Brachinus grootaerti Tian and Deuve

Tian, Mingyi & Deuve, Thierry, 2013, Three new species of the genus Brachinus Weber, 1801 from the Philippines, with a modified key to species (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Brachininae), Zootaxa 3737 (3), pp. 289-294 : 290-291

Brachinus grootaerti Tian and Deuve new species.

( Figs. 1 , 5 )

Holotype. ♂, labeled “Coll. I. R. Sc. N. B, the Philippines, C. Palawan, 5 km E. of Napsan, cleared primary forest, 0 9.42.256 N/118.31.034 E, 1–2. Dec. 2007, J. H. Lourens leg.” and “Coll. IRSNB, Achat J. H. Lourens, I. G.: 30.852”, in RISNB, Brusssels.

Length: 13.0 mm; Width: 5.4 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 1 .

Medium sized; head, pronotum, elytra, tips of femora and tibiae black; tarsi, antennomeres 1–4 and ventral side of body dark brown; frontal spots, palps and other antennomeres brown; head and pronotum finely striate, with minute punctures. Head, pronotum and elytra with isodiametric microsculptural meshes.

Head longer than wide (HL/HW=1.02), with sparse, long setae; anterior margin of labrum straight, bearing sexsetose, clypeus with two long setae and a few short ones at base, glabrous medially; frons and vertex glabrous, eyes large and prominent; palps pubescent and subcylindrical; maxillary palpomere 4 longer than 3; labial palpomere 3 slightly longer than 2; ligula robust and wide, adnated to paraglossae posteriorly, both ligula and paraglossae multisetose at apex; mentum without median tooth, basal foveae large, rounded, smooth, surrounded by numerous mental and submental setae; both mentum and submentum multisetose; palpiger with two setae at base. Antennae extending at about middle of elytra; comparative length ratio of antennomeres 1–5 as 1, 0.4, 1.6, 1.1 and 0.9; antennomere 3 slightly longer than antennomeres 1 and 2 combined, antennomere 4 longer than 5.

Pronotum longer than wide, PW/PL=1.09, widest at about apical one fourth, fore margin with distinct median emargination, hind margin straight, lateral margin strongly sinuate before hind angle, hind angle acute and sharp; pronotal disc convex, weakly punctate, faintly wrinkled, with lateral setae at about middle and frontal portion.

Elytra elongate ovate, EL/EW=1.50, widest in the middle, pubescent; shoulders wide and square, not parallelsided; apex membrane and fringed; both costae and depressions faint, depressions wider than costae, rather flat, costae faintly convex.

Pro-episternum slightly tumescent, invisible from dorsal view, sparsely setose. Fore tibia with subapical spur externally.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 5 ): median lobe of aedeagus slender, distinctly arcuate in middle, preapical portion sinuate, expanded at apex; apical portion broad, apical lamella shorter, wider than long, truncate at tip.

Female unknown

Remarks: Brachinus grootaerti n. sp. is the first species of the genus from Palawan Island. It is quite similar to B. philippinensis Tian & Deuve , but pronotum narrower, elytra broader, with shoulders distinctly square (broad in B. philippinensis ); It also likes B. bigutticeps Chaudoir ( Fig. 4 ) in appearance, but body is stouter, elytra and pronotum wider, and pro-episternum invisible from above (slightly visible from above in B. bigutticeps ).

Etymology: The name of this new species is in honor of Dr. Patrick Grootaert, head of Department of Entomology, IRSNB.

Distribution: The Philippines (Palawan Island).

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 4 Habitus: 1. B. grootaerti n. sp.; 2. B. mindanaoensis n. sp.; 3. B. palawanensis n. sp.; 4. B. bigutticeps Chaudoir; scale: 5.0 mm.

FIGURES 5 – 7. Male genitalia (median lobe, lateral view and dorsal view of apex): 5. B. grootaerti n. sp., lateral view; 6. B. mindanaoensis n. sp.; 7. B. bigutticeps Chaudoir; scale: 0.5 mm.