Boreophilia vega (Fenyes, 1920)

Klimaszewski, Jan, Sikes, Derek S., Brunke, Adam & Bourdon, Caroline, 2019, Species review of the genus Boreophilia Benick from North America (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae, Athetini): Systematics, habitat, and distribution, ZooKeys 848, pp. 57-102 : 57

13. Boreophilia vega (Fenyes, 1920) Figs 109-116

Atheta vega Fenyes, 1920: 198. Brundin 1954: 417, Smetana 2004: 396.

Boreophilia herschelensis Klimaszewski & Godin, in Klimaszewski et al. 2012: 232. New synonymy.

Diagnosis.

Body broad, narrowly oval, moderately glossy, abdomen slightly more so (Fig. 109); length 2.8-30 mm; uniformly dark brown to almost black, tarsi paler, yellowish-brown; antennomeres VIII-X subquadrate to slightly transverse; pronotum as long as elytra at suture, maximum width of pronotum distinctly shorter than maximum width of elytra. Male. Tubus of median lobe of aedeagus slightly arcuate in lateral view, apex narrowly rounded, bulbus broad and with two elongate narrow sclerites (Fig. 110), in dorsal view median lobe of aedeagus elongate oval (Fig. 111); tergite VIII truncate apically (Fig. 112); sternite VIII elongate, parabolic apically (Fig. 113). Female. Spermatheca: capsule broadly club-shaped, moderately long and rounded apically, with small apical invagination; stem short, sinuate and looped posteriad (Fig. 116); tergite VIII truncate apically (Fig. 114); sternite VIII rounded apically and truncate medially, antecostal suture arcuate and slightly sinuate laterally (Fig. 115).

Distribution.

Holarctic species, known from West and East Siberia, Russian Far East, North Korea; and Canada: Herschel Island, YT. USA: not recorded.

Collection data.

Habitat: Yukon specimens were collected in an alluvial fan in June and July ( Klimaszewski et al. 2012).

Comments.

Boreophilia herschelensis is conspecific with B. vega and is here synonymized. Boreophilia vega has a median lobe of aedeagus similar to that of B. neoinsecuta (Fig. 72) and B. insecuta (Fig. 82), but the spermatheca of B. vega compared to the latter two species is differently shaped (Figs 79, 80, 116). Externally, B. vega differs from B. neoinsecuta in elytra distinctly broader that the maximum width of pronotum (Figs 71, 109). Female sternite VIII is differently shaped in the two species (Figs 78, 115).

DNA Barcode data.

Our data included one sequence of B. vega from Yukon Territory, Canada, but because this sequence was <500 bp long it was not assigned a BIN on BOLD. We calculate that this sequence is 6.5 % distant from its nearest neighbor.