Chaetodera maheva ( Künckel d’Herculais 1887 )

Mawdsley, Jonathan R., 2011, Taxonomy, identification, and phylogeny of the African and Madagascan species of the tiger beetle genus Chaetodera Jeannel 1946 (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae), Insecta Mundi 2011 (191), pp. 1-13 : 7

Chaetodera maheva ( Künckel d’Herculais 1887)

Figures 7-9 , 17

Cicindela maheva Künckel d’Herculais (1887 : pl. 24 f. 3).

Type material. Syntype male, labeled “ Cicindela /maheva/Fm” and “Fairmaire” ( DEIC, examined). Syntype female, labeled “ Cicindela /maheva/Fairm. Madg.” ( DEIC, examined). Although labeled as type specimens by W. Horn, these may actually be material associated with the redescription of the species by Fairmaire (1897), rather than the original illustration by Künckel d’Herculais (Moravec and Gillett 2009).

Diagnosis. Length 15.0-18.5 mm. Dorsal coloration as shown in Figures 7-9 . Easily separated from C. andriana and C. regalis by its much narrower and more strongly oblique (angled) black and yellow elytral markings. From C. antatsima and C. perrieri it can be separated by its larger size (body length 15.0 mm or more) and by its pale yellow elytral markings rather than ivory-white.

Material examined. MADAGASCAR: Maevatanana (1 male, 1 female, AMNH; 1 male, CMNH; 2 females, DEIC; 1 female, NMNH) ; Majunga (1 female, DEIC) ; Plateau de l’Andray – Reg. d’Ambovombe (1 female, DEIC) ; Tananarive (1 female, CMNH), XII.1919 (1 male, 1 female, FMNH) .

Taxonomic Notes. The specific epithet has been attributed to Künckel d’Herculais ( Jeannel 1946; Wiesner 1992; Moravec and Gillett 2009) and also to Fairmaire ( Horn 1934; Olsoufieff 1934). The name “ Cicindela maheva ” was originally applied by Künckel d’Herculais (1887) to two figures in the “Atlas” volume of the “Histoire Naturelle des Coléoptères,” which in turn formed part of the monumental multi-volume “Histoire Physique, Naturelle, et Politique de Madagascar ” edited by Alfred Grandidier. The first of the two figures (pl. 24 f. 3) labeled C. maheva by Künckel d’Herculais is the species now known as C. maheva , while the second of the two figures (pl. 24 f. 4) labeled C. maheva by Künckel d’Herculais is the species now known as C. andriana . A full description of the species now known as C. maheva was not provided until Fairmaire (1897), leading other authors ( Horn 1934; Olsoufieff 1934) to attribute the name to Fairmaire, rather than Künckel d’Herculais. According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature ( ICZN 1999; see Article 12, Names published before 1931, and particularly section 12.2.7), the association of the name “ Cicindela maheva ” with the illustration in Künckel de Herculais (1887: pl. 24 f. 3) is sufficient “indication” to render the name Cicindela maheva available. Thus the name should be attributed to Künckel d’Herculais (1887) and not Fairmaire (1897).

Figures

Figures 1-15. Dorsal habitus images of Afrotropical Chaetodera species. 1) C. antatsima, syntype male, Madagascar Sud, Bassin du Mandraré. 2) C. antatsima, syntype female of C. antatsima var. fotsy, Mananpatra, Madagascar. 3) C. perrieri, male, Analaleva, Madagascar. 4) C. perrieri, syntype male, Madagascar. 5) C. andriana, syntype female, Madagascar (Sud), Bassin du Mandraré. 6) C. andriana, female, Ambositra, Madagascar. 7) C. maheva, syntype male, without locality label. 8) C. maheva, female, Majunga, Madagascar. 9) C. maheva, female, Maevatanana, Madagascar. 10) C. blanchardi, syntype male, Ouarsanguelis, Somalia. 11) C. regalis, male, Senegal. 12) C. regalis, female, Tana-Galla, Kenya. 13) C. regalis, paratype male of C. regalis bremeri Mandl, El Geneina, Darfur, Sudan. 14-15) Adult males of C. regalis photographed on sandbars of the Sabie River, Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Figures 16-17. Distribution of Chaetodera species in Africa and Madagascar. 16) Distribution of C. antatsima (dark circles), C. perrieri (dark triangles), and C. blanchardi (dark squares). 17) Distribution of C. andriana (open circles), C. maheva (open stars), and C. regalis (dark stars).