Craspedophorus cameronus Bates, 1886

Häckel, Martin, 2017, A contribution to the knowledge of the subfamily Panagaeinae Hope, 1838 from Africa. Part 2. Revision of the Craspedophorus leprieuri and C. regalis groups (Coleoptera: Carabidae), Zootaxa 4236 (2), pp. 201-243 : 203-204

1. Craspedophorus cameronus Bates, 1886

(Plate 2, Figs 13–15)

Craspedophorus cameronus Bates, 1886: 196 (type loc. “ Mount Cameroons ” [= South West Region, Cameroon]). Burgeon 1930b: 158, 1935: 180, Jeannel 1949: 853, Basilewsky 1954: 247, Lorenz 2005: 320, Häckel et Farkač 2012: 80.

Type material. Holotype (♀): “Cameroons // Craspedophorus / cameronus / Bates [handwritten in black on white label]// Ex-Musaeo / H. W. Bates / 1892 [printed in black on white label]// Type [printed in black on red label]” (Plate 2, Fig. 14, MNHN, Oberthür/Bates Collection). Paratypes: 1♂,1♀: “Cameroons [handwritten, white label]// Craspedophorus / cameronus / Bates [handwritten, white label]// Ex-Musaeo / H. W. Bates / 1892 [printed, white label]// Paratype [printed, red label]” (Plate 2, Fig. 13, MNHN, Oberthür/Bates Collection).

Other material examined. Cameroon. [South West] 1♀: “ Grina ” ( MRAC) . DR Congo: Orientale Province. 1♂ [labeled as comparted with type (in MNHN) by Basilewsky],1♀: “Barumbu”; 1♀: “De Stan.[- leyville] à Irumu, km 70”; 1♂: “Haut-Uele: Yebo; 1♂, 1♀: “ Yangambi (Lubilu River)” ( MRAC) ; Sud-Kivu Province. 1♀: “ Kitutu ” ( MRAC). Equatorial Guinea . 2♀: “ Guinéé Espagnole, Mongo ” ( MRAC) . Gabon. 1♀: “[ Ogoué-Ivindo Prov. ] Ogoué, Lambaréné ” ; 1♀: “Ogôué” (MNHN); 1♂: “[Estuaire Prov.] Ntoum (cDM)” ; 1♂, 1♀: “[ Ogoué-Ivindo Prov. ] Makokou-Passa ” (Plate 2, Fig. 15, cMH). Guinea . 1♀: “ Nimba ” ( MRAC) . Nigeria: Cross River State . 1♀: “ Old Calabar [printed in black on white st upper pinned label]// Musum Paris / 1952 / Coll. A. Oberthür [printed in black on lower pinned blue label]/// pinned second from left in the series labeled: “ Lafertéi? / Murray / Afrique occident. / Sallé [handwritten in black on white box label in Chaudoir's Collection ” ( MNHN) .

Note. This species was based on five specimens collected in Cameroon, labeled “Mount Cameroons ”. Description (in part, see Bates 1886: 196). “Length 15 mm. It mostly resembles C. leprieuri (Laporte de Castelnau, 1835) . Almost parallel-sided, black, palps, antennae (except base), tibiae and tarsi piceo-ferrugineous, each elytron with two yellowish maculae, humeral macula reaching from V.[VI.] to VIII. interval, macular spots on VII. and VIII. intervals elongated to humerus; subapical macula smaller, reaching from V. to VIII. interval; head strongly convex, vertex and frons grossly punctured; pronotum with lateral margins widely explanated, posteriorly narrowed, rounded at midlength, anteriorly narrowing, arcuate, anterior margin deeply sinuate, posterior margins distinctly more sharp and sinuate than in C. leprieuri , denticulated, deeply emarginated in front of posterior angles, surface throughout grossly punctured; elytra striated, punctured, covered by short setae, intervals sparsely punctured” [from Latin]. “Belongs to the same section as C. leprieuri , in which the posterior episterna are longer than broad, the ventral segments not crenulated on their fore margins, and the neck not constricted above. The thorax has the same broad outline - much broader and more dilated anteriorly than in C. grossus and its allies, but it is narrower, especially behind, than in C. leprieuri . The scanty punctuation of the elytral interstices—the punctures not being more than 3 or 4 in a transverse row—and the great length of the red basal spot on the VII. and VIII. interstices, further amply distinguish the species”.

Burgeon (1935: 180) stated: “Specimens collected in Barumbu [village with a hospital in the past district of Aruwimi, today west part of Orientale Province in DR Congo] (XII, 20, Ghesquière) appear to me the same as a specimen from Cameroon [type series], from which they differ by reddish antennae and tibiae, more transverse pronotum widest behind midlength, more attenuate hind part of body, and more reduced and undivided elytral maculae.” [from French].

Distribution. Cameroon, DR Congo: Orientale, Sud-Kivu Provinces; Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, south-eastern Nigeria.