Copelatus barbouri Young, 1942

Megna, Yoandri S. & Epler, John H., 2012, A review of Copelatus from Cuba, with the description of two new species (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Copelatinae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 52 (2), pp. 383-410 : 388-389

Copelatus barbouri Young, 1942

( Figs. 1 , 12, 16 , 24 )

Copelatus barbouri Young, 1942: 88 . Copelatus barbouri: SPANGLER (1981: 167) , NILSSON (2001: 64), PECK (2005: 44).

Type locality. Cuba, Guantánamo Province, North of Imias.

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE: J ( MCZ): ‘ Mts. N. of Imias, eastern Oriente , July 25–28, 1936, 3000–4000 ft. [printed] / Cuba 1936, Darlington, Collector [printed] / M.C.Z. Type 25903 [printed] / Holotype m# C. barbouri [in pencil] / Feb-July 2002. MCZ Image Database [printed]’. PARATYPE: 1 J ( MCZ): ‘Mts. N. of Imias, eastern Oriente, vii. 25-28-36, 3000–4000 ft. [handwritten label, ink] / Cuba 1936, P.J. Darlington, Collector [handwritten label, ink] / Paratype C. barbouri Young [partly typed, partly in pencil]’.

Diagnosis. TL 5.9–6.3 mm, EW 3.0– 3.2 mm; see Table 1 for other body measurements. Male and female elytra non-striate, reddish-brown with testaceous basal and apical fasciae ( Fig. 1 ); male anterior tibiae slightly modified ( Fig. 16 ).

Copelatus barbouri is very similar to C. montivagus ( Fig. 7 ), but differs from it by slightly larger body size, narrower basal elytral fascia with ragged posterior border, males with less strongly bowed protibia ( Fig. 16 ) and slightly thicker median lobe in lateral and ventral aspects ( Figs. 12a, b ).

Ecology. Nothing is known of the ecology of this species, except that it is recorded from mountains.

Distribution. C. barbouri is known only from few specimens from the mountains north of Imías (Guantánamo Province) in eastern Cuba ( Fig. 24 ).

Remarks. There is some confusion between this species and C. montivagus . YOUNG (1942: 89) stated that the male protibiae of C. montivagus were not so strongly modified (about intermediate between those of barbouri and darlingtoni ). However, the protibiae of C. darlingtoni are unmodified ( Fig. 17 ), those of C. barbouri are slightly modified ( Fig. 16 ) and those of C. montivagus strongly bowed ( Fig. 19 ).

YOUNG (1942: 89) wrote that ‘the figure of the genitalia was from the male paratype’. The junior author examined this specimen, which had its abdomen removed and point mounted with the rest of the specimen, but no genitalia are directly associated with the pinned specimen.

The junior author has dissected the genitalia from the holotype; they are now in a microvial on the specimen’s pin. The single slide of male genitalia (the median lobe and both parameres) in the MCZ labeled (in pencil) as C. barbouri has no indication of a type number on it; the collection data (as on the pinned specimens) are handwritten in ink, along with the number ‘#1023’. These genitalia are identical to those dissected from the holotype by the junior author and are probably those figured by YOUNG (1942), but without a type indication on the slide it is not possible to confirm this.

No females of this species were examined. The putative female of C. barbouri lacks dorsal sculpturing. Its placement in the key and the diagnosis of the female above is dependent on the description of YOUNG (1942). YOUNG (1942: 88) noted that ‘it can be that I have incorrectly associated the males with these females, but all of the specimens are from the same locality and were taken in the same date period. There are, besides, no obvious differences except in size and the secondary sexual characters of the tibiae and tarsi. The male of C. barbouri is sufficiently distinct by virtue of its general habitus, color pattern, and genitalia, to be separated from any other Copelatus I have seen, and if the smooth females really represent the same species, it is the most distinctive of the Cuban forms’.

Figures

Figs.1–8. Habitus and color patterns of Copelatus species from Cuba.1 – C.barbouri Young, 1942; 2 – C. caelatipennis angustatus Chevrolat, 1863; 3 – C. cordovai sp. nov.; 4 – C. cubaensis Schaeffer, 1908; 5 – Copelatus darlingtoni Young, 1942; 6 – C. insolitus Chevrolat, 1863; 7 – C. montivagus Young, 1942; 8 – C. posticatus (Fabricius, 1801).

Figs. 12–19. Male genitalia (12–15) and left protibia (16–19) of Cuban species of Copelatus. 12, 16 – C. barbouri Young, 1942; 13, 17 – C. darlingtoni Young, 1942; 14, 18 – C. insolitus Chevrolat, 1863; 15, 19 – C. montivagus Young, 1942. Parts of male genitalia: a – median lobe of the aedeagus in left lateral view, b – same in ventral lateral view, c – left paramere in lateral view.

Figs. 24–27. Known distribution of Copelatus species in Cuba. 24 – C. barbouri Young, 1942; 25 – C. caelatipennis angustatus Chevrolat, 1863; 26 – C. caelatipennis princeps Young, 1963; 27 – C. cordovai sp. nov. See Appendix 1 for additional information on the localities reported in each map.