Deleaster pectinatus Fauvel, 1882

Cuccodoro, Giulio & Makranczy, György, 2013, Review of the Afrotropical species of Deleaster Erichson, 1839 (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Oxytelinae), Revue suisse de Zoologie 120 (4), pp. 537-547 : 539-541

Deleaster pectinatus Fauvel, 1882

Figs 1, 4, 8-9, 12-13

Deleaster pectinatus Fauvel, 1882: 129 . – Herman, 2001: 1326.

LECTOTYPE (♀, here designated): “S/[ous] les pierres bord; des torrents [Amhara Region,] Mts.; Abboïmiéda [Abboï-Miéda / Ābuyē Mēda , 10.517°N, 39.767°E] ( Abyssi ;nie) 3800 à 4000 m; 7bre [Septembre 1881, leg. A. Raffray] \ pectinatus; Fvl. \ Deleaster ; Er. \ R.I.Sc.N.B. 17.479; Deleaster ; Coll. et det. A. Fauvel \ ♀ \ Deleaster ; pectinatus Fauvel ; det. Makranczy, 2001 \ Lectotype; Deleaster ; pectinatus Fauvel ; Des. G. Cuccodoro; & Gy. Makranczy 2012” ( ISNB).

PARALECTOTYPE (1): same data as lectotype, 1♀ without head ( ISNB).

OTHER MATERIAL EXAMINED: none.

REDESCRIPTION

Measurements (n = 1; unit = mm): HW = 1.26; TW = 1.10; PW = 1.22; SW = 1.76; AW = 2.13; HL = 0.91; EL = 0.53; TL = 0.11; PL = 1.03; SL = 2.24; SC = 2.13; FB = 4.38; BL = 7.18.

Habitus as in Fig. 1. Body predominantly reddish brown to dark brown, with head slightly darker and legs, scape, pedicel and borders of abdomen paler. Pubescence dense, with fine, short, depressed hairs, rather inconspicuous; presence of some darker, stronger, erect bristles near pronotal angles.

Head (Fig. 4) rather transverse with clypeus strongly projecting, latter slightly narrower than in the other species. Frontoclypeal (epistomal) suture marked as a strongly impressed transversal groove; surface of clypeus shiny but with very fine coriaceous microsculpture and traces of punctation. Vertex with gently curved, broad grooves (with remnants of ocelli in their middle) extending anterolaterally from middle of neck margin to middle of inner eyes margin, forming together a rather V-shaped impression surrounding disc filled with dense granulose microsculpture similar to that in the groove delineating dorsal part of neck; disc shiny but sparsely punctate with dome-like convexity only feebly delimited from the gentle supraantennal protuberances by shallow longitudinal impressions, latter almost smooth. Antennae (Fig. 12) with third antennomere as long as first, other articles approximately twice as long as broad.

Pronotum (Fig. 4) narrowing posteriorly with lateral margins sinuate; hind angles rather sharp; lateral portions of posterior margin slightly arcuate; presence of two gently protruding knob-like elevations near posterior angles; presence of shallow, curved subbasal impression filled with rough microsculpture; presence of two shallow semi-longitudinal impressions anteriad posterior angles filled with dense punctation and microsculpture making them opaque; medial groove shallow, evanescent in subbasal impression; disc with fine coriaceous/substrigulate microsculpture (except in middle just anteriorly subbasal median spots) in directionality surrounding centre, less distinct than the relatively strong, sparse punctation on centre of disc. Elytra with postscutellar area shortly depressed longitudinally; posterior portion of disc only slightly swollen; posterior portion of sutural margin just slightly below level of disc; posterior margin arcuate (Fig. 8). Legs relatively long and slender, protarsus and in a lesser extent mesotarsus with articles 1 to 4 expanded, outer halves of mesotibia and metatibia with distinct ctenidium consisting of spinules.

Abdomen broadest in middle, narrowing anteriorly and posteriorly; laterosternites very broad. Pubescence on laterobasal parts of tergites (Fig. 13) directed strongly outwards. Pectinate middle (comb) of apical margin of tergite VIII as in Fig. 9.

Sexual characters: Female sternite VIII expanded subapically, subtriangular, narrowly rounded apically, with tiny irregular incisions on apical margin. The male of this species is unknown, but externally the males and females in the closely related species do not seem to have any consistent differences, except that the apex of sternite IX is in males often exposed (as on Fig. 16), while its absence suggests the opposite sex, even if the coxites (only present in females) cannot be readily seen. Both sexes in these three species have conspicuous medioapical comb-like structures of tergite VIII, and they are similar in all examined specimens.

DISTRIBUTION: The species is known only from Ethiopia, from its type locality that appears to be the northernmost occurrence for the genus in the Afrotropics.

COMMENTS: Delaster pectinatus is easily distingusished from its Afrotropical congeners by the presence on abdominal tergite VIII of a comb lacking minute mesal denticle. The description erroneously mentions two male specimens. Albert Fauvel might have been confused by the “pectinate” apex of the tergite VIII considered as a male secondary sexual character, while it is similar in both sexes.

The types labels miss the informations pertaining to their collector and collecting year. Fauvel (1882) indicates in the orginal description that the collector is Achille Raffray. We pinpoint here that the collection year is 1881 ( Raffray 1882).