Pseudohesperus apsilus, Hromádka, 2010

Hromádka, Lubomír, 2010, Revision of the Afrotropical species of the genus Pseudohesperus, with taxonomic notes on other Afrotropical species of the subtribe Philonthina (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 50 (2), pp. 495-516 : 497-500

Pseudohesperus apsilus sp. nov.

( Figs 1–5 )

Type locality. Uganda, Nakiwogo Entebbe.

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE: J, ‘Uganda, Nakiwogo Entebbe, xi.1961 - vi.1962, A. S. Hoddeta // HOLO- TYPUS, Pseudohesperus apsilus sp. nov. Hromádka, det., 2009 [red oblong label, printed]’ ( NMPC). PARATYPES: GABON: 1 spec., Konta de Cristal, // Philonthus megalops R.I.Sc.N.B. Coll. et det. A. Fauvel, [white oblong label, handwritten] // Philonthus megalops Tottenham TYPE [ochre oblong label, handwritten] ( IRSB); 2 spec., Loango, // Philonthus megalops, R.I.Sc.N.B. Coll. et det. A. Fauvel // Philonthus megalops Tottenham PARATYPE [ochre oblong label, handwritten] ( IRSB). IVORY COAST: 4 spec., Danané, Droplou, 10.x.1980, tamisage ss. fronc mort, Mahnert – Perret ( MNHG).

Description. Body length 7.3 mm, length of fore body (to end of elytra) 3.7 mm.

Colouration. Head, pronotum and elytra black, scutellum dark carmine, in the middle slightly bluish iridescent, abdomen conspicuously golden, violet and green iridescent, labial palpi brown, palpomeres 1 and 2 of maxillary palpi brown, palpomere 3 yellow-brown, mandibles brown, slightly paler distally, antennae black, femora brown-yellow, tibiae and tarsi dark brown.

Head transverse, wider than long (ratio 28: 20), slightly narrowed posteriad, each posterior angle rounded with one small tooth as in P. morio Boheman, 1848 , eyes distinctly longer than temples (ratio 11: 6). Distance between medial interocular punctures almost four times as long as distance between medial and lateral puncture, medial punctures distinctly shifted anteriad, each side along impunctate midline with scattered punctures, temporal area with several variably large punctures. Surface without microsculpture.

Antennae slender and very long, exceeding posterior margin of pronotum by last four antennomeres when reclined, all antennomeres longer than wide. Relative lengths of antennomeres 1–11: 1 = 11 units, 2 = 8 units, 3 = 7 units, 4–6 = 6 units, 7–10 = 5 units and 11 = 5.5 units.

Pronotum slightly convex, as wide as long, parallel-sided, anterior angles conspicuously deflexed, vaguely obtusely rounded, posterior angles markedly rounded. Each dorsal row irregularly punctate, exact number of larger punctures in the dorsal rows difficult to state owing to their irregular nature, each side along narrow impunctate midline with small scattered punctures. Surface without microsculpture.

Scutellum densely and finely punctate, punctures as large as eye-facets, separated by one puncture diameter in transverse direction.

Elytra combined wider than long (ratio 43: 40), very slightly narrowed posteriad, punctation fine and dense, diameter of punctures smaller than eye-facets, transverse interstices between punctures usually smaller than their diameter. Surface between microsculpture, shiny; setation greyish.

Legs. Metatibia longer than metatarsus (ratio 25: 23), relative lengths of metatarsomeres 1–5: 1 = 6 units, 2 = 4 units, 3 = 3 units, 4 = 2 units and 5 = 6 units.

Abdomen wide, very gradually narrowing towards apex. First three visible tergites with two basal lines, elevated area between lines with scattered punctures. Punctation of basal portion of all tergites coarser than that on elytra, becoming sparser towards posterior margin of each tergite. Surface between punctures without microsculpture; setation similar to that on elytra.

Male. Protarsomeres 1–4 simple, hardly dilated, each with few modified pale setae laterally. Sternite VIII ( Fig. 4 ), sternite IX ( Fig. 5 ), aedeagus ( Figs. 1–3 ).

Female. Unknown.

Differential diagnosis. Pseudohesperus apsilus sp. nov. may be separated from P. conradti by longer eyes and antennae, darker antennomere 1 and a different shape of the aedeagus and from P. proselytus by a wider head, longer antennae and denser punctation of the abdomen.

Note. I have found this new species in the collection of IRSB, labelled by A. Fauvel and C. E. Tottenham as Philonthus megalops , but neither of them formally described the taxon as new.

Etymology. The name of this species, a noun in apposition, is the Latin generic name of the African forktail snapper Apsilus fuscus Valenciennes, 1830.

Distribution. Uganda, Gabon and Ivory Coast.

Figures

Figs.1–12. 1–5 – Pseudohesperus apsilus sp. nov. (1 – aedeagus, ventral view; 2 – aedeagus, lateral view; 3 – apical portion of paramere with sensory peg setae, ventral view; 4 – apical portion of male sternite VIII, ventral view; 5 – male sternite IX, ventral view). 6–10 – Pseudohesperus conradti (Bernhauer, 1912) (6 – aedeagus, ventral view; 7 – aedeagus, lateral view; 8 – apical portion of paramere with sensory peg setae; 9 – apical portion of male sternite VIII, ventral view; 10 – male sternite IX, ventral view). 11–12 – Pseudohesperus proselytus (Herman, 2001) (11 – female tergite, ventral view; 12 – gonocoxite of female genital segment).