Elliptica Farmaire, 1884

Serrano, Artur R. M. & Capela, Rúben A., 2013, The tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae, Cicindelinae) of Angola: a descriptive catalogue and designation of neotypes, Zootaxa 3731 (4), pp. 401-444 : 423-425

Elliptica Farmaire, 1884 (Compt. Rend. Soc. Ent. Belg.: 70)

This Afrotropical genus needs a general revision. Cassola (1982, 1995) only revised the E. muata and E. compressicornis Groups. By now the genus is represented in Angola with certitude by four forms.

Elliptica lugubris (Dejean, 1825) (Spec. Col. 1: 39)

Distribution in Angola

Old records:

— Angola (without locality) (Ferreira 1965 sub Cicindela strachani Hope, 1842 ). Remarks. A tiger beetle species with a wide distribution in Western and Central Africa (Serrano, 2007).

However, the above record of this species for Angola is dubious and its presence in this country needs confirmation

with new material. Ferreira (1965) followed the erroneous Putzeys (1880) record of E. lugubris for Angola (see

next species). Werner (2000b) did not mention the species for Angola.

Elliptica mechowi (Quedenfeldt, 1883) (Berl. Ent. Zeitschr. 27: 248)

Distribution in Angola Old records:

— Type locality: Malange (MALANJE) (131), 1 ex., MNHN?

—Duque de Bragança (Bayão) Duque de Bragança (=Calandula) (MALANJE) (112), Angola (without locality)

(Welwitsch), Huilla (Lobo d`Avila) (HUILA) (356) (Putzeys 1880 sub Cicindela lugubris ).

—Malange (Mechow) (MALANJE) (131), Huilla (Welwitsch) (HUILA) (356), Caconda (HUILA) (299), Duque

de Bragança (=Calandula) (MALANJE) (112), Bihe (=Cuito) (BIÉ) (234), Chiyaka (=Tchiacana)

(BENGUELA) (251), Ekuiva River (=Kuiva, R., between Ebanga and Babaera) (BENGUELA) (254)

(Wellman & Horn 1908 sub Cicindela mechowi ).

-Lunda (=Dala) (LUNDA SUL) (197), Bimbi (=Bimbe) (HUAMBO) (210), Ganda (BENGUELA) (278) (Horn

1935; Monard et al. 1956 both sub Cicindela deyrollei mechowi ).

—Bimbi (=Bimbe) (HUAMBO) (210) (Monard et. al. 1956 sub Cicindela deyrollei mechowi ).

—Calulo (KWANZA SUL) (128) (Werner 2000b).

New localities reported: 6 km N Alto Hama (HUAMBO) (232); 50 km N Caconda (HUAMBO) (279), 75 km N Caconda (near Cuima) (HUAMBO) (280); 10 km SW and 20 km NE Cacula, 10 km W Negola (HUILA) (317) (P. Schüle pers. comm.).

Material examined: Duque de Bragança (=Calandula) (MALANJE) (112), Bayão leg., 1♀, regºnº 2131, “Old Collection” MZUC; Angola (without locality), Welwitsch leg., 1♀, regºnº 1907, “Old Collection” MZUC; Huilla (HUILA) (356), Lobo d`Avila leg., 1♀, regºnº 1846, “Old Collection” MZUC; Angola (without locality), S. Fiel collection, 1♂, 2♀, regºnº 1975, “Old Collection” MZUC; Malange (=Malanje) (MALANJE) (131), J. Pimentel leg., 1 ♀, 6.VII.1927, regºnº 2273, “Old Collection” MZUC.

Remarks. A species with a distribution throughout Gabon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, People`s Republic of Congo and Angola (Werner 2000b). The species was dedicated to Major von Mechow who collected the holotype specimen during an expedition to this country. Some authors (Wiesner 1992; Werner 2000b) established a synonymy between C. lugubris (sensu Putzeys 1880) and E. mechowi . However, Putzeys (1880) did not describe C. lugubris! The specimens of E. mechowi deposited in the MLZA of Lisboa were misinterpreted by Putzeys (1880) as C. lugubris Dejean. Reinforcing this fact Basilewsky (1960), revising the Cicindelid types of Angola described by Putzeys (1880) from the collection deposited in the MLZA of Lisboa, did not mention this C. lugubris description. This error seems to have origin in the footnote given in page 508 of Wellman & Horn (1908) work: “ Cicindela lugubris Putz., Jorn. Sci. Lisb., 1880 , p. 22, is the true C. mechowi ”. So this synonymy must be rejected. Interestingly some of the MZUC specimens I examined share the same localities and collectors as the specimens deposited in the MLZA of Lisboa which were destroyed by the 1978 fire. This species is highly polymorphic showing several different elytral patterns. Wellman & Horn (1908) found that the brownish forms appears on clayey soil and are strong flyers and very pugnacious. Peter Schüle (pers. comm.) found it in several localities in open secondary forests and by the historical records and the present ones it seems that the species is common in Angola.

Elliptica muata muata (Harold, 1878) (Mitt. Münch. Ent.Ver. 2: 99)

Distribution in Angola

Old records:

— Type locality: “ Guinea interior, particularly near Kabebe” (=Malange?), 1♀, ZMB. —Malange (=Malanje) (Mechow) (MALANJE) (131) (Quedenfeldt 1883 sub Cicindela muata ). —Malange (=Malanje) (Mechow) (MALANJE) (131), Angola?, no exact locality (Pogge) (Wellman & Horn 1908

sub Cicindela muata ).

Remarks. The single holotype and the Malanje specimen were the only specimens known until recently (Cassola 1982). However, the species was discovered in Zambia (Werner 2003) which expanded its known distribution. In Zambia adults of Elliptica muata were found “at forest margins and between grasses inside a forested area with whitish sand” and when disturbed “flew rapidly into the interior of the forest and settled down in a distance of five to ten meters” (Werner 2003a).

Elliptica muata parallelestriata (W. Horn, 1923) (Ent. Blätt. 19: 29)

Distribution in Angola Old records: none.

Material examined: Malange (=Malanje) (MALANJE) (131), J. Pimentel leg., 1 ♀, 6.VII.1927, regº 2273, “Old Collection” MZUC.

Remarks. A tiger beetle subspecies common in the southern territory of D. R. of the Congo (Werner 2000b). That both nominal form and the subspecies parallelestriata come from Malanje raises suspicions of the validity of the label data. The latter is distinguishable from the former by the developed elytral markings and the more robust and bigger size (Werner 2003a). This specimen constitutes the first record for E. muata parallelestriata ( Fig. 4A ) in Angola.

Elliptica transversefasciata (W. Horn, 1913) (Rev. Zool. Afr. 2: 264)

Distribution in Angola

Old records:

—Dundo (LUNDA NORTE) (51) (Basilewsky 1955; Ferreira 1965 both sub Ropaloteres mechowi transversefasciata ).

—Ishikapa River (50 km SW Dundo) (=Chingufo) (LUNDA NORTE) (68), Dundo (LUNDA NORTE) (51) [Alves 1956 sub Cicindela (Euryarthron) mechowi transversefasciata ].

Material examined: Dundo (LUNDA NORTE) (51),?. X.1948, 2 ♀, reg.nºs 2130, 2148, IICT. Remarks. Werner (2000b) recorded this species only from D. R. of the Congo and Zimbabwe in spite of the

previous records for Angola given by Basilewsky (1955) and Alves (1956) under other genera and with a

subspecies status. We now can confirm the presence of E. transversefasciata for Angola ( Fig. 4 B). Both specimens

were attracted to electric lights at night.

Figures

FIGURE 4. A) Habitus: Elliptica muata parallelestriata (W. Horn, 1923), female, Malange, J. Pimentel leg., “ Old Collection ” MZUC. B) Habitus: Elliptica transversefasciata (W. Horn, 1913), female, Dundo, IICT.