Lebia (Nematopeza) melanura ( Dejean, 1831 )

Rasool, Iftekhar, Abdel-Dayem, Mahmoud S., Felix, Ron F. F. L. & Aldhafer, Hathal M., 2018, A review of the Subtribe Lebiina Bonelli (Lebiini, Carabidae, Coleoptera) from Southwest of Saudi Arabia, Zootaxa 4379 (1), pp. 87-102 : 92

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4379.1.5
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:E860555F-9CED-4A38-AAF8-B7AB5C1A7E71
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5979213
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03DB4154-1F6C-FFE2-F1CB-CFA5D3F0F904
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Lebia (Nematopeza) melanura ( Dejean, 1831 )
status

Treatment

Lebia (Nematopeza) melanura ( Dejean, 1831) View in CoL

Nematopeza melanura Dejean, 1831: 370 View in CoL

Type locality: Senegal

Type depository: Syntype male in MNHN

Material examined: Total 9 specimens: Asir: 3 ♂ and 5 ♀, KSA, “ Al Hubail , Wadi Reem, N18°06.981' E42°13.939' Alt GoogleMaps . 451 m, 20.X.2014, (LT), I. Rasool & M. Al Harbi ” [ KSMA]. 1 ♂, “ Al Hubail , Wadi Reem, N18°06.981' E42°13.939' Alt GoogleMaps . 451 m, 20.X.2014, (LT), I. Rasool & M. Al Harbi” [RMNH].

Recognition. Small sized beetles ( Fig. 20 View FIGURES 18–26 ), TBL 4.65–6.25 mm. Colour: Head black, pronotum, femora, tibiae and antennomeres I–III testaceous; rest of the antennae, mouth parts and tarsi dark brown; elytra testaceous with a trilobed black patch at posterior third, widened at apex to the margin of elytra, median lobe extending along suture to middle, occupying two inner intervals, lateral lobes prolonged up to apical third, occupying all intervals and left lateral margin. Microsculpture: Elytra, head, clypeus and labrum with isodiametric mesh pattern; pronotum smooth; abdomen with transverse microlines. Head: Slightly wider than long, HL 0.92–1.28 mm and HW 0.99– 1.35 mm, narrower than pronotum; frons and vertex sculptured, vertex with weak longitudinal irregular furrows, frons with irregular coarse punctures ( Fig. 32 View FIGURES30–37 ); labrum truncate at anterior margin. Pronotum. Transverse, PL 0.80– 1.06 mm and PW 1.24–1.68 mm, anterior margin slightly concave, anterior angles strongly rounded, lateral margin anteriorly rounded, obliquely straight in posterior half, sinuate in front of posterior angles, posterior angles almost right, pronotal base strongly incised towards posterior angles and lobate in middle ( Fig. 32 View FIGURES30–37 ); disc sculptured, median longitudinal impression deep. Elytra: Elongate subovoid, EL 3.25–3.9 mm and EW 2.3–2.95 mm, lateral margin obliquely convex; apex of elytra obliquely truncate, not serrate, striae complete, deep and punctate, intervals convex throughout. Legs: Tibiae in mid leg of male with one preapical incision on inner side. Abdomen: Abdominal sterna moderately pubescent, last sternum rounded and tetra-setose in both sexes. Aedeagus: AL 1.33 mm; in lateral view, it is slightly curved and sinuate dorsally ( Fig. 40 View FIGURES38–42 ); with equal width along its length except apical lamina, apical lamina short and pointed.

Affinity. This species is close to L. chaudoiri (Alluaud, 1932) , but according to Alluaud (1932), L. melanura can be differentiated by elytral black patch shorter, less protruding towards the scutellum, and finer punctuation on head and striae.

Ecological note. Members of this species were collected from elevation 451 m in valley with damp place having gravels and stones among different kinds of grasses. This species was collected by UV–light during October.

Geographical distribution. It is described from Senegal ( Dejean, 1831) also known from Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea ( Lorenz, 2017) and newly recorded during this study from Saudi Arabia ( Fig. 43 View FIGURES 43–44 ). Lebia melanura is an Afrotropical species that exemplifies AFA Chorotype.

Comments: Lebia melanura and L. chaudoiri are problematic to distinguish and often wrongly recognized. The morphological characters suggested by Alluaud (1932) to differentiate L. chaudoiri from L. melanura include: black suture longer extending towards the scutellum, smaller red humeral spots, stronger punctuation on the head, the striae coarser punctuate and the posterior angles of the pronotum more elevated. In L. melanura , all above distinguishing characters overlap with those of L. chaudoiri in several examined specimens from Ivory coast, Congo, Senegal, Chad, Tanzania and Arabian Peninsula. The genitalia of both species seem also the same. These results suggest that L. melanura and L. chaudoiri are identical species. However, the holotypes of both species were not found in their type depository, so the authors keep the current status of both species.