Lycocerus rubroniger Švihla, 2011, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Švihla, Vladimír
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Cantharidae
Lycocerus
Lycocerus rubroniger

description: Lycocerus rubroniger sp. nov.
Figs. 13, 64–66.
Type locality. Northeastern Laos, Houa Phan province, Phou Pane mts. near Ban Saluei, 20°12–13.5ˏN 103°59.5ˏ– 104°01ˏE, 1340–1870 m a.s.l.
Type material. Holotype (NMPC), male, “LAOS-NE, Houa Phan prov., Ban Saluei ⊣ Phou Pane, 20°12– 13.5ˏN 103°59.5ˏ–104°01ˏE, 1340–1870 m, 15.iv.–15.v.2008, Lao collectors leg. [white label, printed]”. Paratypes (NMPC), same label data, 2 males.
Description. Coloration (Fig. 13). Head including antennae black, genae and mandibles terracotta to sienna. Prothorax black, in one specimen posterior corners of pronotum narrowly ferrugineous. Scutellum, meso- and metasternum, ventral part of abdomen and legs black, claws ferrugineous. Basic coloration of elytra from sooty to black with humeral bulges, narrow lateral margin of each elytron and wider apices of elytra red (red coloration sometimes protruding narrowly along suture) to red, with only wide area around scutellum protruding apically along suture sooty (borders of different colours not sharply delimited).
Male. Eyes comparatively small, protruding, head across eyes moderately narrower than pronotum, behind eyes narrowing posteriorly, lateral margins nearly straight. Antennae reaching to ca elytral midlength, antennomeres comparatively wide, slightly flattened, without impressions. Surface of head finely imbricate-punctate, with fine, sparse, ferrugineous decumbent pubescence, lustrous. Pronotum moderately wider than long, anterior margin convex, nearly straight in middle, anterior corners rounded, lateral margins strongly diverging posteriorly, straight, only slightly concave in anterior half, posterior corners protruding, with rounded angles, posterior margin moderately protruding posteriorly, bisinuate. Surface of pronotum sculptured and pubescent like that of head, lustrous. Outer claws of pro- and mesotarsi with basal projection. Elytra comparatively wide, slightly dilated posteriorly, elytral venation well developed, emphasized by pubescence, seeming to be costate. Surface of elytra densely rugulose-lacunose, imbricate-punctate basally, with dense, decumbent red pubescence, matt. Aedeagus as in Figs. 64– 66.
Female unknown.
Length (male). 10.4–11.4 mm.
Differential diagnosis. Lycocerus rubroniger sp. nov. slightly resembles, in coloration, Lycocerus rubripennis (Pic, 1906) (Kashmir, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Darjeeling distr.) and Lycocerus semiextensus (Wittmer, 1995) (Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Darjeeling distr.), but differs from both of them by very sparse reddish yellow pubescence of head and pronotum, larger size, posterior corners of pronotum protruding posterolaterally and quite different shape of the aedeagus. The last character suggests a relationship between the new species and Lycocerus atriceps Bourgeois, 1907, Lycocerus laosensis (Wittmer, 1995) and Lycocerus thailandicus (Wittmer, 1997), but it differs from all of them by comparatively longer laterophyses and black head and pronotum (cf. Wittmer 1995 and 1997a). Etymology. Derived from Latin ruber = red and niger = black, named in the reference to the combined coloration of the body.
Distribution. Northern Laos.
description: Published as part of Švihla, Vladimír, 2011, New taxa of the subfamily Cantharinae (Coleoptera: Cantharidae) from south-eastern Asia, with notes on other species III, pp. 1-34 in Zootaxa 2895 on pages 12-13, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.277686