Oxytelus puncticeps Kraatz, 1859

Lü, Liang & Zhou, Hong-Zhang, 2012, 3576, Zootaxa 3576, pp. 1-63 : 41-43

Oxytelus puncticeps Kraatz, 1859

( Figs. 15A–N)

Kraatz, 1859: 176 (Type locality: Ceylan); Fauvel, 1904a: 46 (cited as Oxytelus micans Kraatz [= Anotylus micans (Kraatz) ] based on misidentification according to Hammond (1975)); Fauvel, 1904a: 46 (synonym of Oxytelus micans Kraatz ); Bernhauer and Schubert, 1911: 116 (synonym of Oxytelus micans Kraatz ); Bernhauer, 1922: 223 (cited as Oxytelus micans Kraatz based on misidentification according to Hammond (1975); Formosa); Cameron, 1930: 228 (subgenus Tanycraerus , synonym of Oxytelus micans Kraatz ); Hammond, 1975: 150 (valid species; Taiwan); Herman, 2001: 1452 (distribution); Ades and Kendrick, 2004: 53 ( Hong Kong); Smetana, 2004: 517 (subgenus Tanycraerus ; distribution).

Oxytelus monoceros Cameron, 1919: 226 (subgenus Anotylus ; Type locality: Ceylon: Colombo, Belligam, Nuwera Eliya); Cameron, 1930: 228 (synonym of Oxytelus (Tanycraerus) micans ); Hammond, 1975: 150 (synonym of Oxytelus puncticeps ).

Material examined. 10 specimens, 5 males and 5 females. CHINA, Jiangxi : 1 male, Fuzhou, Zhanjiadi, cow dung, 4.IX.2010, Jian-Hua Zhou & Xiao-Yun Huang legg. ( IZ-CAS); CHINA , Taiwan: 1 male, 2 females, Takao [= Kaohsiung], H. Sautter leg., micans Kr. det. M. Bernhauer ( FMNH); VIETNAM : 3 males, 3 females, Tonkin, Hoa-Binh, VII.1939, A. de Cooman leg., Oxytelus puncticeps Kr. det. P.M.Hammond 1980 ( IZ-CAS) .

Redescription. Body black; labial palpi, legs, and elytra light brown. Length [average] male, 2.6 mm; female, 2.3 mm.

Male. Head ( Fig. 15A) widest at temples. Disc densely punctate, nearly glabrous. Clypeus transverse, broad, not longer than 1/3 head length, slightly depressed in basal part, surface glabrous, coriaceous, and impunctate; anterior margin asymmetrically protruding beyond anterior margin of supra-antennal ridges and forming pointed and downcurved triangular process at right. Epistomal suture with lateral portions running backward to level of anterior margin of eyes. Vertex densely punctate, slightly convex, posterior part partially-demarcated from neck by occipital suture; mid-longitudinal suture present, two punctate paralateral sutures running anteriorly to middle level of head. Eyes with fine facets, shorter than temples, and slightly convex. Temples punctate, dilated posterolaterally. Occipital suture and nuchal ridge discontinuous in middle, dorsal basal ridge present.

Right mandible ( Fig. 15C) stout, with outer margin obsoletely curved, with apex pointed; two denticles on inner edge. Left mandible (not illustrated) remarkably larger, longer and more curved than right one, with no denticles on inner edge. Antenna (type I) shorter than head and pronotum together, with antennomere shorter than two preceding together.

Pronotum transverse, with sides evenly rounded, broadest at middle, a little wider than head. Disc 3-sulcate (as Fig. 1H), median sulcus and two paramedial sulci deep and punctate, lateral depressions shallow and strongly striate. Lateral margins smooth, with posterolateral angles rounded and finely crenulate. Elytra punctate and rugose, without lateral longitudinal ridge.

Abdomen coriaceous and pubescent, broadest at segment V. Sternite VII ( Fig. 15E) on posterior margin with two triangular denticles near middle separated by rounded emargination. Sternite VIII ( Fig. 15F) with subbasal ridge discontinuous in middle, with posterior margin protruding in middle forming subtriangular lobe but truncate at apex, at base moderately and evenly emarginate and equipped with upward elevated and pointed tooth on each side. Tergite X ( Fig. 15H) wider than long, with two small teeth on posterior margin and shallowly emarginate in between, with two lines of setae on haired posterior part.

Aedeagus ( Figs. 15K–N). Median lobe ovoid, with lateral surfaces evenly rounded, and narrowed apically, with membranous structures inside; apico-medial hook in ventral view clavate and dilated at apex and sharply narrowed to base, almost parallelogram-shaped in lateral view; dorsal membranous area covering most of dorsum of median lobe, with dark patch on apical part. Paramere arm-like, with seta on apical 1/2, with triangular tooth nearby, with apex flattened and transparent membranous margin, with basal arm obsolete, at near base with thumblike process venteromedially directed.

Female. Head ( Fig. 15B) smaller than male, widest at eyes, with clypeus narrower and symmetrical, less protruding, anterior margin slightly emarginate; temples not longer than eyes, not dilated as much as in male; occipital suture obvious in middle. Mandibles ( Fig. 15D) slender.

Abdominal sternite VII with posterior margin straight. Sternite VIII ( Fig. 15G) broadly rounded on posterior margin and feebly produced in middle. Tergite X ( Fig. 15I) similar to male.

Spermatheca ( Fig. 15J) constricted at near middle, bulbous and curved at base and at apex.

Distribution. China (Fujian, Hainan, Hong Kong, Jiangxi, Taiwan); Japan; Philippines; Vietnam; Indonesia; Borneo; Sri Lanka; India; Sub-Saharan Africa.

Remarks. The males of O. puncticeps can be easily recognized by its asymmetric clypeus. The females of this species are similar to females of O. lucidulus and O. pallidipennis , but they are darker, a little smaller than the latter two, and have different shape of posterior margin of Sternite VIII. This species is one of the smallest species included in this paper (Tab. 1).