Caperhantus, Balke, Michael, Hájek, Jiří & Hendrich, Lars, 2017

Balke, Michael, Hájek, Jiří & Hendrich, Lars, 2017, Generic reclassification of species formerly included in Rhantus Dejean (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae, Colymbetinae), Zootaxa 4258 (1), pp. 91-100 : 93

Caperhantus n. gen.

Type species: Dytiscus cicurius Fabricius, 1787 , by present designation.

Diagnosis. Large (15–16 mm), slender, torpedo shaped species. Labrum with medial deep emargination. Sides of pronotum distinctly bordered except for anterior angles; posterior pronotal angles weakly obtuse. Elytral surface sculpture double, consisting of moderately large polygonal meshes filled with fine polygonal cells. Setae on parameres distally acute.

Position. Sister group of the European (east-Mediterranean) genus Melanodytes Seidlitz, 1887 , with the only species M. pustulatus (Rossi, 1792) (see Morinière et al. 2016) ( Fig. 1 ).

Etymology. Composed from Cape, region in southernmost Africa, and Rhantus , genus of Colymbetinae ; gender masculine.

Species composition. Monotypic genus endemic to the Eastern and Western Cape regions of South Africa:

Caperhantus cicurius (Fabricius, 1787) n. comb. ( Fig. 2A ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Phylogenetic reconstruction of Colymbetinae relationships using different methods of phylogenetic inference (Bayesian, Maximum Likelihood, Parsimony, figure modified from Morinière et al. 2016 which contains more details on analytical procedures); node support for major backbone nodes indicated with asterisks: black meaning strong support, lighter shades of grey referring to increasingly weaker support. Distribution is coded in colour and ancestral areas were inferred using the software package BioGeoBEARS (details in Morinière et al. 2016). Notes: " R. signatus JFern. " refers to a specimen from Juan Fernandez Archipelago (originally described as R. kuscheli Guignot, 1952).

FIGURE 2. A) Caperhantus cicurius (Fabricius, 1787), 16 mm, Republic of South Africa; B) Carabdytes guadalcanalensis (Balke, 1998), 10.5 mm, Solomon Islands; C) Carabdytes novaecaledoniae (J. Balfour-Browne, 1944), 13 mm, New Caledonia; D) Carabdytes plantaris (Sharp, 1882), 10 mm, New Zealand.