Acrostilicus hospes Hubbard, 1896

Brunke, Adam J. & Schnepp, Kyle E., 2021, Taxonomic Changes in Nearctic Paederinae, New Records and a Redescription of the Enigmatic Genus Acrostilicus Hubbard (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae), The Coleopterists Bulletin 75 (4), pp. 883-894 : 888

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.1649/0010-065X-75.4.883

publication LSID

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:53B7F918-EEA4-46AD-B683-155AB21724D2

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03A387D7-FFEB-696A-7ABB-FC6FFBDCFA1B

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Acrostilicus hospes Hubbard, 1896
status

 

Acrostilicus hospes Hubbard, 1896 View in CoL ( Figs. 1A–F View Fig , 2A–F View Fig )

Acrostilicus hospes Hubbard 1896: 299 View in CoL .

Type Material. Syntypes (1 male, 2 females, NMNH): “[specimen head, prothorax, meso/metatho- rax, basal abdomen each glued to thin point]/ Clearwater, 27.6 Fla [typed label] /Coll Hubbard & Schwarz [typed label]/Gopher [handwritten]/Cotype No 22508 U.S. N.M [red printed label]/ Acrostilicus hospes Hubbard [handwritten]” [1 male] .

Labels as above, [body intact, 1 female]. Labels as above, except “4.7 Fla” [body intact, 1 female].

Note on Type Material. Specimens are in mod- erate to poor condition and the male has been previously disarticulated. We have not designated a lectotype because the identity of this distinctive taxon is not in question.

Other Material. UNITED STATES: Florida: Hamilton Co., 12 miles E Madison, 30.48852, −83.21186, 17–20.IX.2017, black cup pitfall, Kyle E. Schnepp (2, KESC) GoogleMaps .

Diagnosis. Easily recognized as the only species of the genus.

Redescription. Forebody 2.6–2.8 mm. Coloration: pale yellowish-brown, with legs and elytra slightly paler, yellowish ( Fig. 1A View Fig ).

Head approximately as long as wide (1.035 l/w); punctation moderately dense, coarse and umbilicate, interstices narrow, most punctures clearly but narrowly separated by a distance less than 1/4 of their diameter, punctures more widely separated in center of disc and on frons. Eyes bulging, temples about 1.6 times as long as eyes. Antenna long, about as long as head and pronotum combined, antennomeres 1–7 elongate, 8–10 subquadrate to slightly transverse. Pronotum elongate-hexagonal, sides weakly explanate, distinctly narrower and shorter than head; disc with relatively broad median impunctate line, about 3–4 puncture diameters wide, sometimes narrowing to 2 puncture diameters wide, punctures much finer than on head, simple and sparser, most separated by more than 1 puncture diameter; elytra longer and much broader than pronotum; punctation finer than that of head, simple, punctures separated by more than their diameter, interspaces with irreg- ularly spaced micropunctures; scutellar shield sparsely punctate; wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I longer than II and III combined. Abdomen about as wide as elytra, punctation fine, moderately dense; distinct microsculpture absent; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe. Male with sternites as described for the genus; aedeagus with ventral process shorter than uneverted internal sac; aedeagus in ventral view with apex of ventral process acute but rounded, sides slightly sinuate ( Fig. 2D View Fig ); aedeagus in lateral view with ventral process strongly produced ventrad, dorsal face of process with apical and subapical teeth ( Fig. 2E View Fig ).

Distribution. This species is currently known only from Hamilton and Pinellas counties in Florida but may co-occur broadly in the southeast with the gopher tortoise ( Gopherus polyphemus (Daudin) ; Testudines: Testudinidae ) in suitable habitats.

Bionomics. Both adults and larvae of this species have been directly collected from burrows of the gopher tortoise ( Hubbard 1896). To our knowledge, no records have been published since. More than 100 years later, one of us (KES) collected two specimens of this species from black pitfall traps, which tend to capture burrow-associated Coleoptera . Additional species associated with gopher tortoises that were collected from the same black-cup pitfalls include Philonthus gopheri Hubbard ( Coleoptera : Staphylinidae ) and Alloblackburneus troglodytes (Hubbard) ( Coleoptera : Scarabaeidae ).

NMNH

Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History

KESC

Keene State College

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Coleoptera

Family

Staphylinidae

Genus

Acrostilicus

Loc

Acrostilicus hospes Hubbard, 1896

Brunke, Adam J. & Schnepp, Kyle E. 2021
2021
Loc

Acrostilicus hospes

Hubbard, H. G. 1896: 299
1896
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