Calosoma (Orinodromus) volkensi Kolbe, 1895
Orinodromus Volkensi Kolbe, 1895: 65 (type locality: Kilimandscharo); lectotype ♂ in Museum für Naturkunde Humboldt Universität, Berlin (Basilewsky, 1967: 70)
Calosoma (Carabomorphus) deckeni subsp. volkensi Breuning, 1928: 137
Carabomorphus (Orinodromus) volkensi Lapouge, 1932: 398
Orinodromus Volkensi Jeannel, 1940: 149
Orinodromus albomaculatus Basilewsky, 1950: 119 (type locality: Shira plateau); holotype ♂ in Musée Royal de l'Afrique Central, Tervuren (synonymy later established by Basilewsky, 1967: 70)
Length 10,5-16 mm. C. volkensi, as the other species, that are found on Mount Kilimanjaro: C. deckeni and C. glaciale, all of them separated by altitudinal belts and exposure of the slopes, has the rear lobes of pronotum, small but well developed, and provided with one bristle. Basing on these characteristics, Jeannel (1940) distinguished these species, placing them, together with C. neumanni other mountain species from Tanzania, in the subgenus Orinodromus s. str.
C. volkensi is characterized by the pronotum only moderately transverse, posteriorly narrow and weakly sinuata. The elytra are smooth without visible sculpture, widened in the posterior third. The upper body is yellowish brown to blackish, with a very characteristic large white spot in the back half of each elytron.
According to the data given by Basilewsky (1962: 71), it has been found on the Kilimangiaro southern slopes, in high altitude alpine meadows, on the Shira plateau and on the cone of Mawenzi, between 4.200 and 4.600 m.
Examined specimens
Tanzania. Kilimanjaro (RS, SB), Mawenzi base (MNHN, RMCA), Moschi (AC), Shira plateau (type of Orinodromus albomaculatus; RMCA), Shira Camp Two, 3500m. (www.inaturalist.org)
Notes: Wingless. It lives on high altitude alpine meadows, and, some time, it has been observed in activity during the hottest hours of the day. Catches are reported in January, February and June, July, before and after the long rains, and in October, before the short rainy season.
The species is named after Georg Ludwig August Volkens (1855 – 1917), a German botanist that visited the Kilimanjaro area in 1892, 1893 and 1894. On these visits Volkens performed phytogeographical studies, and collected numerous plant and animal new to science.
 Kolbe, 1895 Base du Mawenzi, limite supérieure de l'ericetum alpin, 4300-4450m, 14.II.1956 N. Leleup (Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris) |
 Kolbe, 1895 Kilimandjaro, Moschi, Methner S. (coll. A. Casale) |
 Kolbe, 1895 Tanzania, M. Kilimanjaro, 1.I.2002, leg. Novak |
 Kolbe, 1895 Tanzania, M. Kilimanjaro, 1.I.2002, leg. Novak |