Three new species of Toktokkies from Southern Africa.

Toktokkies are Large Darkling Beetles from Southern Africa, which ger their common name from the distinctive noise they make by tapping their abdomens on the ground. They are stout, flightless Beetles with a chamber beneath the elytra where the wings were once found, used to trap moisture, which then drips down to the Insect's mouth where it can be drunk. This enables them to survive in arid environments such as the Namib Desert, where there are more than 20 species. The large an conspicuous nature of Toktokkies made them attractive to the zoological collectors of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, resulting in many museums in Europe and North America amassing impressive collections. This is a problem for modern taxonomists, as the type specimens for described species are found in at least 59 institutions scattered around the world, making it hard to compare putative new species to all the species already described.

In a paper published in the journal Zootaxa on 29 April 2024, Marcin Jan Kamiński of the Museum  and  Institute  of  Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences describes three new species of Toktokkie from the Frey Beetle Collection at the Natural History Museum Basel, one of the world's largest collections of Darkling Beetles.

The first new species is placed in a new genus, Bouchardium, named in honour of Patrice Bouchard of the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and given the specific name chillygonzalesi, in honour of the Canadian pianist and composer, who goes by the stage name 'Chilly Gonzales'. The species is described on the basis of five specimens from Zimbabwe and Gauteng Province, South Africa.

Morphology of Bouchardium chillygonzalesi (holotype). Lateral (A), dorsal (B), posterior (C), and ventral (D) views of the body; prosternal process (E); epipleuron (F); label (G). Arrow indicates edge of epipleuron. Kamiński (2024).

Specimens of Bouchardium chillygonzalesi reach 20-24 mm in length, with a maximum elytral width of 10-13 mm. The head is prominent with downward-pointing mouthparts, the elytra high and domed. The body is dark brown, with the upper part of the elytra form a disk, also dark brown in colour, with a corrugated red border. The legs are covered by a dense coating of golden hairs.

The second new species is also placed in the genus Bouchardium, and is given the specific name mariae, in honour of Maria Antonina Kamińska, Marcin Jan Kamiński's daughter. The species is described on the basis of a number of specimens collected in Botswana, Gauteng Province (South Africa), Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.

Morphology of Bouchardium mariae (holotype and paratype). Lateral (A), dorsal (B), frontal (C), posterior (D), and ventral (E) views of the body; pronotum (F); prosternal process (G); label (H); aedeagal tegmen (I); spiculum gastrale (J). Kamiński (2024).

Specimens of Bouchardium mariae are 19-25 mm in length with the elytra having a maximum width of 12-14 mm. The head is prominent with downward-pointing mouthparts, the elytra high and domed. The body is black, with the upper part of the elytra form a disk, also black in colour, with a smooth red border. The legs are covered by a dense coating of golden hairs.

The third new species is placed in the genus Toktokkus, and given the specific name zofiae, in honour of Zofia Irena Kamińska, also Marcin Jan Kamiński's daughter. This species is described on the basis of a single specimen from Gemsbok Pan, in North West Province, South Africa. 

Morphology of Toktokkus zofiae (holotype) (A–F) and T. herero (G, H). Lateral (A), dorsal (B), and ventral (C) views of the body; pronotal disc (D), prosternal process (E, H); label (F); and elytral disc (G). Kamiński (2024).

The single known specimen of Toktokkus zofiae is 18.5 mm long with a maximum elytral width of 11.0 mm. I he head is prominent with downward-pointing mouthparts, the elytra relatively flattened with flanks covered in microtubercles. The legs are covered by a dense coating of golden hairs.

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Machleida banachi, Machleida flagstaffensis, Machleida tarskii & Machleida zofiae: Four new species of Darkling Beetles from South Africa.

Darkling Beetles, Tenebrionidae, are a morphologically diverse group with over 20 000 described species, and many more still being discovered every year. The genus Machleida is one of seven southern African genera, with five described species, four of which are known from single localities in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, with the fifth being found in Madagascar, leading to its placement within the genus questioned by entomologists.

In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 10 January 2019, Marcin Kamiński of the Department of Biological Sciences at Northern Arizona University, the Department of Entomology at Purdue University, and the Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Kojun Kanda of the also of the Department of Biological Sciences at Northern Arizona University, and Aaron Smith, again of the Department of Biological Sciences at Northern Arizona University, and the Department of Entomology at Purdue University, present a review of the genus Machleida, in which they describe four new species and formarly remove the Malagasy species, Machleida nossibiana, from the genus.

The first new species is named Machleida banachi, in honour of Stefan Banach (1892-1945), a prominent Polish mathematician and founder of modern functional analysis. The species is described from five specimens, collected in 1988 in what was then the Transkei Republic (now part of Eastern Cape Province) by Hungarian entomologist Sebastian Endrödy-Younga, four from Ntsubane Forest in and one from Ingogo Forest. This species ranges from 8.0 to 9.5 mm in length and from 4.0 to 7.0 mm in width, and is brownish in colour with abundant yellow hairs. It is typically covered in debris from the leaf litter in which it lives.

Machleida banachi, dorsal view. Kamiński et al. (2019).

The second new species described is named Machleida flagstaffensis, meaning 'from Flagstaff', in reference to the town in Eastern Cape, which is near the location where the species was discovered. This species is also based upon material gathered by Sebastian Endrödy-Younga in 1988, from the Ntsubane Forest and the Silaka Forest Reserve, also in the Eastern Cape. This species is much larger, reaching 13.0–15.0 mm in length and 7.0–7.5 mm in width. It is also brownish in colour with abundant yellow hairs, and typically covered in debris from the leaf litter in which it lives.

Machleida flagstaffensis, dorsal view. Kamiński et al. (2019).

The third species described is named Machleida tarskii, in honour of the Polish-American logician and mathematician Alfred Tarski (1901–1983). The species is described from two specimens collected by the Belgian entomologist Narcisse Leleup (1912-2001), in the Pirie Forest near King William's Town in Eastern Cape. This species reaches 9.0–9.2 mm in length, and 5.0–5.2 mm in width, and is dark brown or yellow in colour with abundant yellow hairs, and typically covered in debris from the leaf litter in which it lives.

Machleida tarskii, dorsal view. Kamiński et al. (2019).

The fourth new species described is named Machleida zofiae, in honour of Zofia Irena Kamińska, the daughter of Marcin Kamiński. This species is described on the basis of a single specimen collected in 1985 by Sebastian Endrödy-Younga in the Dwesa Forest Reserve in what was then the Transkei Republic and is now part of the Eastern Cape. This specimen is 11.5 mm in length and 5.5 mm in width, and brownish in colour with a coating of yellow hairs and a covering of debris from the forest floor.

Machleida zofiae, dorsal view. Kamiński et al. (2019).

The single Malagasy representative of the genus, Machleida nossibiana, has been considered to be a doubtful placement for some time. This is not uncommon with Malagasy species described in the nineteenth century, when it was not realised to what extent Madagascar represented a separate biogeographical realm to Southern Africa. Based upon re-examination of this species Kamiński et al.consider it should be placed in the genus Scotinesthes, as Scotinesthes nossibianus.

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