Cryptomanum omanicum ( Coiffait, 1981 ) Coiffait, 1981

Assing, Volker, 2008, On the Cryptobiina of the Arabian peninsula (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Zootaxa 1892, pp. 53-64 : 57-59

Cryptomanum omanicum ( Coiffait, 1981) , comb. n.

( Figs. 9–18 )

Cryptobium omanicum Coiffait, 1981: 242 .

Homaeotarsus omanicum [sic]: Coiffait, 1984: 349.

Type material examined. Holotype ɗ: " Oman, Musandam, Kharab Arca / T. B. Larsen, 22.II.1979 / Type / Cryptobium omanicum H. Coiffait 1979 / Cryptomanum omanicum (Coiffait) det. V. Assing 2008" ( NHMB). Additional material examined. 3 exs., Oman, Dhofar, 1.IX.1994, leg. A. Rihane (cAss).

Redescription. 6.0– 7.2 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 9 . Coloration of body brown to blackish, with the abdominal apex (segments VIII–X) paler; legs pale yellowish; antennae reddish yellow, with the apex of antennomere I and antennomeres II–VI(VII) somewhat infuscate.

Head approximately 1.3 times as long as wide and of subparallel shape; punctation areolate, coarse, and dense; interstices reduced to narrow ridges, without microsculpture. Eyes distinctly bulging, approximately half as long as postocular region in dorsal view ( Fig. 10 ). Antennae with antennomere I approximately as long as the combined length of the 5–6 following antennomeres.

Pronotum approximately 1.4 times as long as wide and 0.85–0.90 times as wide as head, widest approximately half way between anterior angles and middle; punctation as coarse as, or coarser than that of head; impunctate midline narrow, less that twice the diameter of punctures, occasionally obsolete in anterior 1/4– 1/3 ( Fig. 10 ).

Elytra almost as long and approximately 1.35 times as wide as pronotum; punctation areolate, approximately as coarse as, and even denser than that of pronotum ( Fig. 10 ). Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I approximately as long as the combined length of II+III.

Abdomen about as wide as elytra, widest at segments V/VI; punctation fine and dense; interstices without microsculpture and shiny; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe; posterior margin of tergite VIII distinctly concave in the middle ( Fig. 12 ).

ɗ: sternite VII with pronounced median impression, this impression deepest anteriorly and with distinct patch of dense pubescence, posterior margin weakly concave ( Fig. 13 ); sternite VIII with widely U-shaped and not very deep posterior excision, pubescence unmodified ( Fig. 14 ); aedeagus with very weakly sclerotised ventral process and with internal structures of characteristic shape ( Figs. 15–18 ).

Ψ: sternite VIII broadly convex; lateral processes of tergite IX apically with distinct spine-like process bent dorsad.

Comment. The species was originally described in Cryptobium and later transferred to Homaeotarsus without comment ( Coiffait 1981, 1984). When describing the species, Coiffait (1981) evidently failed to assess the relevant characters which he later ( Coiffait 1984) used for separating Homaeotarsus from Subhomaeotarsus (presence/absence of additional line on elytral epipleura, gular sutures separated/fused), which was later implicitly synonymised with Ophitodum by Rougemont (1986).

The figures of the aedeagus provided by Coiffait (1981: Figs. 1 C–D, 1984: Figs. 93E–F) are erroneous and highly misleading. What he figures as the parameres and the apex of the ventral process are in fact the internal structures and the apex of the internal sac, respectively (see Figs. 15–18 ).

Distribution and bionomics. The species is known from the type locality in the Musandam peninsula, northern Oman, and from the Dhofar region, southern Oman. Bionomic data are not available.

Figures

FIGURES 9 – 18. Cryptomanum omanicum (Coiffait): 9 — habitus; 10 — forebody; 11 — mouthparts in dorsal view; 12 — male tergite VIII; 13 — male sternite VII; 14 — male sternite VIII; 15 — aedeagus in lateral view; 16 – 17 — aedeagus in ventral view; 18 — apical internal structures of aedeagus in ventral view. Scale bars: 9 – 10: 1.0 mm; 11 – 14: 0.5 mm; 15 – 18: 0.2 mm.

FIGURES 1 – 8. Ophitodum nobile (Bernhauer) (1 – 4) and O. capillare (Fagel) (5 – 8): 1 — forebody; 2 — male abdominal segments VII – IX in ventral view; 3 – 4, 7 – 8 — aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view; 5 — head; 6 — male sternite VIII. Scale bars: 1 – 2, 5: 1.0 mm; 3 – 4, 6 – 8: 0.5 mm.