Calosoma (Carabophanus) raffrayi Fairmaire, 1883

Length 11-18 mm. The pronotum of C. raffrayi is narrowed in the rear, with lobes very small. The femora are red and the upper body is uniformly black. The elytra are smooth, devoid of the two raised lines that, in other species of the group, run parallel to the suture of elytra throughout its length.
C. raffrayi has been described on specimens captured at Mount Abuna Yosef in Wollo. Towards North it has been found in Tigray, near the present border between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Towards south it arrives at the extre northern border of Shoa (Mount Abuye Meda). It has been also quoted by Rougemont (1976) from much more south, from the Ternaber pass, where he would live with C. arrowi, but the datum deserves to be confirmed.

Examined specimens and literature’s data
Ethiopia. Wollo: Abuna Josef, in the Simien mountains (lectotype MNHN; SB); env. Desse, Tossa Amba (RMCA); Tigrai: Alitiéna North of Addigrat (EM); Shewa: Mussolini pass (=Termaber pass) (Rougemont, 1976: 255); Mount Abuye Meda (Breuning, 1928a: 125)

Notes: Brachhypterous, the wings are reduced to a stump. C. raffrayi lives in pastures between 2900 and 3000 m.. Adults seem to be mostly nocturnal and they shelter during the day under stones. They were found in activity in the initial period of rainy in June, and during the dry season in December (Rougemont, 1976: 255).
The species is named after Achille Marie Jacques Raffray (1844 – 1923) a French entomologist, explorer and diplomat. In 1882 Raffray was charged with a mission to Abyssinia, where he had already been in the years 1873-74. In this occasion he has been able to visit the unknown mountains of Zebul and Abouna Yousef in the Ethiopian plateaus, where he was one of the first naturalists that could observe the alpine fauna in Africa.

Calosoma (Carabophanus) raffrayi ♂ Farmaire, 1883 Abuna Yusef (Typus of Calosoma caraboides Raffray, 1882). (coll. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris)

Calosoma (Carabophanus) raffrayi ♂ Farmaire, 1883 Ethiopia: Abuna Josef, Simien

Calosoma (Carabophanus) raffrayi ♂ Farmaire, 1883 Ethiopia: Alitiéna, Abissinie (Tigrai, north of Addigrat) (coll. E. Migliaccio)