Rhipsideigma Neboiss 1984

Introduction

Five extant species of Rhipsideigma are known: Four of them, R. lugubris (Fairmaire, 1895), R. raffrayi (Fairmaire, 1884), R. adjuncta Neboiss, 1984 and R. anosibense Neboiss, 1989, are endemics of Madagascar. The fifth species, R. cretaceotincta (Kolbe, 1897), occurs in Tanzania on the east coast of Africa, slighly north of Madagascar.

R. raffrayi is the only species of which a larva has been described and investigated (Beutel & Hörnschemeyer 2002). There is no information on the life-cycle, host plants or any other aspect of the biology of these species.

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Rhipsideigma. ©

Characteristics

The species of Rhipsideigma are comparatively large cupedid beetles. The smallest, R. lugubris, reaches 13mm of length but all others are 15mm to 20mm long and up to 6 mm wide.

The coloration is composed of different shades of brown with lighter, in R. cretaceotincta white, areas on head and prothorax and at the tips of the elytra. R. lugubris is a conspicuous exception here, with a black body and bright orange markings on head and prothorax.
Characteristic of all species of Rhipsideigma are the large, erect head tubercles, which are distinctly more prominent in this genus than in most other Archostemata. Exceptions are Cupes capitatus and Tenomerga leucophaea where similarly large tubercles are present.

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Rhipsideigma lugubris (left), Rhipsideigma raffrayi (right) ©

Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships

According to Hörnschemeyer (2009) the closest relatives of Rhipsideigma are Cupes capitatus Fabricius, 1801 and Tenomerga leucophaea (Newman, 1839). Characters of the head, the mouthparts and especially the male genitalia indicate that the north American C. capitatus is the sistergroup of Rhipsideigma. The south African T. leucophaea then is the sistergroup to C. capitatus + Rhipsideigma.

References

Beutel, R. G. and T. Hörnschemeyer. 2002. Description of the larva of Rhipsideigma raffrayi (Coleoptera: Archostemata), with phylogenetic and functional implications. European Journal of Entomology 99:53-66.

Fabricius, J. C. 1801. Systema Eleutheratorum. Kiliae 2: 66-67.

Fairmaire, L. 1884. Note sur les Coléoptères receuillis par M. Ach. Raffray á Madagascar et descriptions des espéces nouvelles - 1re Partie. Annales de la Societe Entomologique de France 4: 223-242.

Fairmaire, L. 1895. Un Coléoptére nouveaux de Madagascar. Annales de la Societe Entomologique de France 64: clxxi - clxxii.

Hörnschemeyer, T. 2009. The species-level phylogeny of archostematan beetles - where do Micromalthus debilis and Crowsoniella relicta belong? Systematic Entomology 34(3): 533-558.

Kolbe, H. J. 1897. Afrikanische Coleoptera des Königlichen Museums für Naturkunde zu Berlin. Entomologische Nachrichten 23: 348-355.

Neboiss, A. 1984. Reclassification of Cupes Fabricius (s.lat.), with descriptions of new genera and species (Cupedidae: Coleoptera). Systematic Entomology 9:443-447.

Neboiss, A. 1989. New species of Archostemata (Coleoptera, Ommatidae, Cupedidae). Revue francaise Entomologie (N.S.) 11(3): 109-115.

Newman, E. 1839. XXXV.-Supplementary note to the synonymy of Passandra. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (Zoology, Botany, and Geology) 3(18): 303 - 305.