Asklepia geminata
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Ordo: Coleoptera
Familia: Carabidae
Genus: Asklepia
Name
Asklepia geminata (Bates, 1871) comb. n. – Wikispecies link – Pensoft Profile
- Eucaerus geminatus Bates, 1871:78.
Holotype
Brazil, Pará, Santarém, Río Tapajos, 2.4079°S, 54.7969°W, 30m, (H.W.Bates)(MNHP: ADP132513, male). Specimen labeled “Holotype” by George E. Ball in 1972.
Derivation of specific epithet
The specific epithet, geminata, is a Latin adjective, meaning double (for example, the celestial Gemini, sign of the twins, Romulus and Remus, the mythological founders of Rome), or arranged in pairs as used here by Bates with reference to the two elytral spots.
Proposed english vernacular name
Twin-spot pattern-wing beetle.
Diagnosis
With the attributes of the genus Asklepia as described by Liebke (1938)[1] and as noted above under the generic diagnosis, and medium-sized for the genus (SBL = 2.512–2.794 mm). Adult with head and prothorax brunneus, elytral maculae fulvous or aurantiacus in some individuals; elytron brunneus with an elongated oval, horizontally oriented macula crossing basal quadrants and a round flavous macula in the apical proximal quadrant, lateral margin of medial and apical quadrant fulvous; metasternum, abdominal sterna III-VI, and epipleuron brunneus, abdominal sternum VII slightly paler; legs flavotestaceous; antennal scape and pedicel testaceous, antennomeres 3-6 and basal half of 7 deeply infuscated, apical half of 7, 8-11 white. Head and pronotum surface devoid of microsculpture surface luster very shiny; elytra surface with finely impressed isodiametric microsculpture. Pronotum cordiform, narrowly explanate, with medial lobe at base, lateral margin beaded; hind angle moderately prominent; median line well defined. Elytral interneurs striate and continuous along entire length of elytron.
Description
(Figs 29, 57). Habitus: (Fig. 29). Size: [See also Table 1] Medium-size for the genus; ABL = 2.768–2.997 mm, SBL = 2.512–2.794 mm, TW (total width) 1.411–1.440 mm, LP = 0.536–0.603 mm, WP = 0.733–0.820 mm, LE = 1.622–1.849 mm. Color: See diagnosis above. Luster: See diagnosis above. Head (Fig. 29): as in description for genus above. Prothorax. Pronotum (Fig. 29) moderately broad, as wide as head across eyes (WH/WP, mean both sexes: 0.964), longer than head (LP/LH, mean both sexes: 1.641), wider than long (W/L, mean both sexes: 1.364); markedly cordiform and explanate, lateral margin beaded with seta at anterior third; anterior angles feebly produced; base markedly constricted with medial lobe at base; hind angle moderately produced and setose; median line well defined, transverse impression punctate, punctures infuscated; surface smooth throughout. Pterothorax. Normal for genus, see description for genus above. Elytra slightly convex; at apical third twice as long as head across eyes (WH/TW, mean both sexes: 0.524) and pronotum (WP/TW, mean both sexes: 0.544), longer than wide. Elytral interneurs striate and continuous along length of entire elytron. Surface with finely impressed microsculpture, sculpticells isodiametric. Hind wings fully developed. Legs. Overall, normal for genus, see description for genus above. Abdominal sterna. Overall, normal for genus, see description for genus above. Male genitalia (Fig. 57, see Fig. 61 for attribute labels). Median lobe with phallobase short about a fourth the length of shaft, basal opening moderately small, oriented parallel to shaft. Shaft narrow, moderately curved ventrally, dorsally sclerotized except for short ostium; in ventral aspect tapered toward rather narrowly rounded apex, in lateral aspect, a rounded apex. Parameres: left very large and broad, right small and triangular, apex of left paramere lobate much longer than right paramere about half the length of shaft (measured in left lateral aspect). Endophallus without preapical spines. Female genitalia. Not investigated, presumably similar to that of Asklepia demiti sp. n.
Dispersal potential
These beetles are macropterous and probably capable of flight. They are moderately swift and agile runners.
Distribution
(Fig. 76). The wide geographical range from near the mouth of the Río Amazon at Belém to the black-waters of Pacaya-Samiria Reserve in Perú on the upper Amazon drainage system is unusual for this genus. But as pointed out in the introduction, very small carabid beetles are not collected by any but carabid specialists, and there have been few of those, working the Amazon Basin.
Way of life
See Erwin (1991)[2] for a general description of the genus. Adults of this species are active in both the late rainy season and transition to the dry season in lowland rain forest. They occur particularly in wet leaf litter in “aguajales,” i.e., palm forests (Mauritia flexuosa L. f.) that are present along major waterways throughout the Amazon Basin and along river and stream margins and in open marshes.
Other specimens examined
Brazil, Pará, Belém, 5m, 1.46°S, 48.42°W, 8 October 1978, (G.E. Ball, K.E. Ball)(UASM: ADP132557, female), Santarém, Río Tapajos, 2.4079°S, 54.7969°W, 30m, no date, (CMNH: ADP133571. male). Perú, Loreto, Rio Samiria, Boca Caño Inglés Camp, 5.1317°S, 75.0617°W, 117m, 23 August 1991, (T.L. Erwin, G.E. Ball, D. Shpeley)(NMNH: ADP109186, male).
Taxon Treatment
- Erwin, T; Zamorano, L; 2014: A synopsis of the tribe Lachnophorini, with a new genus of Neotropical distribution and a revision of the Neotropical genus Asklepia Liebke, 1938 (Insecta, Coleoptera, Carabidae) ZooKeys, 430: 1-108. doi
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