ZoologicnlJournal o/th? Linnean Society, 70: 15- 18. With 1 figure

Scptclnbel- l Y k U

A Darwinian Cullimicru (Coleop tera, Bupres tidae)

H. A. HESPENHEIDE

Department of Biology, Uniuersity of Calfornia, Los Angeles, CA 90024, U.S .A .

Cnllimicro donuini sp. nov., collected by Charles Darwin at Bahia, Brazil, during the voyage of H.M.S Braglr, is dewril)ed arid illustrated.

K k Y W O R D S , --Callirnicm-Coleoptera-Buprestidae- Charles Darwin

“We arrived [at Bahia] on August Ist , and stayed four davs, during which I took several long walks. . . . Learned naturalists described’. . . scenes of the tropics by naming a multitude of objects, and mentioning some characteristic feature of each. To a learned traveller this possibly may communicate some definite ideas: but who. . . when examining in the cabinet of the entomologist the gay exotic butterflies, and singular cicadas, will associate with these lifeless objects the waseless harsh music of the latter, and the lazy flight of the former - the sure accompaniments of the still, glowing noonday of the tropics?”

Charles Darwin, The Voyage ofthe Beagle

During the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, Darwin made two separate stops at San Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, one at either end of the ship’s circumnavigation of the globe: between 29 February and 18 March 1832, and between 1 and 5 August 1836. During Darwin’s exploration of the area near San Salvador, he collected what seems to be a unique specimen of a species of Callimicra that is undescribed, and is the only specimen of Neotropical agriline buprestid brought back by him from that voyage. Since Darwin provided taxonomy with a theory that allows not only for a n explanation of the origin of species but also for a systematics, that, albeit imperfectly, can reflect phylogeny, it seems appropriate to name the species in his honor:

Callimicra darwini sp. nov. (Fig. 1)

Narrowly elongate, shallowly convex, gradually rounded in front and behind, incised at the middle; shagreened (finely reticulate-striolate) virtually throughout

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0024-4082/80/090015 + 04$02.00/0 0 1980 The Linriean Sotien of London

16 H. A. HESPENHEIDE

,::.:I.. ........... ........... ...................... ....................... ............. ........... .......... "::. ..... ..: . ._ i Figure I . Callimicra danuini sp. nov., dorsal view; shaded areas (right side only) indicatc pattern of inetallir green o r bluish-green colouration.

and weakly shining; pronotum black, metallic green along midline and around margins, bluish interior from the prehumeral carina, scutellum bright golden green becoming cupreous on the posterior two-thirds, elytra black on anterior half, violaceous on posterior half, with two larger golden green spots on each elytron-a rhomboidal one just beyond the apical quarter and a larger irregular one just in front of the middle, both of them touching the lateral margins-and a row of golden green punctures between anterior spot and base; beneath black; 3.2mmlong, 1.15mmwide.

Head with the front rather wide, strongly convex between the midline and both eyes, inner margins of the eyes weakly converging toward the base, feebly carinate on occiput becoming rather strongly depressed along midline below dorsal one-third; lateral frontal pores rather large, contiguous with inner margins of the eyes and connected with the medial pores by a deep transverse groove, medial pores half as large, nearly contiguous; surface glabrous, densely, finely reticulate, regularly, moderately punctate ; epistoma narrow between the antenna1 cavities, strongly elevated, triangular, shallowly concave.

A DARWINIAN C A L L I M I C R A 1 7

Pronoturn L'ery convex, 1.15 mm wide, 0.7 mm long, somewhat narrower at the apex than at the base and widest at about the basal one-third; sides faintly emarginate for one-third of their length from base, then shallowly arcuately narrowed to the apical angles; anterior margin gradually ascending with a rounded median lobe; base transversely truncate to the middle of each elytron, then turning obliquely backward to the scutellum, in front of which it is subtruncate ; surface rather narrowly, deeply, transversely depressed along base, narrowly, deeply depressed along the lateral margins, with strong lateral carinae abruptly turning inward from basal corners then turning anteriorly parallel to margin to beyond the middle of pronotum; glabrous, finely reticulate throughout overlain by sparser concentric reticulations, faintly, sparsely, regularly punaate. Scutellum broadly triangular, the surface coarsely reticulate.

Elytra shallowly convex, as wide as pronotum at base; humeral angles obtuse; sides widest just before base and behind middle, shallowly emarginate between, then gradually narrowed to the tips, which are separately broadly rounded, with the lateral margins minutely serrate on apical fifth; humeri rather strongly developed ; surface rather coarsely transversely punctate on anterior half, faintly punctate on posterior half, all punctures with a short hair in each, finely reticulate on anterior half, more coarsely so in patches of colour, and not at all on posterior half; each elytron with a narrow, deep depression along the lateral margin behind the humerus, and with a rather broad, shallower basal depression that forms a strong ridge along the anterior margin of the elytra lateral to the scutelluin.

Abdomen beneath faintly, regularly reticulate, sparsely short pubescent; last segment broadly rounded, broadly truncate at apex. Prosternum sparsely short pubescent, densely, finely reticulate, obsoletely punctate, the anterior margin barely elevated ; prosternal process rather long, narrow, rather densely, coarsely punctate, the sides gradually arcuately narrowed to the apex, which is narrowly rounded.

Holotype: Brazil, Bahia, Charles Darwin (British Museum (Natural History)). In the absence of a complete revision of Callimicra, one can make only tentative

statements about the placement of the species within the genus. In overall form it is intermediate between the broader more convex species (such as C. scintillans Ob. and C. strnndi Ob. from S5o Paulo, Brazil), and the more elongate and less convex species (such as C. cylindera Kerr. and C . elongata Kerr., also from the S5o Paulo area; see Cobos, 1978, and Hespenheide, 1979, for the synonyniization of Bakerettin with Callimicra). The colour pattern of the elytra-two pairs of green spots on a ground colour of black and violaceous-is unusual in the genus, in which a singlc colour or unpatterned gradations in colour are thc rule; distinctly patterned, bicoloured elytra are shared, insofar as I know, with only two other undescribed species, one each from Panama and from the Amazon region of Brazil.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Discoverv and study of this specimen was made possible through the assistance of Miss C. M. F'. Von Hayek and Mr Richard Thompson of the British Museum (Natural History), by a grant (DEB76-10109) from the National Science Foundation, and by a grant from the U.C.L.A. Academic Senate.

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18 H. A. HESPENHEIDE

REFERENCES

COBOS, A,,

DARWIN, C., 1958. The Voyageofthe Beagle. NewYork: BantamBooks. HESPENHEIDE, H. A . , 1979. Nomenclatural notes on the Agrilinae (Buprestidae): IV. Coleopterists’ Bulletin,

1978. Estudios sobre la subfamilia Trachyinae (Co1eop1rl.a. Bupi-c.\lidnc~). S o ( ( 7 ’ d l ~ RPWLC d’f:’ntomolop, 8: 59-68.

33: 105-120.