Sunius palmi ( FRANZ 1979)

Assing, V. & A, North, 2008, A revision of the Sunius species of the Western Palaearctic region and Middle Asia (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 40 (1), pp. 5-135 : 44-45

4.11. Sunius palmi ( FRANZ 1979) (Fig. 23)

Hypomedon palmi FRANZ 1979: 69 .

T y p e m a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d: Holotype 3: "La Gomera, El Cedro / Sp 1065 [overleaf] / Kanarische Inseln leg. H. Franz / Hypomedon palmi m. det. H. Franz / Holotypus / Sunius palmi (Franz) det. V. Assing 2007" (NHMW). Paratype 3 [aedeagus missing]: "La Gomera, El Cedro, lg. H. Franz / Sp 1308 [overleaf] / ♀ [sic] / Hypomedon palmi m. ♀ [sic] det. H. Franz / Allotypus / Sunius palmi (Franz) det. V. Assing 2007" (NHMW).

C o m m e n t: The original description is based on a holotype male from "El Cedro in der Höhe des Campamento" and a female paratype from "unweit der ersten Fundstelle in der Nähe der Ermita" ( FRANZ 1979). The paratype, however, is in fact a male with the aedeagus missing. A d d i t i o n a l m a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d: Canary Islands: La Gomera (see also ASSING

1999): 1 ex., La Laguna alta, 1300 m, fayal-brezal, 30.X.1990, leg. Wunderle (cWun); 2 exs.,

Epina env., 500 m, 26.X.1990, leg. Wunderle (cWun); 1 ex., Epina env., 600 m, dry slope,

5.XI.1990, leg. Wunderle (cWun); 2 exs., El Cercado [Sp 1703], leg. Franz ( NHMW) ; 4 exs.

[ identified by Franz as S. brevipennis ], El Cedro, leg. Franz ( NHMW) ; 3 exs., El Cedro, Cedro stream, 900 m, 2.XI.1990, leg. Wunderle (cWun, cAss); 4 exs., El Cedro, Ermitá, 1000 m, 27.-

28.X.1990, leg. Wunderle (cWun, cAss); 2 exs., El Cedro, barranco NE Ermitá, 900 m,

19.VII.1995, leg. Zerche ( DEI) ; 1 ex., road Hermigua-Cedro, under stone, 28.X.1990, leg.

Wunderle (cWun); 2 exs., Arure env., 900 m, 5.XI.1990, leg. Wunderle (cWun); 1 ex., Argumame,

12.VI.2002, leg. Klemm & Wisser (cSch); 1 ex., El Cedro, 29.VI.2002, leg. Klemm & Wisser

(cSch); 2 exs., barrance N La Laguna Grande, 1010-1050 m, 15.-17.VII.1995, leg. Zerche ( DEI) ; 3

exs., barranco above Hermigua, 550 m, 16.VII.1995, leg. Zerche ( DEI) ; 1 ex., Camino Forestal La

Meseta, 650 m, 15.VII.1995, leg. Zerche (cAss); 1 ex., Raso de la Bruma, 1000 m, laurisilva,

15.VII.1995, leg. Zerche ( DEI) ; 1 ex., Igualero, 1300 m, 18.-19.IV.2003, leg. Schawaller ( SMNS) ;

1 ex., locality not specified, leg. Polatzek (NHMW).

D i a g n o s i s: 3.5-4.1 mm. Average coloration of body rather dark; head blackish; pronotum usually dark brown, more rarely dark reddish; elytra reddish yellow to dark brown; abdominal segments III-VI usually dark brown to blackish. Head usually without microsculpture, at most with shallow traces in frontal, posterior, and lateral areas. Eyes relatively large and bulging, slightly more than half the length of postocular region in dorsal view. Elytra monomorphic, large and long, 1.10-1.15 times as long as and distinctly broader than pronotum. Hind wings monomorphic, fully developed. Abdominal tergite VII with palisade fringe.

3: sternite VII unmodified; sternite VIII similar to that of the other Canarian species, with slightly denser pubescence in median area; aedeagus as in Fig. 23, with dark, stout, basally dilated and curved rod in internal sac.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: From other Canarian representatives of the genus, the species is separated by the darker average coloration, the monomorphic long elytra, and the morphology of the aedeagus, especially the derived shape of the internal rod-like structure, which it shares only with S. fernandezi from Tenerife (see below), evidently its sister species. From the sympatric S. brevipennis gomerensis , it is additionally separated by the longer and more strongly sclerotised internal rod-like structure of the aedeagus.

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d b i o n o m i c s: The species is endemic to La Gomera, where it is not uncommon in various habitats at altitudes of up to 1480 m: laurisilva, fayal-brezal, pine forest, Erica vegetation, under Salix, on stream banks, and on road margins (material examined; ASSING 1999). For additional records see ASSING (1999). The examined specimens were collected in April (3 records/ 3 specimens), July (5/9), October (4/8), November (3/6), and December (12/27).