Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Dytiscidae

Laccophilus leonensis Regimbart, 1895 Figs 190-191, 365, 516, 577

Laccophilus leonensis Régimbart 1895: 147 (original description, faunistics); Zimmermann 1920a: 21 (catalogue, faunistics); Peschet 1925: 31 (faunistics, description, discussion); Gschwendtner 1943: 417 (discussion); Guignot 1953b: 234, 236, 237 (female description, faunistics, discussion); Omer-Cooper 1953: 24 (discussion); Guignot 1956b: 220, 221 (discussion, description); Guignot 1958 a: 7 (discussion); Guignot 1959a: 579, 580, 581 (description, faunistics); Guignot 1959d: 163 (faunistics, discussion); Guignot 1961b: 238 (discussion); Bertrand and Legros 1975: 681 (faunistics, list); Bilardo and Pederzani 1978: 119 (faunistics, description); Medler 1980: 155 (faunistics, list); Pederzani and Rocchi 1982: 72 (faunistics); Rocchi 1991: 86 (faunistics, list); Nilsson et al. 1995: 506 (faunistics); Nilsson 2001: 245 (catalogue, faunistics); Bilardo and Rocchi 2002: 156, 161, 162, 164, 174 (discussion, faunistics); Bilardo and Rocchi 2008: 211, 236 (biology); Bilardo and Rocchi 2013: 141 (faunistics, biology); Nilsson 2015: 213 (catalogue, faunistics).

Note on taxonomy.

References after 1920 are in part referring also to other Laccophilus species but Laccophilus leonensis .

Type locality.

Sierra Leone: Rhobomp.

Type material studied

(1 ex.). Holotype: female: "Sierra Leone Rhobomp Moquerys / Museum Paris coll. Maurice Régimbart 1908 / Laccophilus leonensis Reg." (MNHN).

Additional material studied

(13 exs.). Sierra Leone: "Makeni 12°03'W 8°53'N 27.11.1993 light trap 19-21 / Cederholm, Danielsson & Hall leg. / Laccophilus leonensis Régb . det. Persson" (8 exs. MZLU; habitus in Fig. 516); same data but "28.11. 1993" (5 exs. MZLU).

Diagnosis.

From other species in this species group Laccophilus leonensis is distinguished by one-coloured, quite dark elytra and mainly pale pronotum (colour contrast strong; distinctly bicoloured) in combination with minor details in penis apex; apex of penis smooth and not wrinkled.

Description.

Body length 3.0-3.3 mm, width 1.6-1.8 mm. Elytra lack distinct colour pattern; almost uniformly dark brown to dark ferrugineous, lacking pale spots (Fig. 516).

Head: Pale ferrugineous to ferrugineous, rarely head becomes posteriorly gradually, slightly darker. Submat, finely microsculptured. Reticulation indistinctly double; large meshes only slightly, more strongly developed in comparison with small meshes. Large meshes contain 3-6 small meshes. Impunctate, except at eyes, with fine, irregular punctures.

Pronotum: Pale ferrugineous to ferrugineous, mediobasally often with dark ferrugineous area. Rather shiny, although microsculptured. Reticulation double. Large meshes, especially on disc weakly developed; only slightly coarser in comparison with fine meshes. Large meshes, in general, contain 3-6 fine meshes. Impunctate, except at margins, with very fine, scattered punctures. Mediobasally impunctate.

Elytra: Dark ferrugineous to dark brown to dark ferrugineous (Fig. 516). Rather shiny, although distinctly and finely microsculptured. Reticulation double; large meshes contain 2-5 small meshes. Small meshes in part indistinct and hardly discernible. Fine and scattered punctures form a discal row of punctures. Dorsolateral and lateral rows of punctures absent or indicated by a few scattered punctures.

Ventral aspect: Ferrugineous, abdomen posteriorly slightly darker, ferrugineous to dark ferrugineous. Almost impunctate. Rather shiny, although finely microsculptured. Abdomen basally with some fine and curved striae. Metacoxal plates besides stridulatory apparatus, anteriorly with 7-8 shallow, transversely located furrows which in part are confluent. Apical ventrite asymmetric; with one distinct, lateral knob (Fig. 190).

Legs: Pro- and mesotarsus slightly enlarged; with suckers.

Male genitalia: Apex of penis characteristic; smooth and not wrinkled (Fig. 365).

Female: Almost as male but, apical ventrite symmetric (Fig. 191). Pro- and mesotarsus slender.

Distribution.

Sierra Leone (Fig. 577). Unchecked literature records from countries outside Sierra Leone are considered uncertain.

Collecting circumstances.

Almost unknown. Sampled at light collection.