Chileanthicus mastersii ( King, 1869 ) Kejval, 2009

Kejval, Zbyněk, 2009, Taxonomic revision of the genus Chileanthicus Werner (Coleoptera: Anthicidae) 2180, Zootaxa 2180 (1), pp. 1-82 : 59-62

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.2180.1.1
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5321636
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/3949251E-FF97-775A-FF63-DBDCFBADFD2E
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Chileanthicus mastersii ( King, 1869 )
status	comb. nov.

Treatment

Chileanthicus mastersii ( King, 1869) comb. nov.

( Figs 160–165 View FIGURES 160–170 , 190, 191 View FIGURES 183–191 , 227 View FIGURES 220–231 , 236 View FIGURES 232–241 )

Formicomus Mastersii King, 1869: 9 .

Formicomus tridentipes Lea, 1922: 506 , syn. n.

Type locality. Australia, South Australia, Port Lincoln .

Redescription (male, lectotype). Head largely brown black, rufous antero-laterally, around antennal pits; pronotum brown black with rufous basal margin; elytra brown black to black with rufous suture (especially basally), lateral margins and with two paired, oblique, rufous bands/spots ( Fig. 160 View FIGURES 160–170 ); legs rufous brown, femora darkened distally; antennae and palpi rufous brown.

Head 1.2 times as long as wide, widely rounded posteriorly; tempora subparallel; posterior temporal angles somewhat rounded but distinct. Eyes small, convex. Dorsal surface matte, densely punctured ( Fig. 160 View FIGURES 160–170 ); punctation simple, evenly developed, punctures large, separated by less than their diameter. Setation dense, decumbent, pale to brownish, with scattered, conspicuously long, dark, erect setae. Antennae moderately enlarged in terminal third; antennomere III 1.9 times as long as wide, about as long as IV; antennomere X 1.6 times, antennomere XI 2.4 times as long as wide.

Pronotum as long as wide, wider than head including eyes, widely rounded anteriorly; pronotal disc rather convex, moderately impressed medially before base, its lateral margins forming rounded but distinct edge, lateral outlines strongly, moderately arcuately narrowing posteriad in dorsal view. Dorsal surface matte, densely punctured; punctation similar to that on head, but punctures larger and rather oval. Setation as on head.

Elytra 1.6 times as long as wide, conjointly rounded apically. Surface nearly matte, distinctly punctured and setose ( Fig. 160 View FIGURES 160–170 ); basal punctation conspicuously double, coarse punctures much larger and deeper than those on head, dot-like, rather widely spaced. Setation rather heterogeneous, mostly subdecumbent and brownish coloured, rather contrastly silvery on rufous elytral bands/spots, along lateral margins and on suture apically; silvery setae of bands/spots conspicuously swirled ( Fig 160 View FIGURES 160–170 , 236 View FIGURES 232–241 ); long, erect setae conspicuous, more numerous than on head.

Metafemora tridentate ( Fig. 161 View FIGURES 160–170 ), subapical processes of different size, narrow, pointed apically, the two of them facing inner, the third one facing outer side of tibia, the largest outer process thorn-like, conpicuously projecting. Setation mostly short and fine; femora with numerous conspicuously long suberect setae on inner side (especially in metafemora); apical lateral margins of meso- and especially metatibiae with conspicuous fringe of stiff, somewhat bluntly pointed setae; paired terminal spurs reduced in metatibiae.

Both sternum VII and tergum VII simple. Sternite VIII ( Fig. 162 View FIGURES 160–170 ); paired prongs simple, rather wide, convergent, strongly narowed and pointed apically; surface of prongs finely setose, more densely near lateral margins ventrally. Tergite VIII nearly simple, with posterior margin at most slightly emarginate medially. Segment IX (spiculum) as in Fig. 163 View FIGURES 160–170 .

Aedeagus ( Figs 164, 165 View FIGURES 160–170 ); apical portion of tegmen 0.9 times as long as basal-piece, simple, rather distinctly elongated, with narrow, blunt apex; median lobe of aedeagus simple, membranous, densely spinulose apically.

Female. Externally identical to male.

Body length (♂ ♀). 2.4–4.1 mm.

Variation. Some paler coloured specimens have the head and pronotum largely rufous brown to dark brown; dark coloured specimens have the paler markings of the elytra rather vaguely indicated to indistinct. The specimen from Mallala (ANIC) has the smaller outer, subapical process of the metatibiae entirely reduced ( Fig. 190 View FIGURES 183–191 ). The specimen from the Eyre Peninsula (SAMA) has the tegmen of the aedeagus less narrow and elongate, and the median lobe with a narrow apical process ( Fig. 191 View FIGURES 183–191 ), which is probably retracted in the type.

Type material. Formicomus mastersii – Lectotype ♂ [herewith designated, dissected, aedeagus and terminal segments of abdomen placed in micro-vial with glycerine]: “ K 35028 View Materials [h] // Formicomus mastersi King Port Lincoln [h] // HOLOTYPE [p; red label]”. ( AMSA) . Paralectotype, ♀ [mounted on the same card as lectotype] ( AMSA) .

Formicomus tridentipes – Holotype: ♀, tridentipes Lea TYPE P.Lincoln [p+h] // Formicomus tridentipes Lea S. Australia. TYPE I.15311 [h; “TYPE” red] // S. Aust. Museum specimen [p; orange label] ( SAMA).

Additional material. 1 ♂, Sas, Eyre Peninsula, S. L. Malata, sweeping Titsee, 1.x.1979, P. Greenslade leg. ( SAMA) ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Sas, County of Gawler , 6 km S of Mallala, ex quail gut ( ANIC) .

Differential diagnosis. C. mastersii is a very conspicuous species, which may be confused at most with C. dentivarius from Western Australia. They are probably closely related sister species, sharing important external characters (tridentate metafemora, coarse punctation, bristly setation, etc.) and the simple form of male sternum VII and the aedeagus. See the diagnosis of the latter species and the key for their separation.

Distribution. Australia (South Australia).

Remarks. King (1869) described Formicomus mastersii based on a series of specimens collected by Masters in South Australia, which were deposited in the Australian Museum (AMSA). Lea (1922) mentioned the existence of a cotype of F. mastersii in the SAMA that he found identical to F. kingii . The two syntypes examined from the AMSA agree with the original description, mainly in the conspicuous body setation (“griseo-pilosus”), and in the oblique rufous bands/spots of the elytra (“elytris maculis duabus obliquis elongatis rufis pone humeros,...”). Moreover, handwriting on the second label appears to be that of G. Masters (cf. Horn et al. 1990). However, the specimen in the SAMA does not seem to belong to the type series of C. mastersii . It bears quite different labels, and is indeed conspecific with C. kingii , differing in most external characters (e.g. paler colouration, much finer punctation/setation and rather narrow, transverse bands of elytra). As a precaution a lectotype is designated for the male syntype from Port Lincoln (AMSA) in order to stabilize the nomenclature in this genus according to Article 74.7.3 of the Code (ICZN 1999).

The examined holotype of F. tridentipes does not show any substantial differences from C. mastersii and, consequently, this name is regarded as the junior synonym of the latter species.