Panscopaeus breviusculus ( KRAATZ , 1859) Assing, Volker, 2011

Assing, Volker, 2011, A revision of Panscopaeus (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 61 (2), pp. 389-411 : 403-405

Panscopaeus breviusculus ( KRAATZ, 1859) , comb. n. ( Figs 44-52 )

Lithocharis breviuscula KRAATZ, 1859: 137 f.

Medon ( Lithocharis )) breviusculus: BERNHAUER & SCHUBERT (1912) .

Medon breviusculus: CAMERON (1931) .

Type material examined:

Lectotype ♂, present designation: " Ceylon / 90 / Lithocharis breviuscula / coll. Kraatz / Syntypus / DEI Müncheberg Col - 00001 / Lectotypus ♂ Lithocharis breviusculabreviuscula Kraatz , desig. V. Assing 2010 / Panscopaeus breviusculus (Kraatz) , det. V. Assing 2010" ( SDEI) . Paralectotypes: 1 ♂ [teneral]: " Ceylon / Lithocharis breviuscula Kraatz / coll. Kraatz / Syntypus / DEI Müncheberg Col - 00003" ( SDEI) ; 1 ♂: " Ceylon / coll. Kraatz / Syntypus / DEI Müncheberg Col - 00002" ( SDEI) .

Comment:

The original description is based on an unspecified number of syntypes from " Ceylan " ( KRAATZ 1859). Three male syntypes, one of them slightly teneral, were located in the Kraatz collection at the SDEI. One of the mature males is designated as the lectotype. An examination of the type material revealed that Lithocharis breviuscula clearly refers to Panscopaeus , so that the species is excluded from Medon and the binomen Panscopaeus breviusculusbreviusculus ( KRAATZ 1859) is established.

Additional material examined:

Sri Lanka: 1 ex., Peradeniya , 1910, leg. Petch ( AMNH) ; 1 ex., Polonnaruioa , 7°55'N, 81°00'E, litter at edge of Lake Parakrama Sumudra, 13.I.1983, leg. Darby ( BMNH) ; 1 ex., Kandy , Udawattakele Res., 7°20'N, 80°31'E, 500 m, rain forest, in rotting fruit of Artocarpus heterophyllusheterophyllus on ground, 10.I.1983, leg. Darby ( BMNH) ; 1 ex., Mihiripennia , 6°00'N, 80°00'E, cow dung, I.1983, leg. Darby (cAss).

Redescription:

Body length 3.3-4.3 mm. Coloration: body reddish to dark-brown with slightly paler elytra, posterior margin of elytra yellowish to reddish; legs and antennae reddish-yellow to brown.

Head ( Fig. 44 ) approximately 1.15 times as wide as long; posterior margin distinctly concave; postocular region weakly convex in dorsal view; posterior angles marked; neck approximately 0.2 times the width of head in dorsal view; punctation of dorsal surface very fine and dense, barely noticeable in the pronounced microreticulation; dorsal surface matt. Eyes large and bulging, slightly to distinctly longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna similar to that of P. yakushimanus .

Pronotum ( Fig. 44 ) weakly transverse, approximately 1.05 times as wide as long and 0.95 times as wide as head, widest at anterior angles, punctation and microreticulation similar to those of head; midline in posterior half more or less shiny.

Elytra approximately as long as pronotum ( Fig. 44 ); punctation very dense and much more distinct than that of head and pronotum; interstices narrower than diameter of punctures and without distinct microsculpture. Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I slightly longer than II.

Abdomen slightly narrower than elytra; punctation very fine and dense; interstices on anterior tergites without, on posterior tergites with shallow microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

♂: sternite VII unmodified; sternite VIII with rather broad and rather shallow excision posteriorly ( Figs 45-46 ); aedeagus 0.66-0.68 mm long, shaped as in Figs 47-52 ; dorsal plate of characteristic shape, apically bifid ( Fig. 52 ); ventral process apically concave in ventral view; internal sac with a long sclerotized structure best visible in lateral view ( Figs 47-48 ).

Comparative notes:

Panscopaeus breviusculus is readily distinguished from P. lithocharoideslithocharoides by smaller average size, slightly larger eyes, broader head and pronotum, even more pronounced microsculpture on the head and the pronotum, and particularly by the morphology of the aedeagus.

Distribution and natural history:

Confirmed records of this species have become known only from Sri Lanka. It was reported also from Sikkim byby BISWAS (2003), but it seems likely that this record, if it refers to a species of Panscopaeus , is based on a confusion with P. lithocharoides . Three specimens were collected in January, one of them from leaf litter on a lakeshore, one from a rotting fruit in a rain forest, and one from cow dung.

Figures

Figs 44-52: Panscopaeus breviusculus (44, 46-47, 50-52: lectotype): forebody (44); male sternite VIII (45-46); aedeagus in lateral view (47-48); aedeagus in ventral view (49); aedeagus in dorsal view (50); apical portion of aedeagus in ventral view (51); dorsal plate of aedeagus (52). Scale bars: 44: 0.5 mm; 45-52: 0.2 mm.