Lebia (Nematopeza) melanacra
Creators: name: Rasool, Iftekhar
name: Abdel-Dayem, Mahmoud S.
name: Felix, Ron F. F. L.
name: Aldhafer, Hathal M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Carabidae
Lebia
Lebia melanacra

description: Lebia (Nematopeza) melanacra (Chaudoir, 1878)
Nematopeza melanacra Chaudoir, 1878: 175
Type locality: Tanzania: Zanzibar: Mombaze
Type depository: Syntype male in MNHN
Material examined: Total 7 specimens: Asir: 1 ♀, “ KSA, Abha, Rayda, N18°11.749' E42°23.345' Alt. 1614 m, 4.III.2015, (LT), El Torkey, A. Elgharbawy, A. Mostafa, A. Al Ansi & I. Rasool ”. 1 ♀, “ N18°11.679' E42°23.691' Alt. 1851 m, 6.VI.2014, (LT)., 1 ♀, “ N18°11.749' E42°23.345' Alt. 1614 m, 31.VII.2014, (LT)., 1 ♀, “ N18°11.766' E42°24.315' Alt. 2285 m, 31.VII.2015, (LT)., 1 ♂, “ N18°11.618' E42°23.42' Alt. 1772 m, 26.VIII.2014, (LT), H. Al Dhafer, M.S. Abdel-Dayem, H.H. Fadl, A. El Turkey, A. & Elgharbawy ” [KSMA]. 1 ♂, “ N18°11.749' E42°23.345' Alt. 1614 m, 26.VIII.2014, (LT). 1 ♀, N18°11.695 ˈ E42°23.818' Alt. 1897 m, (LT), H. Al Dhafer, M.S. Abdel-Dayem, H.H. Fadl, A. El Turkey, A. & Elgharbawy ” [RMNH].
Recognition. Small sized species (Fig. 19), TBL 3.90–4.75 mm. Colour: Dorsum of head testaceous, pronotum pale testaceous, elytra lighter than pronotum, with an inverted T-shaped brunneous macula that is prolonged along suture to apex, widened at base to occupy 3–4 inner intervals, expended at apex to lateral margin; legs, maxillary and labial palpi pale testaceous; antennae and thoracic sternum testaceous to pale testaceous, abdominal sternum II testaceous, sterna III–VII brunneous. Microsculpture: Labrum and elytra with isodiametric mesh pattern, pronotum smooth, abdomen with microlines. Head: As long as wide, HL and HW 0.85–0.90 mm, narrower than pronotum, dorsum finely punctuate at vertex (Fig. 31), clypeus with smooth surface, labrum shorter than clypeus, anterior margin rounded. Pronotum: Strongly transverse, PL 0.70–0.75 mm and PW 1.18–1.22 mm, anterior margin straight without protruding angles, posterior angles right, pronotal base incised towards posterior angles, lobate in middle, disc minutely wrinkled (Fig. 31). Elytra: Elongate, EL 2.65–2.87 mm and EW 1.90–2.0 mm, widened posteriorly, lateral margin obliquely convex, apex obliquely truncate, not serrate, intervals sculptured. Legs: Tarsomere IV in fore leg and mid leg strongly bilobed, tibiae of mid leg on males with two incisions on inner side preapically. Abdomen: All sterna with pubescence, dense laterally, apical margin of last sternum rounded and bi-setose in both sexes. Aedeagus: Moderately elongate (Fig. 39), length 0.92 mm; in lateral view gently curved dorsally, broadened in the middle, smoothly narrowed at apical lamina, apical end pointed.
Affinity. This species is close to L. melanura (Chaudoir, 1878) by sharing the following characters: small body size, transverse pronotum, same shape of pronotum and elytra; but can be easily distinguished by strongly bilobed tarsomere IV in fore and mid legs, inner side in mesotibiae of male with two preapical incisions, testaceous head and by different shape of aedeagus.
Ecological note. This species was recorded from mountainous habitat in Rayda Nature Reserve, at altitude 1614–2285 m. The adults were collected by UV-light from places with extensive vegetation that are dominated by Cactus shrubs Opuntia ficus-indica and wild olive trees Olea europaea. The species were collected during March, Jun and August.
Geographical distribution. Lebia melanacra was described from Tanzania (Chaudoir, 1878), also known from Congo, Kenya, Rwanda (Lorenz, 2017) and it is recorded for first time from Saudi Arabia during this work (Fig. 43). It is an Afrotropical species that exemplifies AFA Chorotype.
description: Published as part of Rasool, Iftekhar, Abdel-Dayem, Mahmoud S., Felix, Ron F. F. L. & Aldhafer, Hathal M., 2018, A review of the Subtribe Lebiina Bonelli (Lebiini, Carabidae, Coleoptera) from Southwest of Saudi Arabia, pp. 87-102 in Zootaxa 4379 (1) on page 91, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4379.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/1172356