. 1994 lgt.S. Becvar / Laccophilus demoflysi Norm.det. Rocchi 1998" (1 ex. female CSR; habitus in Fig. 387).

Diagnosis.

External characters agree in large with Laccophilus hyalinus . Only difference observed was the shape of the body, in Laccophilus demoflysi being stouter than in Laccophilus hyalinus . Both involved species have a stridulatory apparatus on metacoxal plates, which separates them from Laccophilus minutus , Laccophilus mateui and Laccophilus sordidus . Taxonomic status of Laccophilus demoflysi remains open. More specimens (male in particular) are needed to settle this question.

Description

(only differences from description of Laccophilus hyalinus are recognized). Body length 4.7 mm, width 2.8 mm. Dorsal colour pattern vague, almost absent (Fig. 387).

Ventral aspect: Apical ventrite (Fig. 26).

Male: Unknown.

Distribution.

Tunisia (Fig. 529).

Collecting circumstances.

Unknown.