Lithocharodes simillima SHARP, 1885

Irmler, Ulrich, 2021, The Neotropical species of the genus Lithocharodes SHARP, 1876 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylininae: Xantholinini), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 71 (1), pp. 29-85 : 57

Lithocharodes simillima SHARP, 1885

Figs 14 a-c, 43 J, 46 I

Lithocharodes simillima SHARP, 1885: 49

Type material: male, holotype: Guatemala, Cahabon, leg.

Champion ( BNMH).

Diagnosis: Lithocharodes simillima SHARP, 1885 resembles the other large light brown species with dense punctation on the head, such as L. puncticeps SHARP, 1885 . It can be separated from L. puncticeps by the overall lighter colouration and the divergent sides of the head, whereas in L. puncticeps only the pronotum is light brown and the sides of the head are approximately parallel. It can be easily recognized by the structure of the endophallus, with large acute spines in the posterior part and large lobes in the middle part.

Description: Length: 4.9 mm. Colouration: Brown; head slightly darker brown than pronotum and elytra.

Head: 0.69 mm long, 0.47 mm wide; sides slightly divergent posteriad; postocular space three times as long as eyes; interocular furrows reaching mid-length of eyes; setiferous punctation deep and dense; on average, interstices between punctures as wide as or smaller than diameter of punctures; midline, including space between interocular furrows, impunctate; impunctate midline wider near neck than between eyes; surface without microsculpture; shiny. Antennae with first antennomere as long as half-length of head; second and third antennomere conical; longer than wide; subsequent antennomeres wider than long and increasing in width; fourth antennomere 1.5 times as wide as long; tenth antennomere 1.8 times as wide as long; antennomeres four to eleven pubescent. Pronotum: 0.69 mm long; 0.47 mm wide; widest in anterior third; conically narrowed toward neck; slightly narrowed in middle third and nearly parallel in posterior third; setiferous punctation moderately dense, except for wide impunctate midline; adjacent to impunctate midline with irregular sinuate line of punctures; surface without microsculpture; shiny. Elytra: 0.68 mm long; 0.60 mm wide; sides slightly divergent posteriad; humeral angles sub-rectangular; posterior angles nearly rectangular; posterior margin slightly retreated to suture; setiferous punctation dense and moderately deep; on average, interstices between punctures as wide as diameter of punctures; surface with weak irregular microsculpture; less shiny than head and pronotum. Abdomen densely covered by setiferous punctation; with weak transverse microsculpture; as matt as elytra; posterior margin of tergite VII of male with weak triangular emargination; in front of posterior margin with several short longitudinal striae. Meso and metatibia with 2 subapical ctenidia each. Aedeagus oval with indistinct anterior angles; endophallus with two strings; one string with large lobes differing in length; second string with long teeth in middle part; both strings linked by transparent sack covered by minute teeth; paramere slender; curved in apical third; covered by numerous short setae.

Figures

Fig. 13–18: L.-simillima-group:Lithocharodes triangula (13), L. simillima(14), L. surinamensis (15), L. brooksi(16), L. germana (17), L. denticulata (18); aedeagus (a), paramere (b), sternite VII of male (c), tergite VII of male (d); scale bare: A–D: 0.2 mm; B: 0.1 mm.