Ochthephilum egregium (REITTER 1884)

Assing, V., 2009, On the Western Palaearctic and Middle Asian species of Ochthephilum STEPHENS, with notes on Cryptobium koltzei EPPELSHEIM (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae: Cryptobiina), Linzer biologische Beiträge 41 (1), pp. 397-426 : 403-404

Ochthephilum egregium (REITTER 1884) (Figs 8-10, 20-21, Map 2 )

Cryptobium egregium REITTER 1884: 83 f.

T y p e m a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d Lectotype 3, present designation: " Kaukas Leder / Elisabetpol [= Gyandzha, = Kirovabad ( Azerbaijan)] / coll. Reitter / Paratypus 1884, Cryptobium egregium Reitter [curator label] / Lectotypus 3 Cryptobium egregium Reitter , desig. V. Assing 2008 / Ochthephilum egregium (Reitter) det. V. Assing " ( HNHM) . Paralectotypes: 533, 1♀: same data as lectotype [♀ with the curator label " Holotypus ..."] ; 13: same data, but " Ochthephilum turkestanicum (Korge) det. V. Assing " ( HNHM) ; 13: " Caucasus Leder. Reitter / Elisabetpol / coll. Reitter / Paratypus 1884, Cryptobium egregium Reitter [curator label] / Ochthephilum turkestanicum (Korge) det. V. Assing " ( HNHM) .

A d d i t i n a l m a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d: Azerbaijan:333, Xanlar ["Helenendorf"], leg. Reitter ( HNHM, cAss). Locality not specified: 13, "Caspi" ( HNHM) ; 11 exs., "Kaukas. Leder" ( NHMW, cAss) .

C o m m e n t: The original description is based on an unspecified number of syntypes from "Elisabethpol" (REITTER 1884). An examination of the type series in the Reitter collection at the HNHM, which comprises eight males and one female, revealed that they belong to two species, so that a lectotype designation is mandatory in the interest of the stability of nomenclature. Two males are conspecific with O. turkestanicum (KORGE) . One of the males that are not conspecific with O. turkestanicum is designated as the lectotype. The interpretation of O. egregium by ZANETTI (1980) and HOZMAN (1985) refers to an undescribed species, which is described as O. permutatum below.

Ochthephilum egregium is readily distinguished from O. collare and other similar congeners by the distinctly smaller aedeagus and the shape of its internal structures (Figs 8- 10, 20-21). The forebody of all examined specimens is of more or less uniformly brownish coloration.

D i s t r i b u t i o n: Confirmed records are known only from Azerbaijan ( Map 2 ).

Figures

Map 2: Distributions of Ochthephilum besuchti (BORDONI) (open circles), O. permutatum nov.sp. (filled circles), O. egregium (REITTER) (open squares), and O. hamatum ASSING (filled squares), based on revised records.