Ardistomis

Bousquet, Yves, 2006, Review of the species of Ardistomina (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Clivinini) in America north of Mexico, Zootaxa 1308, pp. 1-29 : 23-25

" Ardistomis " morio ( Dejean, 1831)

( Fig. 1 )

Clivina morio Dejean 1831: 506 . Type locality: "Amérique septentrionale". ­ Putzeys (1846: 622); LeConte (1857: 81).

Ardistomis morio: Putzeys (1866: 205) ; LeConte (1879: 32).

Type Material. Dejean originally described this species from one specimen sent to him by John E. LeConte. The holotype is located in MHNP and is labelled: "Ex Museo Chaudoir / HOLO / TYPE / Holotype Ardistomis morio Dejean det. George E. Ball 72 [partly handwritten] / Holotype Clivina morio Dej. des. S.W. Nichols 1984 [partly handwritten] / Muséum Paris". The bottom box label reads " morio Dejean, Etats­Unis ?, C[ollection]. Dejean" (Thierry Deuve, personal communication). The specimen is in good condition but is missing the claw on the left protarsus, the last three tarsomeres of the right middle leg, the last three tarsomeres of the left posterior leg and all the tarsomeres of the right posterior leg as well as part of the metasternum. The specimen was not dissected and so cannot be sexed. The protarsomeres do not bear any of the special setae that are characteristic of males of some species of ardistomines. Putzeys (1866: 205) assumed it was a female.

Diagnosis. This species is distinguished from the other ardistomine treated by its large size (8.5 mm) and uniform coloration of the elytra. The other North American ardistomines are usually less than 7.5 mm; some specimens of Aspidoglossa subangulata and Ardistomis obliquatus may reach 8 mm but in those two species the elytra have reddish spots.

In addition, this species differs from all ardistomine species seen by having the proepipleura not visible from above, by the absence of small projection on the pleurite VII, and by having contiguous metacoxae medially.

Description [based on the holotype]. Habitus: Figure 1 . Color: Upper surface mostly dark brownish­black; antennomeres and palpomeres paler, reddish; profemora dark reddish, protibiae darker, somewhat brownish­black; meso­ and metafemora and tibiae reddish but darker than antennomeres; tarsomeres reddish. Microsculpture: Clypeus and frons without microsculpture. Pronotal disc without microsculpture, extreme lateral sides with isodiametric meshes. Proepisternum with isodiametric meshes. Elytra without microsculpture. Head: Mandible short, rather wide, regularly curved. Labrum with anterior edge regularly curved; dorsal surface with series of shallow, parallel grooves. Clypeus with anterior edge of median section more or less truncate, with distinct bead; lateral lobes distinct, shorter than median section. Eyes convex, rather protruding. Frontoclypeal suture distinct. Frontal sulci widened at level of frontoclypeal suture, ending at level of posterior supraorbital setae; posterior section of each frontal sulcus medially flanked by plica. Vertex with small, shallow foveole near middle, with shallow, punctate transverse groove between posterior supraorbital setae. Antennomeres elongate, less so for antennomeres 8–10; antennomere 2 subequal to antennomere 3. Last labial palpomere slightly longer than penultimate palpomere; penultimate labial palpomere with one median seta. Mentum tooth protruded but shorter than lateral lobes, markedly wide, with anterior edge somewhat acuminate medially and base with pair of long setae; lateral lobes oblique, with pair of long setigerous foveolate punctures at base. Submentum with four long setae distant from suture mentum­submentum. Prothorax: Pronotum elongate, globulose toward base, with two lateral setae; disc with shallowly impressed, wavy, transverse wrinkles; anterior transverse impression deep, extended to anterior edge of pronotum; median sulcus deep, reaching basal edge of pronotum; lateral edge with small, more or less distinct jag near posterior seta. Proepisterna not visible from above, and without punctuation and diagonal band of sculpture. Elytra: Striae impressed except toward apex, with rather coarse punctures on anterior half; scutellar stria distinct, punctate; intervals convex; interval 3 with four setae (the two anterior ones closer to stria 2, the last two closer to stria 3), intervals 5 and 7 without setae; base with callosity bearing seta at extremity of stria 1; humerus with deep, wide, gutter­like depression reaching level of stria 4; apical fourth with deep, lateral, gutter­like depression; stria 7 cariniform on apical fourth delimiting a second, narrower, gutter­like depression. Metathorax (underside): Metepisternum elongate. Metasternum without setae, with deep, smooth lateral sulcus. Abdomen: Visible sterna without accessory setae (only ambulatory setae present); last visible sternum somewhat acuminate medially, with four setae, distance between medial setae longer than between medial and lateral setae. Suture between visible abdominal sterna 2 and 3 more or less erased at middle. Visible abdominal sternum 2 with median coxal lines. Pleurite VII without distinct projection fitted into preapical elytral plica. Legs: Ventral surface of protibia with one denticule at middle bearing seta. Metacoxae contiguous medially, each with two setae; metatrochanter with one seta.

Body length: about 8.5 mm.

Geographical Distribution. I have seen only the holotype of this species. I have not been successful in locating any of the specimens identified as A. morio and reported from New York City by Leng and Beutenmuller (1893), Thomasville, Georgia by Fattig (1949), and Fort Myers, Florida by Leng (1915). The Fattig collection, now housed in the University of Georgia, does not contain any specimens identified under that name (Cecil Smith, personal communication). I have seen one specimen in CAS labelled "N.Y. City & vcty. / Collection Wm. Julich / From Leng Collection / Semiardistomis viridis (Say) det. S.W. Nichols 1982". It may be the specimen referred to as Ardistomis morio by Leng and Beutenmuller (1893: 135), but the specimen is a member of Semiardistomis viridis .

The provenance of the holotype cited by Dejean is suspect for two reasons. First, no other specimen of that species was found in North American collections surveyed here. Second, the bottom box label, written by Chaudoir (Deuve, personal communication), has a question mark (?) after " Etats­Unis " which indicates that Chaudoir had doubts about the provenance of Dejean's specimen. I would not be surprised if the species turned out to be from the Neotropical Region. It is worth noting that John E. LeConte provided Dejean with carabids from South America as noted by Chaudoir (1878: 356) under Colpodes politus "Dejean, dans la collection duquel cet insecte se trouvait, l'avait reçu de M. Leconte père, comme venant de la Colombie ".

Note. The generic placement of this species is not settled. Because the species lacks the small projection on the pleurite VII, has the proepipleura not visible from above, and the metacoxae contiguous medially, I believe it is not a member of Ardistomina as restricted here. It also differs from the species of Aspidoglossa by having the lateral lobes of the clypeus not prominent; from those of Semiardistomis by the absence of numerous setae on basal half of the protibia, of setae on the metasternum, and of accessory setae on the visible abdominal sterna 3–6; and from those of Ardistomis by the absence of a diagonal band of sculpture on the proepisternum and absence of setae on the metasternum. The species is very likely a member of the subtribe Clivina as understood today. Considering that Putzeys, who had a very good knowledge of the clivinine fauna at the time, was not able to place the species in any described genus but Ardistomis , there is a good possibility that a new genus has to be erected for this species. Until more specimens of this species are discovered, and the geographic distribution established, I am not prepared to propose a genus­group name to accommodate " Ardistomis " morio . However, I believe the species is better placed for the time being in the large and complex genus Clivina , under the combination Clivina morio Dejean , as it was originally described.

Figures

FIGURE 1. " Ardistomis " morio [holotype], habitus (dorsal view). Scale bar = 1 mm.