A contribution to the knowledge of the subfamily Panagaeinae Hope, 1838 from Africa. Part 3. Revision of the Craspedophorus strachani and C. brevicollis groups (Coleoptera: Carabidae)
Author
Häckel, Martin
text
Zootaxa
2017
2017-10-11
4330
1
1
67
journal article
31846
10.11646/zootaxa.4330.1.1
4603132a-4e96-4119-bf2f-21ffe40dce69
1175-5326
1010167
Bf4D6091-5346-42Fd-8F64-D8E5Ca407415
3c.
Craspedophorus cuneatus rotundatus
new subspecies
(
Plate 5
, Figs 39, 40,
Plate 13
, Fig. 104)
Craspedophorus cuneatus
Basilewsky 1951b
: 206
.
Type
locality.
“
75 km
ssw
Ndélé
,
Bamingui-Bangoran prefecture
,
Central African Republic
”.
Type
material.
Holotype
(
♂
): “N - Centr. African Rep. of,
Bamingui-Bangoran
Prov.
75 km
ssw
Ndélé
,
450 m
” (
Plate 5
, Fig. 39,
Plate 13
, Fig. 104,
NMPC
)
.
Paratypes
.
2♂
,
2
♀
: “
Bamingui-Bandoran Prov.
15 km
e
Ndélé
,
800 m
”;
1♂
,
1
♀
: “
45 km
ssw
Bamingui
,
450 m
” (
Plate 5
, Fig. 40, cMH);
1♂
: “
75 km
ssw
Ndélé
,
450 m
(cIB)”;
1♂
: “
Ngaouyanga
/ juillet [printed in black on white label]// Miss. Sci.
Suisse
/
Caméroun
–1947 [handwritten in black on white label]” (
MRAC
)
.
Description of
holotype
.
Length
15.2 mm
, width
7.3 mm
. Head and pronotum same as in
C. cuneatus cuneatus
, pronotum slightly more transverse (length/width ratio>1.6, both
C. c. cuneatus
,
C. c. paromius
<1.6) and with slightly more extended front angles and more distinctive lateral margins. Elytra convex, ovoid as in
C. c. cuneatus
, shorter than in
C. c. paromius
. It differs from
C. c. cuneatus
by elytral colouration, the presence of a nonreduced yellow preapical fascia reaching from IV to VIII interval, and by the shape of humeral macula which is more irregular and narrowed to the centre (similarly to that in
C. c. paromius
). From
C. c. paromius
the new subspecies differs—apart from body size—in colouration. These differences are not possibly relevant; the humeral macula is wider (but not as much as in
C. c. cuneatus
),
reaching the centre up to III and IV interval in the form of short residual spots (
Plate 5
, Figs 39, 40).
Note.
Basilewsky (1951b: 206)
mentions this variety when describing two specimens collected in Ngaouyanga (
North Region
,
Cameroon
). “Both specimens differ from others of that species collected in French C ongo only in the presence of yellow preapical macula, indentated, located between IV and VIII interval, and in the spots of the humeral fascia which are variously long, longer in inner than in outer intervals. It could refer to a separate subspecies, but more material is needed.” [from French]. The author further states that “In some species of the genus [
Craspedophorus
] is the presence/absence of the preapical macula purely individual: [
Craspedophorus
]
Bouvieri
Rousseau
(var.
Decorsei
All.),
eximius
Laferté (var.
Crampeli
All.),
clasispilus
All., etc. In
Chevalieri
All. is the presence of preapical macula extremely rare and occurs only as a small yellow spot in the V or VII interval; in other species I have never noticed its absence. In numerous
C. cuneatus
specimens from
French
Congo
[i. e. “
Congo
francais
”, recently
Congo
Brazzaville and a part of today’s
Central
African Republic
] I have never seen this macula; interestingly, it is usually not observed even in specimens with minor differences in shape and size of humeral macula” [from French]. The described and in my opinion clear and consistent approach of Basilewsky’s did not last long, in most stated cases he deviated from the original opinion and later chose much less clear and complex solutions (
Häckel 2017: 233–4, 239
). If the area of occurrence of these populations is slightly different (
C. r. reflexus
x
C. r. crampeli
;
C. l.
leprieurii
x
C. l. clasispilus
), most of the arguable cases are treated as different subspecies. In forms where the area is indistinguishable synonymisation is applied (
decorsei
=
C. b. bouvieri
) or (
jokoanus
=
C. chevalieri
). In my opinion, in the case of
C. cuneatus
(Alluaud, 1915)
it is not possible to speak only of differences based on the presence/absence of preapical macula. It is also often present in
C. c. cuneatus
,
although only as a reduced residuum (
Plate 5
, Fig. 37). In the new subspecies
C. c. rotundatus
n.
ssp.
unequivocally different, but at the same time very little variable elytral colouration occurs in northern populations of this species inhabiting northern
Cameroon
, southern
Chad
and
North
of the
Central
African Republic
. Similar colouration but slightly different body size is to be observed in eastern populations from the North-East of
DR
Congo
, until now considered as species (
C. c. paromius
Basilewsky, 1987
). The southern (nominotypical) populations inhabit
Central
Cameroon
and southern prefectures of the RCA (
Kémo
,
Ouaka
), or the
North
of the
Republic of
Congo
. I tend to agree with the opinion that
C. c. rotundatus
can be distinguished as subspecies both geographically and visually.
Distribution.
Northern
Cameroon
,
Central
African Republic
.