Never collected such kind of beetle in the two times I've been there. Cool one indeed!

Hi François, it is a species of the genus Bancous Pic, 1946. They are termitophilous and belong to the Erotylidae. Best regards, Thomas

Hi François, there are 3 described species of Bancous Pic, 1946. The typical species B. irregularis is decribed from Ivory Coast and the 2 others from Central Africa. Your specimen has clearly some flying wings, on the 3 species, only one has too: B. perplexus Skelley, 1994 from Zambia, Cameroon and Fernando Poo. This last species seems quite different principally from the elytral punctures. So it could be a new species. Cheers, Mickaël

Nice. We have the same one. If anyone's describing any- let us know, and if we do we'll let you know :)

Thanks to all for your answers, all very helpful! Enrico, I got them using flight interceptions traps, I guess this is probably one of the few ways to collect these inquiline. Thomas, thanks for pointing out that they are actually termitophilous. Michaël, merci pour la diagnose plus précise. Je demande à Paul s'il est intéréssé par l'étude de ces spécimens et bien sûr je te ferai savoir Max.

Cheers,

François

Yes, that is Bancous, a genus Pic described as a tenebrionid. In his defense, there is a tenebrionid genus that is dorsally identical! You need to look at the venter and count tarsal segments. I am still postulating the idea that there maybe winged and wingless morphs of the same species. I am in contact with Francois and will have a look at his specimens soon. Great Find!

Having a second look at the specimens, I realized that they are not from Mont Tonkoui but from Parc national du Banco, the second site we collected. Interestingly, this is the type locality of the new genus and species (Bancous irregularis) described by Pic in 1946. It is however quite different...

I confirm this is Bancous of Erotylidae.