Hydraena favulosa, Perkins, 2014

PERKINS, PHILIP D., 2014, A revision of the water beetle genus Hydraena Kugelann for southern Africa (Coleoptera: Hydraenidae), Zootaxa 3758 (1), pp. 1-92 : 69-70

Hydraena favulosa , new species

Figs. 50 (habitus), 52 (aedeagus), 65 (map)

Type material. Holotype (male): Zimbabwe: Matapos [Matobo] National Park, 20° 33' S, 28° 30' E, 1–2 iv 1968, P. J. Spangler ( USNM) . Paratype: Zimbabwe, Same data as holotype (1 USNM) .

Differential diagnosis. Differentiated from other species by the combination of the piceous dorsum, the deep pronotal foveae, the very coarse and dense dorsal punctation, the especially coarse serial elytral punctures ( Fig. 50 ), and the absence of metaventral plaques. The aedeagus ( Fig. 52 ) stands alone among the other southern African species, but bears a general plan similar to that of H. janssensi Hansen (= H. punctata Janssens ; preoccupied), which is from Tanzania.

Description. Size: holotype (length/width, mm): body (length to elytral apices) 1.67/0.71; head 0.25/0.40; pronotum 0.38/0.56, PA 0.44, PB 0.48; elytra 1.03/0.71.

Dorsum piceous, very coarsely densely punctate; legs and maxillary palpi dark brown.

Frons punctures ca. 2–3xef; interstices dull, narrow walls to 0.5xpd. Frons concave near eyes. Clypeus coarsely densely punctate. Mentum sparsely finely punctulate, dull; postmentum strigose, with fine impressed lines that look like scratches, dull. Genae raised, densely punctulate, dull, without posterior ridge.

Pronotum laterally slightly emarginate in front of and behind middle; anterior margin straight behind eyes, emarginate behind frons, scintilla absent; coarsely densely punctate, punctures on disc separated by narrow walls; PF1 shallow, confluent in midline; PF2, PF3 and PF4 deep.

Elytra weakly arcuate laterally; summit of posterior declivity at ca. posterior 4/7; lateral explanate margin moderately wide; on basal 1/3 punctures ca. 2xpd of largest pronotal punctures, punctures becoming slightly finer and slightly more widely spaced toward posterior. Intervals not raised, dull, on basal 1/3 punctures separated by narrow walls. Apices in dorsal aspect weakly separately rounded, in posterior aspect margins forming moderately deep angle with one another.

Plaques absent, metaventrite medially with shallow depression. P1 laminate; median carina sinuate in profile. P2 very narrow, l/w ca. 5/1, sides parallel, apex blunt, apex raised slightly above mesoventral intercoxal process. AIS and adjacent area on first ventrite conjointly forming shallow concavity; AIS width at straight posterior margin ca. 3x P2. Femora rather robust. All tibiae straight, rather stout; metatibia with small cluster of short setae subapically on inner margin. Abdominal apex very slightly asymmetrical; last tergite with slightly off center, diagonal notch. Female (microslide mount, n=1): last tergite moderately broadly rounded, with minute apicomedian notch, ca. 22 hooked setae, some contiguous; gonocoxite not midlongitudinally divided, apical margin moderately broadly rounded, low transverse ridge evident at border of microreticulation; spermatheca simple, type C shape.

Etymology. Named in reference to the honeycomb-like pattern produced by the dorsal punctation.

Distribution. Currently known only from the type locality ( Fig. 65 ).

Figures

FIGURE 50. Hydraena favulosa, holotype, dorsal and lateral habitus.

FIGURES 52–53. Aedeagi of holotypes.

FIGURES 64–65. 64. All known collecting localities for southern African Hydraena. 65. Geographical distributions of Hydraena species.