Stilicoderus granulifrons (ROUGEMONT, 1985)

Assing, Volker, 2016, On Stilicoderus and Stiliderus V. Two new species, additional records, and a catalogue (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 48 (1), pp. 281-300 : 283-287

Stilicoderus granulifrons (ROUGEMONT, 1985) (Figs 1, 9-13, Map 1 )

Stiliderus granulifrons ROUGEMONT, 1985a: 224 ; partim.

Stiliderus granulifrons ROUGEMONT, 1986a: 174 ; synonymic primary homonym.

Figs 1-8: Stilicoderus granulifrons (1), S. confusus (2-5; 3, 5: Yunnan; 4: Meghalaya), and S. brachypterus (6-8): (1, 3-4, 7) male sternite VII; (2, 6) forebody; (5, 8) aedeagus in ventral view. Scale bars: 2, 6: 1.0 mm; 1, 3-5, 7-8: 0.5 mm.

Figs 9-18: Stilicoderus granulifrons (9-13), S. confusus (14-16; 14, 16: Yunnan; 15: Meghalaya), and S. brachypterus (17-18): (9-10, 14-15, 17) aedeagus in lateral view; (11-12) aedeagus in ventral view; (13, 16, 18) male sternite VIII. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.

(diamonds), and S. brachypterus (squares).

M a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d: Thailand: 13, Doi Inthanon , 18°32'N, 98°30'E, 1640 m, along stream, litter and debris sifted, 12.XII.2013, leg. Ob (cAss) ; 13, 1♀, Doi Inthanon, Mae Aum , 18°31'N, 98°30'E, 1640 m, moist evergreen forest, leaf litter and sweeping vegetation, 11.I.2014, leg. Ob (cAss) ; 1♀, Doi Pha Hom Pok, Tad Luang waterfall, 19°52'N, 99°07'E, 1100 m, litter along stream sifted, 27.I.2014, leg. Ob (cAss) ; 13, 1♀, Doi Pha Hom Pok, Mae Hang waterfall, 20°03'N, 99°10'E, 1480 m, leaf litter sifted, 23.I.2014, leg. Ob (cAss) ; 13, 2♀♀, Doi Pha Hom, Huay Nam Saw , 20°04'N, 99°11'E, 1530 m, litter samples along stream, 23.I.2014, leg. Ob (cAss) ; 13, Chiang Mai, Doi Inthanon , 1650 m, 7.XI.1985, leg. Burckhardt & Löbl (cRou) ; 13, Chiang Mai, Doi Suthep , 1400 m, 5.XI.1985, leg. Burckhardt & Löbl (cRou) ; 13, 1♀, Chiang Mai, Doi Pui , III.1987, leg. Rougemont (cRou) .

C o m m e n t: Both the name and the species have been in a state of confusion. In providing a description of the external and the male sexual characters based on material from Meghalaya, ROUGEMONT (1985a) unintentionally made the name available. He designated a holotype ("Type: Birmanie ") and listed the mentioned additional specimens from Meghalaya, which accordingly must be considered paratypes, although they were not explicitly designated as such. In the following year, ROUGEMONT (1986a) published what he intended to be the original description, in which he only indicated a unique female holotype from "( Burma) Carin Ghecu", thus rendering Stiliderus granulifrons ROUGEMONT, 1986 an objective junior synonym and a primary junior homonym of Stiliderus granulifrons ROUGEMONT, 1985 . Similarly, other names made available by

ROUGEMONT (1985a) prior to the intended original descriptions in ROUGEMONT (1986a), which too result in synonymic primary homonymies, are S. helferi ROUGEMONT, 1985 , S. helferi ROUGEMONT, 1986 , S. strigosus ROUGEMONT, 1985 , and S. strigosus ROUGEMONT, 1986 (see checklist at the end of this article).

A comparison of the illustrations of the aedeagi of S. granulifrons from Meghalaya, Nepal, and Thailand provided by ROUGEMONT (1985a, 1996) suggested that what had been referred to as S. granulifrons by ROUGEMONT (1985a, 1986a, 1996) in fact represented at least two species ( ASSING 2013a), which, except for S. brachypterus , are indistinguishable based on external characters alone, but clearly differ in the male primary and secondary sexual characters. Unfortunately, the holotype of S. granulifrons is a female ( ROUGEMONT 1986a), so that an interpretation of the identity of the name can only rely on zoogeographic evidence. The type locality is situated in West Burma at approximately 19°19'N, 96°51'E, less than 100 km from the border with Thailand and approximately 200 km from Doi Inthanon ( Map 1 ). Thus, it would seem very likely that the material from Thailand (see material above and ROUGEMONT 1996), which was collected at a similar latitude, is conspecific with the holotype. The other localities in Yunnan, Meghalaya, and Nepal are much (> 650 km) farther north. The primary and secondary sexual characters of males from Thailand are illustrated in Figs 1, 9-13.

Thus, the currently known distribution of S granulifrons is confined to West Burma and Thailand ( Map 1 ). Previous records from other regions are based on misidentified material. For additional records from Thailand see ROUGEMONT (1996).

Figures

Map 1: Distributions of Stilicoderus granulifrons (circles; white circle: type locality), S. confusus