Sunius tuniseus ( COIFFAIT 1973)

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 : 85-86

4.48. Sunius tuniseus ( COIFFAIT 1973) ( Figs 103-109 , Map 18 )

Hypomedon tuniseum [sic] COIFFAIT 1973: 117.

T y p e m a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d: Holotype 3: "Mactar, Tunisie, Col. Vauloger / Holotype / Hypomedon tuniseus H. Coiffait 1973 / Sunius tuniseus (Coiffait) det. V. Assing 2007" (MNHNP). Paratypes: 1♀: " Tunisie, Mactar / Allotype " (MNHNP). For an additional paratype see type material of Sunius discretus nov.sp.

C o m m e n t: The original description is based on a holotype male and two female paratypes from " Moktar , Tunisie " and two paratypes from " Le Kef " ( COIFFAIT 1973) ; the type series is composed of two species; the type specimens from the latter locality refer to the following species.

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: Tunisia: 1 ex., El Ksour env., 19.III.1984, leg. Meybohm (cAss).

D i a g n o s i s: Bodybicoloured,withtheforebody reddish and the abdomen blackish. Reliably distinguished from other small micropterous congeners occurring in North Africa only by the male primary and secondary sexual characters:

3: sternite VII with weakly concave posterior margin, pubescence unmodified ( Fig. 108 ); sternite VIII with rather broad and not very deep posterior excision, and with pubescent tubercle ( Fig. 109 ); aedeagus as in Figs 103-107 , with rather variable row of distinctly sclerotised internal spines.

D i s t r i b u t i o n: The known distribution of this species is confined to Makthar and El Ksour in the Dorsale range in Tunisia ( Map 18 ).

Figures

Map 18: Distributions of species of the S. seminiger group in Tunisia: Sunius tuniseus (COIFFAIT) (filled circles), S. bihamatus ASSING (open circles), and S. discretus nov.sp. (squares).

Figs 103-109: Sunius tuniseus (COIFFAIT) (104, 106: holotype): (103-105) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view; (106-107) internal structures of aedeagus in lateral view; (108) male sternite VII; (109) male sternite VIII. Scale bars: 103-105, 108-109: 0.1 mm; 106-107: 0.05 mm.