Barombia tuberculosa Karsch, 1891

Barombia tuberculosa Karsch, 1891 View in CoL

( Figs 3A, D; 7A; Table 3)

Barombia tuberculosa Karsch 1891: 180 View in CoL .

Barombia tuberculosa var. sublaevis Bolívar, 1905: 226 View in CoL . Synonymised by Kirby (1910: 386).

Barombia nassaui Rehn, 1958: 3-5 View in CoL . Synonymised by Dirsh (1966: 101).

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype of Barombia nassaui . Cameroon • ♂; Ja River , Bitje [= Bitye]; [ 3°01’00”N, 12°22’00”E]; G. L. Bates leg. GoogleMaps ; Holotype 5808; ANSP, Philadelphia .

Lectotype of Barombia tuberculosa . Cameroon • ♂; Barombi Station; Preuss leg.; DORSA BA 000504 View Materials S01; MfN, Berlin; here designated. Types (status not confirmed) of Barombia tuberculosa var. sublaevis . Equatorial Guinea • “Biafra”; [Cape San Juan; 1°10’29”N, 9°20’31”E];[ VI-XI.1901]; [M.] Martinez de la Escalera leg.; [Sex and status of Type(s) not confirmed, Repository not confirmed].

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Nigeria • 1 ♂, Cross River State, Calabar, 30 kms E on Akansako road; 13.XII.1979; J. C. Reid leg.; NHMUK014453739 About NHMUK .

Central African Republic • 1♀; La Maboke ; [ 3°49’54”S, 17°50’45”E]; 12.IV.1968; P.Teocchi leg.; MNHN GoogleMaps • 1 ♂; La Maboke ; [ 3°49’54”S, 17°50’45”E]; 10.I.1966; R. Pujol leg.; #42; MNHN GoogleMaps .

Cameroon • 1 ♂; Koupongo (Edea); [c. 3°48’N, 10°08’E]; 25.XI.1975; M. Descamps leg.; MNHN GoogleMaps .

[ Equatorial Guinea] • 1 ♂; “Congo, Riv. San Benito ”; 27.II.1905; L. Guiral leg.; [determined as Barombia tuberculosa by W.Ramme]; MNHN . Congo Republic • 1 ♂; Bassin N’gogo-Sanga, Region d’Ouésso; [ c. 1°36’38”N, 16°03’05”E]; 20.III.1905; J. Gravot leg.; [determined as Barombia tuberculosa by W. Ramme]; MNHN GoogleMaps • 1♂; [Niari Department], Mossendjo [District], Vouka [Vouga]; [ 2°34’08”S, 12°44’44”E]; 500 m a.s.l.; 1-2.XII.1973; J. C. Thibaud leg.; MNHN GoogleMaps • 1 ♀; same locality as preceding; 4.II.1974; J. C. Thibaud leg.; MNHN GoogleMaps .

Gabon • 1♂; Fernan Vaz ; [ 0°27’0”S, 10°28’0”E]; 1.I.1990; E. Cherlonneix leg.; MNHN-EO-CAELIF 11142; MNHN GoogleMaps • 1 ♂; Cap Estérias ; [c. 0°37’0”N, 9°19’60”E]; 15-16. V.1974; M. Donskoff and J. Le Breton; MNHN-EO-CAELIF 11141; MNHN GoogleMaps • 1 ♂; Ipassa ; [ 0°28’0”N, 12°43’0”E]; 3-30. V.1974; M. Donskoff and J. Le Breton leg.; quadrat; Coll. CH GoogleMaps • 1♀; Ipassa ; [ 0°28’0”N, 12°43’0”E]; 450-550 m a.s.l.; 28-30.IV.1974; M. Donskoff and J. Le Breton leg.; leopard trail; Coll. CH GoogleMaps .

REDESCRIPTION

Appearance distinctive ( Figs 3A; 19G, H). Medium size (male, c. 23.5-27 mm; female c. 32-36 mm). Integument coarsely rugose, granulose and punctate.

Head

Antenna filiform, with 23 articles ( Dirsh, 1965), about 1.45- 1.6 times (male), 1.3-1.4 times (female) as long as head and pronotum together. Head conical; frons in profile oblique and indented at median ocellus; fastigium of vertex strongly projecting beyond eyes, horizontal, acutangular, as long as or slightly longer than its basal width, with marginal carinae in apical half but with medial carinula obsolete ( Fig. 3D). Face and lower genae coarsely rugose and punctate. Frontal ridge medially produced, narrow, bladelike above antennae, becoming shallow with carinulae present between antennae and median ocellus, obsolete ventrally. Head width across eyes c. 2.9-3.5 times length of vertex (males), c. 2.6-2.9 times (females) (measured to narrowest point between eyes). Lateral ocelli barely visible from above. Eyes from above protuberant and globular ( Fig. 3D).

Thorax

Pronotum short, not covering mesonotum, with deep transverse sulci dividing prozona into anterior and posterior sections and separating prozona from much reduced metazona; prozona about 4.8 times as long as metazona, with both sections having strongly raised and bluntly pointed dorso-medial lobes, of variable development, the posterior lobe somewhat larger; anterior and posterior sections of prozona and metazona with pointed dorso-lateral tubercular lobes, small or obsolescent in anterior section of prozona, but larger in posterior section of prozona and in metazona; metazona not raised but with very small medial pointed lobe; hind margin of metazona medially indented; prosternal process acutely conical. Mesonotum low, with fore margin medially indented, as broad as or broader than pronotum, hind margin ridged and tuberculate. Mesosternal interspace open, longer than its minimum width; mesosternal lobes with smoothly curving posterior margins. Elytra and wings absent. Metanotum and first abdominal tergite inflated ( Fig. 3A), coarsely granulose, with median carina forming irregular raised arcuate or pointed medial lobes, subtriangular in dorsal view.

Abdomen

Dorsally carinate. Tympanum large, oval, sclerotised. Supra-anal plate divided into basal and apical portions by a transverse furrow, its basal portion narrowly embedded into last abdominal tergite, with broad medial longitudinal groove and with shallowly concave carinate hind margin with papillate flanges at its outer ends ( Fig. 7A); hinged apical portion shield-shaped, longer than its basal width. Subgenital plate subconical, postero-ventrally slightly concave in lateral view, with acutely conical apex. Cerci elongate conical, with digitate tips, clothed with long setae.

Legs

Hind femur of moderate depth ( c. 3.7-3.9 times as long as maximum depth, male; c. 3.7 times, females), with serrated upper carina, tuberculate upper and lower marginal areas, rounded knee lobes. Hind tibia with 8 inner and 7 outer spines, small external apical spine usually present (as in Mazaea , Fig. 3C). Arolium large, diameter less than claw length.

Male genitalia

Very similar to those of Mazaea in all respects ( Fig. 7).

Female

Internal genitalia with spermatheca of similar configuration to that found in Mazaea , with long duct repeatedly looped and coiled in two distinct clusters to left and right sides of abdomen, becoming narrower in its apical section and ending with short vermiform subapical diverticulum and longer looping vermiform apical diverticulum; overall length of spermathecal duct shorter than in Mazaea spp. and with proportionately shorter apical diverticulum. Subgenital plate similar in shape to that in Mazaea species, as described above.

Measurements

Table 3.

Coloration ( Figs 3A; 19G, H)

In contrast to other genera of Ixalidiidae Hemp, Song & Ritchie n. fam., ground colour olivaceous green to buff, variegated with light rufous brown markings, with some tubercles yellowish; antennae black with apical segments usually white; abdominal tergites 2-5 laterally with black shiny patches; abdominal sternites 2-7 variably infused with black; hind femora externally yellowish buff in basal half, with dark grey to blackish oblique transverse banding in apical half; black patches in basal half on upper and lower outer areas and internal medial area; ventral internal area brownish to blackish; knee lunules black; tibiae mottled brown and dark grey with spines black-tipped.

A D C B

DISTRIBUTION

The genus Barombia was described by Karsch (1891: 180) for his species B. tuberculosa collected from Barombi Station, Cameroon, by the botanist Paul Preuss, who also collected material of Mazaea granulosa at the same location ( Karsch 1891: 179). Mestre & Chiffaud (2009) suggest that Barombi Station was close to present-day Kumba. The type locality for var. sublaevis Bolívar, 1905 , was initially given as“Biafra”. Bolívar omitted to mention any specific locality, or the sex of his type material. However, it was actually from Cape San Juan, as indicated in the catalogue of species from Spanish Guinea ( Anonymous 1910: 580). It seems possible that he did not intend to formally designate a type for his record of this variety. The location of Bolívar’s material has not been confirmed, but may be the MNCN, Madrid ( Mestre & Chiffaud 2009: 25). Further specimens from Cameroon were reported from Bibundi ( Massa 2020) and from “Bonge” (Bong?) by Sjöstedt (1910). In Cross River State, Nigeria a male was collected from Ekinta Forest Reserve (NHMUK 014453739). Dirsh (1965, 1966, 1970) reported Barombia as present in Congo Republic and Congo Democratic Republic, in addition to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. Recently material from Congo Republic and Gabon (Ipassa) has been examined (MNHN). The large protuberant eyes, long antennae and overall greenish coloration of Barombia suggest that it inhabits the field layer rather than the leaf litter where the more sombre Mazaea is normally found.

HISTORY

Karsch (1891: 180) made clear in his description that he considered Barombia and Mazaea closely allied. Dirsh (1965: 302) also demonstrated their close relationship in his key to the Catantopinae and in his drawings of their genitalia ( Dirsh 1966, 1970) which clearly showed the supplementary apodemes of cingulum that link these two genera to Ixalidium , though he did not mention them in his text. Bolívar (1905: 226) characterized Barombia tuberculosa var. sublaevis in a single line of Latin text as “colour grass green, pronotal tubercles sub-obsolete”. Var. sublaevis was automatically synonymised with B. tuberculosa by Kirby (1910: 386). Ramme (1929: 311) repeated the synonymy without citing Kirby (1910) and listed material from Ouésso, Congo Republic. Otte (1995: 277) ignored the synonymy of var. sublaevis , making it a subspecies, but Mestre & Chiffaud (2009: 25) reinstated the synonymy (referencing the earlier synonymies of Kirby and Ramme). Bolívar (1908: 106) listed material of B. tuberculosa from Mukonje Farm, Cameroon, collected by R. Rhode (Zoological Museum, Hamburg University), that Massa (2020: 49-50) stated to be three females, one of which Massa considered to be typical “var. sublaevis ”. Massa concluded that the degree of tuberculation was variable within a population, reconfirming the synonymy of var. sublaevis with B. tuberculosa . Rehn (1958: 3-5) described B. nassaui from a single specimen from Bitje (Bitye) on the basis of its more pronounced tubercular development of the thoracic dorsum relative to material of B. tuberculosa he had studied, which was in fact somewhat atypical. Barombia nassaui was synonymised by Dirsh (1966: 101). The increased production of the dorsal thoracic crest reported by Rehn may have resulted from allometric growth, since the hind femur length of his holotype male ( 16.3 mm) is 12% larger than that of the material of B. tuberculosa ( 14.1-14.3 mm) to which he compared it.

REMARKS

Karsch’s type series of one male and two females are all syntypes, since Karsch did not designate holotypes when more than one specimen was present ( Holier 2010). This reality is not altered by the subsequent labelling of the male as holotype (DORSA BA 000504 View Materials S01) and the two females as allotype and paratype (respectively DORSA BA 000504 View Materials S02 and DORSA BA 000504 View Materials S03). Accordingly, the single male syntype (DORSA BA 000504 View Materials S01) is here designated as lectotype of Barombia tuberculosa Karsch. Images of the syntypes and their labels are shown in OSF ( Cigliano et al. 2023). No revision of the genus Barombia has been undertaken. The genus is probably known from fewer than 30 specimens in museum collections globally. In line with the foregoing record of synonymies, critical examination of material, including male genitalia, from across the geographical range of Barombia has not so far yielded clear evidence that more than one species exists.