Brachinus sordidus Andrewes, 1933

Akhil, S. V., Divya, M. & Sabu, K. Thomas, 2020, Bombardier beetles of genus Brachinus Weber, 1801 (Carabidae: Brachininae Brachinini) from India, Zootaxa 4816 (4), pp. 576-600 : 592

Brachinus sordidus Andrewes, 1933

Fig. 2i

Brachinus sordidus Andrewes, 1933: 7 ; Hrdlička, 2003: 216; 2017: 478.

Type locality. India: Tamil Nadu: Uduparani, coll. N.C. Chatterjee.

Type depository. BMNH .

Specimen examined (n=1). Syntype labelled: “Uduparani, North Salem?, coll. N C. Chatterjee, 28.I.1930, ‘ India. Dehra Dun Coll. B. M.1932-26’. det. H. E. Andrewes”.

Description. Length: 10.0 mm. Head, pronotum, first four segments of antennae and legs reddish yellow; scutellum dark reddish yellow; eyes and elytra black.

Head stout, broad, wider than long, shiny, sparsely punctated, surface slightly rough, frontal foveae moderately deep; eyes protruding; antennae long, reaching middle of elytra, antennal segment 3 shorter than segment 1 and 2 combined.

Pronotum broad, wider than long, surface rough, densely punctated, pubescent; disc with apical margin inwardly sinuate, lateral portion not projecting forward, basal margin straight; disc laterally with anterior three-fourths convex, posterior fourth divergent, hind angles blunt, obtuse, not projecting laterally; median groove shallow, medially brown, not reaching the apical and basal margin; lateral bead narrow, dark brown.

Elytra convex, densely punctated, pubescent, with short yellow setae; base narrowed, humerus rounded; apex with slight but distinct re-entrant angle, having a membranous border; scutellum small, pointed; striations very weak, broad, rounded, intervals narrow.

Distribution. INDIA: Salem, Uduparani?; Uttarakhand: Dehra Dun.

Remarks. Andrewes (1933) remarked that both the specimens considered as types have the locality of Uttarakhand: Dehra Dun, and that the Madras province label was a typographical error. Hence, distribution data provided on the labels of the type species are misleading and the locality of the species is Uttarakhand in the foothills of the Himalayas and not the southern Indian locality (Tamil Nadu, Salem, Uduparani).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Dorsal habitus of Indian Brachinus species (cont.): a) B. flaviventris Chaudoir, 1876 (syntype, MNHN); b) B. hazardi Andrewes, 1930 (holotype, BMNH); c) B. illotus Chaudoir, 1876 (syntype, MNHN); d) B. limbellus Chaudoir, 1876 (syntype, MNHN); e) B. limbicollis Chuadoir, 1876 (syntype, MNHN); f) B. modestus Schmidt-Göbel, 1846 (holotype, NMPC); g) B. peltastes Andrewes, 1931 (holotype, BMNH); h) B. reyi Andrewes, 1924 (holotype, BMNH); i) B. sordidus Andrewes, 1933 (holotype, BMNH)