Caccothryptus larryi

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Caccothryptus larryi
Caccothryptus larryi.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Limnichidae
Genus: Caccothryptus
Species:
C. larryi
Binomial name
Caccothryptus larryi
Matsumoto, 2021

Caccothryptus larryi is a species of minute marsh-loving beetle in the subfamily Limnichinae. The species was described alongside five other Caccothryptus species by Natural History Museum entomologist Keita Matsumoto in 2021, using specimens gathered in 1953 by Harry George Champion in Haldwani, India. Both of the c. larryi specimens featured genital structures distinct from Champion's initial classification of C. ripicola. The species was named for Larry, the Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office at the British Prime Minister's residence at 10 Downing Street.

Contents

Taxonomy

The Limnichidae (minute marsh-loving beetle) genus Caccothryptus was first described by David Sharp in 1902. [1] [2] In 2014, the genus was divided into five species groups by Carles Hernando and Ignacio Ribera, as part of a reorganization which brought the genus from seven to 23 species. [3]

A group of Caccothryptus specimens were collected in 1953 by forester Harry George Champion in the Haldwani division of the Kumaon Himalayas, India. These were labeled as C. ripicola, which Champion had previously described in 1923. These were stored at the British Natural History Museum. In 2021, Natural History Museum entomologist Keita Matsumoto identified a number of distinct species from these specimens. Two specimens, a male and a female, were identified as a distinct species and became a holotype and paratype for Caccothryptus larryi.C. larryi was placed in the species group compactus and named for Larry, a cat serving as Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office at 10 Downing Street since 2011. [4]

Description

Both Caccothryptus larryi specimens identified have an elytral length of around 2.5 mm, and elytral widths of around 2 mm. Their prothoraces both measured around 0.75 mm in length and 1.7 mm in width. The female paratype is slightly larger in all measurements. C. larryi's body is dark brown and covered with long, light yellow setae. Its tarsi are divided into five segments, of increasing length, with the fifth segment as long as the others combined. It has long, narrow, light brown tarsal claws. The beetle's head, smooth and punctured, is slightly retracted into its pronotum, and features eleven-segment antennae. Little sexual dimorphism exists between the male and female specimens, beyond a longer fifth abdominal ventrite on the female. [5]

The beetle's genitals display a number of differences from the original classification of C. ripicola, which enabled its classification as a separate species. C. larryi parameres have oval-shaped notches on the upper side, as opposed to ripicola's semicircular notches; they also feature asymmetrical notches on the side of the median lobe, and are generally wider and shorter. The depression between larryi's parameres are narrow and elongated with a pointed end. [5]

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<i>Caccothryptus championi</i> Species of beetle

Caccothryptus championi is a species of minute marsh-loving beetle in the subfamily Limnichinae. The species was described alongside five other Caccothryptus species by Natural History Museum entomologist Keita Matsumoto in 2021, using specimens gathered in 1953 by Harry George Champion in Haldwani, India alongside an earlier 1925 specimen collected nearby. Like the other Caccothryptus species described by Matsumoto, it was distinguished from its original classification of C. ripicola due to differences in the shape of its genitalia. Twenty-seven specimens from the British Natural History Museum collection were identified with C. championi, named after Champion.

<i>Caccothryptus abboti</i> Species of beetle

Caccothryptus abboti is a species of minute marsh-loving beetle in the subfamily Limnichinae. The species was described alongside five other Caccothryptus species by Natural History Museum entomologist Keita Matsumoto in 2021, using specimens gathered in 1953 by Harry George Champion in Haldwani, India alongside an earlier 1925 specimen collected nearby. Like the other Caccothryptus species described by Matsumoto, it was distinguished from its original classification of C. testudo due to differences in the shape of its genitalia. One specimen collected by Champion was identified as the holotype for C. abboti and named for English radio presenter Nick Abbot.

Caccothryptus yunnanensis is a species of minute marsh-loving beetle in the subfamily Limnichinae. The species was described in 2018 by enomologist Hiroyuki Yoshitomi. Although part of the species group C. testudo, it is related to the C. compactus species C. chayuensis) and C. thai due to serrae due to their shared small notches along the median lobe. It is distinguished from these due to its straight parameres, which are curved in C. chayuensis and C. thai. C. yunnanensis specimens were collected by Yu-Tang Wang across the Chinese provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan, the latter of which gave the species its name. It is almost entirely black in coloration, except for dark and light brown in its antennae and legs. It has an average length of around 5 mm. The holotype of C. yunnanensis is a male collected in Xima, Yunnan in 2014.

Caccothryptus is a genus of minute marsh-loving beetle in the subfamily Limnichinae. The genus was first described by entomologist David Sharp in 1902, with C. compactus as the type species.

References

  1. Matsumoto 2021, p. 168.
  2. Yoshitomi 2018, p. 138.
  3. Hernando & Ribera 2014, p. 281.
  4. Matsumoto 2021, pp. 168, 176.
  5. 1 2 Matsumoto 2021, pp. 176–178.

Bibliography

  • Hernando, Carles; Ribera, Ignacio (2014). "Taxonomic revision of the genus Caccothryptus Sharp (Coleoptera: Limnichidae)". Koleopterologische Rundschau. 84. ISSN   0075-6547.
  • Matsumoto, Keita (2021). "Six new species of the genus Caccothryptus from the Himalayas (Coleoptera: Limnichidae)" (PDF). European Journal of Taxonomy (739): 168–184. doi:10.5852/ejt.2021.739.1275. ISSN   2118-9773.
  • Yoshitomi, Hiroyuki (2018). "A New Species of the Genus Caccothryptus (Coleoptera: Limnichidae) from China" (PDF). Japanese Journal of Systematic Entomology. 24 (1): 138–140. ISSN   1341-1160.