Mentophilonthus crocuta, Hromádka, 2009

Hromádka, Lubomír, 2009, Revision of the Afrotropical species of the genus Mentophilonthus (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Philonthina), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae (suppl.) 49 (1), pp. 119-160 : 124-126

Mentophilonthus crocuta sp. nov.

( Figs. 11–15 )

Type locality. Ghana, Mkawkaw.

Type material. HOLOTYPE: ♁, ‘ GHANA, Mkawkaw , 20.iv.1984, leg. W.Rossi. // Holotype, Mentophilonthus crocuta sp. nov., Hromádka det. 2007 [red oblong printed label]’ ( NMPC) .

Description. Body length 5.2 mm, length of fore body (to end of elytra) 3.3 mm.

Colouration. Head black, pronotum black-brown; elytra brown, narrowly yellow-brown along suture; abdomen black-brown, posterior margins of all tergites somewhat paler; maxillary and labial palpi brown-yellow, antennomere 1 yellow-brown, antennomeres 2-3 brown-yellow, remaining antennomeres dark brown; legs yellow-brown.

Head approximately as long as wide, narrowed posteriad. Posterior angles of head capsule obtusely rounded. Eyes flat, longer than temples (ratio 8.0: 5.5), anterior margin of each eye with one coarse setiferous puncture. Temporal area with single puncture. Dorsal surface of head with dense and very fine microsculpture consisting of transverse and oblique waves.

Antennae reaching mid-length of pronotum when reclined, antennomere 1 slightly shorter than antennomeres 2–3 combined, antennomeres 7–10 slightly transverse. Relative lengths of antennomeres: 1 = 5; 2 = 3; 3 = 2.5; 4–10 = 2; 11 = 3.5.

Pronotum slightly longer than wide (ratio 21: 20), distinctly narrowed anteriad. Posterior angles entirely rounded. Each dorsal row with two coarse punctures; each sublateral row with one puncture. Surface shiny, microsculpture similar to that on head.

Scutellum sparsely and very finely punctate, punctures somewhat smaller than eye-facets, transverse interspaces between punctures 2–3× as large as diameters of punctures. Surface with fine microsculpture consisting of transverse and oblique waves; shiny.

Elytra combined wider than long (ratio 27: 25), slightly widened posteriad. Posterior angles with several long black bristles. Surface with microscopic dots, in places intermixed with irregularly arranged, somewhat larger punctures. Longitudinal row of four larger punctures situated at midwidth of each elytron. Surface without microsculpture and setation.

Legs. Metatibia somewhat longer than metatarsus (ratio 14: 12). All tibiae with several black bristles of unequal length. Metatarsomere 1 longer than metatarsomere 5. Relative lengths of metatarsomeres: 1 = 3.5; 2–4 = 2.5; 5 = 3.

Abdomen slightly narrowed towards apex. First four visible abdominal tergites with two basal lines, elevated area between basal lines finely and sparsely punctate. Punctation of all visible tergites very fine and sparse, punctures smaller than eye-facets, separated by two puncture diameters in transverse direction; surface between punctures without microsculpture.

Male. Protarsomeres 1–3 distinctly dilated and subbilobed, each covered with modified pale setae ventrally, protarsomere 4 distinctly narrower than preceding ones. Sternite VIII ( Fig. 14 ), sternite IX ( Fig. 15 ), aedeagus ( Figs. 11–13 ).

Female. Unknown.

Differential diagnosis. Menthophilonthus crocuta sp. nov. is very similar to M. tristichus , but it may be distinguished by the shorter and rounder head, shorter pronotum and elytra, lighter coloured elytra, sparser and finer punctation of the elytra and abdomen, and different shape of the aedeagus.

Etymology. The name of this species, a noun in apposition, is the Latin generic name of the African hyena Crocuta crocuta (Erxuben, 1777) .

Bionomics. Unknown.

Distribution. Ghana.

Figures

Figs. 11–23. 11–15 – Mentophilonthus crocuta sp. nov.: 11–13 – aedeagus (11 – ventral view, 12 – lateral view, 13 – underside of paramere, with sensory peg setae); 14 – apical portion of male sternite VIII, ventral view; 15 – male sternite IX, ventral view. 16–23 – Mentophilonthus curiosus (Tottenham, 1949): 16–19 – aedeagus (16 – ventral view, 17 – lateral view, 18 – ventral view, without paramere, 19 – underside of paramere, with sensory peg setae); 20 – apical portion of male sternite VIII, ventral view; 21 – male sternite IX, ventral view; 22 – female tergite X, dorsal view; 23 – gonocoxites of female genital segment.