Derocrania (Derocrania) halyi Horn, 1900

Abeywardhana, Lakmini, Mallawarachchi, Yashas & Dangalle, Chandima Deepani, 2021, The arboreal tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) of Sri Lanka recorded from recent investigations, Zootaxa 5068 (3), pp. 378-398 : 388-389

Derocrania (Derocrania) halyi Horn, 1900

Material examined: ♂ (n = 1), ( DOZE / UOCSL / LA040 ), 6.9794°N, 80.4056°E, Makandawa Rain Forest , Kegalle District, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka, 207 m, 21 August 2020, D.L. Abeywardhana, on the ground within a forest gap surrounded by large trees .

Measurements: BW 118.7, BL 21.76, HL 2.89, HW 3.21, ML 2.20, PL 6.25, PW 1.99, PI 3.14, EL 12.63, EW 3.74.

Diagnosis and description: Diagnosed at the generic level by small and slender body, large head that is always wider than the elytra in males and more or less equal in females, neck that is not parallel sided, frontal excavation not deep so that there is a very visible separation between the occiput and the neck, prominent eyes, narrow labrum with outward protruding lateral teeth, thin and sharp mandibles, significantly long and thin antennae that are brown in colour with the first two segments black, pronotum slender and narrow with a length/ width ratio of 2.0 to 3.0, elytra are welded but separable and elytral apex is truncated, aedeagus very thin and bent dorsally at the apex. Included in the subgenus Derocrania , as body length is greater than 14 mm, body robust with a long head, long vertex behind the eyes, transverse sculpture on pronotum. The species can be defined by the shiny bronze coloured body, large habitus that is more similar to Tricondyla than to Derocrania , very wide head, thin long antennae, very long pronotum, long parallel-sided collum that is striated, long and narrow elytra with a posterior concavity, elytral sculpture deep with transverse wrinkles in the first half and vermiculate sculpture at the apex ( Fig. 7 ).

Distribution: Species known only from Sri Lanka. Anuradhapura, Pankulam, Kanthalai, Trincomali, Puttalam ( Horn 1904); Sinharaja ( Naviaux 2002).

Figures

FIGURE 7. Derocrania (Derocrania) halyi Male