Philonthus aminius Tottenham, 1955

Hromádka, Lubomír, 2009, Revision of the Afrotropical species of the Philonthus caffer species group (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Philonthina), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 49 (1), pp. 161-190 : 163-164

Philonthus aminius Tottenham, 1955

( Figs. 1–2 )

Philonthus aminius Tottenham, 1955: 173 .

Type locality. Kenya: Muguga. Type material. HOLOTYPE: J, ‛Muguga, i.1953, V. R. Eastop // Philonthus aminius, Tottenham , TYPE // C.E. Tottenham collection, B.M. 1974-587 [ochre oblong label, handwritten]’ ( BMNH).

Redescription. Body length 8.8 mm, length of fore body (to end of elytra) 4.1 mm.

Colouration. Head, pronotum, elytra and abdomen black, maxillary and labial palpi and mandibles brown, maxillary palpomere 3 somewhat paler, antennae black, antennomere 1 and base of antennomere 2 black-brown, all femora and entire protarsomeres brown-yellow, tibiae dark brown, meso- and metatarsomeres dark brown, slightly paler distally.

Head quadrate, slightly wider than long (ratio 24: 22). Posterior angles of head slightly rounded, each with one long black bristle. Eyes flat, somewhat longer than temples (ratio 10.0: 8.5). Distance between medial interocular punctures about 4 times as long as distance between medial and lateral interocular punctures. Temporal area each with numerous punctures of variable size. Dorsal surface with very fine microsculpture here and there.

Antennae long, reaching posterior margin of pronotum when reclined. Antennomeres 1–8 and 11 longer than wide, antennomeres 9–10 as long as wide. Relative length of antennomeres: 1 = 7; 2 = 5; 3 = 6; 4–8 = 4; 9–10 = 3.5; 11 = 5.

Pronotum vaguely longer than wide (ratio 33: 30), parallel-sided, anterior angles almost rectangular, bluntly rounded, posterior angles obtusely rounded. Each dorsal row with 5 coarse punctures, distances between punctures variable. Each sublateral row with 2 very fine punctures, puncture 2 slightly shifted to lateral margin. Surface without microsculpture.

Entire scutellum very densely and coarsely punctured. Punctures somewhat larger than those on elytra, separated in transverse direction by distance much smaller than puncture diameter.

Elytra combined wider than long (ratio 38: 34), very slightly widened posteriad. Anterior angles with one long black bristle. Punctation somewhat sparser than that on scutellum, punctures somewhat larger than eye-facets. Surface between punctures without microsculpture; setation greyish.

Legs. Metatibia somewhat longer than metatarsus (ratio 27: 25). Metatarsomere 1 as long as metatarsomere 5, metatarsomere 2 somewhat longer than metatarsomere 3. Relative length of metatarsomeres: 1 = 7; 2 = 4.5; 3 = 4; 4 = 3.5; 5 = 7.

Abdomen narrowing posteriad. First three visible abdominal tergites with two basal lines, elevated area between basal lines densely punctate. Punctation of all visible tergites very fine and dense. Punctures smaller than eye-facets, separated by puncture diameter in transverse direction, punctures of raindrop shape, contiguous here and there. Surface without microsculpture; setation similar to that on elytra.

Male. Protarsomeres 1–3 markedly dilated, sub-bilobed, covered with modified pale setae ventrally, protarsomere 4 distinctly narrower than preceding ones. Male sternite IX ( Fig. 2 ), aedeagus ( Fig. 1 ).

Female. Unknown.

Differential diagnosis. This species is very similar to P. leptophilus , from which it differs by longer eyes and denser punctation of the scutellum and abdomen. The species differs from all species of P. caffer species group by the shape of the aedeagus.

Bionomics. Unknown.

Distribution. Kenya.

Figures

Figs. 1–11. 1–2 – Philonthus aminius Tottenham, 1955; 3–7 – P. aonyx sp. nov.; 8–11 – P. biguttulus Fauvel, 1907 (8–9: Angola; 10–11: Ethiopia). 1, 3, 8, 10 – aedeagus, ventral view; 2 – male sternite VIII, ventral view; 4 – aedeagus, lateral view; 5 – apex of paramere with sensory peg setae, ventral view; 6 – apical portion of male sternite VIII, ventral view; 7 – elytra; 9, 11 – paramere with sensory peg setae, ventral view.