Onymacris boschimana boschimana (Péringuey, 1884) - Bushmanland Long-legged Darkling Beetle

A black Onymacris without white waxy secretions. Pronotum shiny, with only very fine punctures laterally; elytral disc with three distinct costae. Legs not exceptionally long, femora a little shorter or longer than elytral length; metatibiae strongly compressed and slightly widened, but distinctly narrower than femur; all tarsal claws slender.

Original description & illustration in:
Péringuey, L. 1884. Second Contribution to the South-African Coleopterous Fauna. Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society, 4(2), 67–190. doi:10.1080/21560382.1884.952620
https://sci-hub.st/https://doi.org/10.1080/21560382.1884.9526202
https://sci-hub.st/https://doi.org/10.1080/21560382.1884.9526208

Elongated, black, sub-glossy, head barely impressed, prothorax frontally cut out, loosely punctate; elytra elongate, sub-convex, in the middle widened, with raised edges and three costae, with transverse tuberculate-plicate interstices; long legs.
Length 18 mm; width 11mm.
Black, slightly shining. Head broad, smooth, distinctly punctured, with a strong acute ridge above the eyes; antennae black, a little longer than the prothorax which is finely marginated all round, acutely produced at the anterior angles, moderately convex, smooth, with a faint lateral impression past the middle, and very finely and distinctly punctured. Elytra black, elongated, not broader than the prothorax at the base, ampliated a little past the middle, acuminated posteriorly, sub-convex above, with the suture raised and three acute ridges on each elytron - the first and third coalescing near the apex - and the interstices filled with a transverse plicated rugosity consisting of small tubercles. Underside black, plicated longitudinally; legs very long, rugose, claws and spurs very long and reddish.
Bushmanland, Cape Colony.

Distribution: Bushmanland (arid inland region South of the Orange river), Northern Cape, South Africa

Illustrated in Koch 1948:

iNat observation:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/38066867

References:

Key and distribution maps for Onymacris in Penrith 1984:
https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA00411752_156

Koch, C. 1948. The Tenebrionidae of Southern Africa. VII. Preliminary notes on the South African Adesmiini. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 21.
https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA00411752_427
Plate 24 https://journals.co.za/doi/epdf/10.10520/AJA00411752_431

Publicerat 24 april 2024 07.32 av traianbertau