Discodon testaceipes Pic 1930, stat. nov.
Creators: name: Biffi, Gabriel
name: Geiser, Michael
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Cantharidae
Discodon
Discodon testaceipes

description: Discodon testaceipes Pic, 1930 stat. nov.
Figs 4D–G, 7K, 14A–C
Discodon albonotatum var. testaceipes Pic, 1930: 82.
Discodon albonotatum var. testaceipes – Delkeskamp 1939: 155 (catalogue); 1977: 259 (catalogue). — Blackwelder 1945: 364 (checklist).
Diagnosis
Distinguished from the other species by the elytra black with unclearly defined lighter spots and the legs reddish brown with black tarsi (Fig. 4D, F).
Type material
Syntypes (2 specimens) BRAZIL • 1 ♂; [Minas Gerais, Passa Quatro]; “ 16/12. / 1915 // ex coll. Zikan / Bras.”; “Naturhistorisches Museum Basel, Coll. W. Wittmer ”; 16 Dec. 1915; NHMB • 1 ♀; Rio Grande do Sul; “coll. Richard Hicker, Wien”; “Naturhistorisches Museum Basel, Coll. W. Wittmer ”; NHMB (Fig 4D–G).
Re-description
Body length: 12.0 mm. Coloration: head black, lustrous, except in lateral corners of clypeus, orangish; maxillary palpi dark brown; antennomeres I–VIII dark brown, IX–XI orangish. Pronotum (Fig. 8K) lustrous, with broad irregular black band from anterior to posterior margin, wider anteriorly and near posterior margin, and narrower near anterior half; background testaceous with diffuse orange patches. Scutellum and elytra black, slightly lustrous; at mid-length of each elytron, small and weakly defined round yellowish spot near lateral margins. Legs reddish brown, tarsomeres II–V black.
Male (Fig. 4D–E)
Head short, nearly as long as wide, excluding eyes; integument smooth, densely covered with short and fine setae; frons short. Eyes large, rounded, prominent. Last maxillary palpomeres securiform. Antennae long, probably reaching the middle of elytra, slightly flattened dorsoventrally; antennomeres III–IX slightly narrowing proximally, sub-serrate. Pronotum wide, about 1.5 times as wide as long; anterior margin and anterior angles broadly arched; lateral margins sinuate broader posteriorly; anterior, posterior and lateral margins elevated; integument smooth, densely covered with very fine setae. Elytra long, each elytron 5 times as long as wide, nearly parallel; integument coriaceous, densely covered with short and fine decumbent setae, and much longer thick erect setae. Legs slender, densely pubescent, covered with long and thick setae; tarsi flattened dorsoventrally, fourth tarsomere with transversal slit at base. Aedeagus (Fig. 14A–C): ventral wall of tegmen elongate, lateral margins convergent from apical third; apex forming a pair of short, rounded lobes with central acute tip curved ventrally; fringe of long setae along lateral margins of tegmen dorsally; parameres very short, hidden between tegmen and median lobe; median lobe membranous, with numerous spine-like sclerites and tufts of thick pubescence.
Female
Similar to male; pronotum (Fig. 8K) wider, lateral margins without notches; tarsal claws without basal lobe or apical slit; ventrite VII (Fig. 15K) broad, lateral and distal margins broadly arched, distal margin with two apical rounded lobes projecting posteriorly at middle.
Distribution
Brazil (Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul states) (Fig. 16).
Remarks
This taxon was described as a variety (“v.”) of D. albonotatum by Pic (1930). Pic did not specify the number of specimens examined, but he stated that they were “ex Hicker”, i.e., from the collection of his contemporary Richard Hicker (1872–1965). Hicker’s Cantharidae collection was acquired by Walter Wittmer and is now at NHMB. Two specimens matching Pic’s description were found there. A female from “ Rio Grande do Sul ” labelled as coming from R. Hicker’s collection and a male with a handwritten label by Zikan from W. Wittmer’s collection, which was likely acquired by W. Wittmer via R. Hicker and is therefore here included as a syntype. During a visit at MNHN, and on photos of M. Pic’s Discodon boxes kindly provided by R. Constantin, no specimen attributable to D. testaceipes was found. The name D. albonotatum testaceipes is here treated as subspecific and available in accordance with ICZN Art. 45.6.4, as it is currently widely practised for names described as “var.” by this author. But based on the differences outlined above, we conclude that it should be treated as a full species (stat. nov.).
description: Published as part of Biffi, Gabriel & Geiser, Michael, 2022, A revision of Discodon tricolor (Guérin-Méneville) and its mimics from the Atlantic forests of Brazil (Coleoptera: Cantharidae), pp. 148-189 in European Journal of Taxonomy 834 (1) on pages 179-180, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2022.834.1907, http://zenodo.org/record/7017677