Craspedophorus abnormis Bates 1886
Creators: name: Häckel, Martin
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Carabidae
Craspedophorus
Craspedophorus abnormis

description: 1. Craspedophorus abnormis Bates, 1886
(Plate 15, Figs 125–128, Plate 16, Fig. 131)
Craspedophorus abnormis Bates, 1886b: 9 (type locality “Mpwapwa [Dodoma, Tanzania]”). Basilewsky 1956: 83, Lorenz 2005: 320, Häckel and Farkač 2012: 79.
Eudema sexmaculatum Péringuey, 1898: 352 (type locality “Zambezia, Sailsbury [=Harare, Mashonaland, Zimbabwe]”). Craspedophorus sexmaculatus Basilewsky, 1953: 173, 1956: 83 syn. nov.
Type material. Holotype (♀): “Mpwapwa / E. Africa [handwritten in black on white label]// Craspedoph / abnormis / Bates [handwritten in black on white label]// Ex-Musaeo / H. W. Bates / 1892 [printed in black on white label]// Type [printed in black on red label]” (Plate 15, Fig. 125, MNHN, Oberthür / Bates Collection). Paratypes. 1♀ labeled same as holotype (MNHN, Oberthür / Bates Collection).
Additional material examined. Angola: Benguela. 1♂: “ 2 km s road Catengue-Cubal, S 13°00.329 E13°48.236, 830 m” (cPS). DR Congo: Katanga. 1♂,1♀: “Lumumbashi. Univ. Kassapa”; 1♂: “Zaire, L'[umumba]shi”; 1♀: “Zaire, sans coordinées” (cDM). Kenya. 1♀: “[North-eastern Province] Aimola to Higo ” (MNHN). Malawi. 1♂: “ Malawi c, Dzalanyama, 33°26.75 S 14°15.22' E ” (cAD). South Africa: KwaZulu-Natal. 1♂: “[Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve] 30°16'29”S 30°36'32”E, 410 m ” (cIB). Limpopo. 1♀: “Makopane, Shikwaru lodge, S24°13.51' E28°54.21', 1395 m ” (cPK). Tanzania: Dodoma. 1♂: “ Dodoma prov. 70 km n Dodoma ” (cMH). Iringa. 2♀: “ 55 km w Iringa, 7°44.262'S 35°14.888'E (cRS); 3♂, 2♀: “ 65 km nw of Iringa, road to Ruaha NP, 950 m “ (Plate 15, Fig. 127, Plate 16, Fig. 131, cIB, cMH, cRK). Mbeya. 1♀: “ Mbeya Prov.: 70 km nw Tundema, 1500m ”, (Plate 15, Fig. 128, cMH); 1♂, 1♀: “ MakoloNgozi, Mbeya ” (cMH, cPS). Shinyanga. 1♀: “ Old Shinyanga, Boma ” (BMNH). Zambia. 1♂: “ Central Province. 6.5 km n Chunga, 14°59'40”S 26°01'11”E, 1100 m ” (cPS); 1♂, 1♀: “[Muchinga Province] 60 km e Isoka ” (cPS); 1♀: “ Northern Province, Tanganyika Lake env., 30 km n Mbala, Kalombo Falls, 900m ” (cMH), 1♀: “ North-western Province, Kafue National Park, near Kasempa ” (cMH). Zimbabwe. 2♂, 3♀ labeled as Eudema sexmaculatum Péringuey, 1898 coded SAM-Col-A007147, -48, -49, -50 and -52: “ Salisbury [= Harare, Mashonaland East]/ J. O'Neil ”, 1♂ same labeled, coded SAM-Col- A007151: “ Peak Mine / Selukwa / s Rhodesia [= Shurugwi District, Midlands]” (Plate 15, Fig. 126, SAMC); 1♀: “[Mashonaland Central] Nyagui riv. vall., 50 km e of Bindura ” (cOH); 1♂, 2♀: “[Matabeleland] Bulawayo, Shangani Naletale ruins env.” (cMH).
Note. This species is based on two specimens, probably females, labeled “Mpwapwa”. Mpwapwa is one of the oldest colonial districts in Tanzania, Dodoma Region, former local German colonial government headquarters, or bomas, in the early 1890s, and British administrative offices after World War I. This mountainous area is located at 06°21′0″S, 36°29′0″E. Description (in part, see Bates 1886b: 9). “Length 21 mm. Almost parallel-sided, quite convex, covered by short setae, black, each elytron with three yellow maculae, first - humeral macula located on VIII interval, second - medial, reaching from IV to VI intervals, preapical macula reaching from IV to VIII interval; head small, neck constricted, eye convex, vertex between two grooves, which deeply impressed, strongly convex and sparsely punctured; pronotum almost equal as in C. brevicollis (Dej.), but anterior margin fully rounded, transverse, with lateral margins arcuate, anterior angles widely rounded, disc densely, coarsely punctured; elytra quite elongated, parallel-sided, deeply striated and punctured, III stria near medial macula is flexuous, intervals quite abundantly punctured” [from Latin]. Unlike any other species, both in form and markings. Although the terminal joint of the palpi is simply obliquely triangular (♀?) it consorts better with the Craspedophori, in which that joint is greatly prolonged at its outer angle, than with the Epicosmi. The labrum has its front edge broadly emarginated; the antennae are long, with the joints 4–9 much dilated and compressed. The metathoracic episterna are very long, and the ventral segments crenulated on their anterior margins. The anterior tarsi are simple. The median yellow spot of the elytra is sub-triangular, the inner portion of it (that which lies on the III interstice) being longer than the two others; the subapical spot is flexuous and narrow”. Péringuey (1896) described a similar species from Salisbury (now Mutare in Zimbabwe). Description of Eudema sexmaculatum (in part, see Péringuey 1896: 352). “Length 20 mm, width 8 mm. Black, shining, and briefly pubescent; elytra with a humeral and two yellow dorsal patches on each side; head long, smooth in the middle of the anterior part, very rugose laterally and behind; third joint of antennae not so long as the two following; prothorax similar in shape to that of Eudema [= Craspedophorus] pretiosum Chaudoir, 1837, but less sinuate laterally behind above the basal angle which is also more acute, base not sinuate; disk very rugose, sides reflexed in the anterior part, but less than in [C.] pretiosus; elytra straight at base, oblong, one-fourth broader than the prothorax, deeply punctato-costate with the intervals carinate; they have on each side a short, humeral yellow band on the eighth interval, a transverse patch placed slightly before the median part of the disk, extending on the IV., V., and VI intervals, and consisting of three very short bands hardly connected in the stria, and with the inner one the longest of the three, also another narrow patch, slightly sinuate, extending from the fourth to the eighth interval, and situated at a short distance from the apex, at the top of the posterior declivity; tarsi bristly underneath. The general appearance is not unlike that of [C.] pretiosus, both having a broad prothorax, but it is easily recognisable owing to the humeral elongate macule on each side of the elytra, which is not found in any other South African Eudema [= Craspedophorus]; the punctures on the striae of the elytra are very distinct.” Figured in Péringuey (1898: Plate XI, Fig. 3). Holotype labeled “ Zambezia, (Salisbury)”. Basilewsky rightly (1956: 83) synonymized Eudema sexmaculatum (Péringuey, 1896) with C. abnormis (Bates, 1886). Until now, nobody doubted this synonymization, and I also have no reason to do so. However, Péringuey's type has never been found in SAMC and only specimens from the type locality were found (Plate 15, Fig. 126), so I do not feel any need to establish a neotype.
Distribution. Angola: Benguela Province; DR Congo: Katanga Province; eastern Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania: Dodoma, Iringa, Mbeya, Shinyanga; Zambia, Zimbabwe.
description: Published as part of Häckel, Martin, 2017, 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), pp. 1-67 in Zootaxa 4330 (1) on pages 37-38, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4330.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1010167