Philonthus combustus Fauvel, 1907

Hromádka, Lubomír, 2009, Revision of the Afrotropical species of the Philonthus caffer species group (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Philonthina), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 49 (1), pp. 161-190 : 173-174

Philonthus combustus Fauvel, 1907

( Figs. 25–29 )

Philonthus combustus Fauvel, 1907: 44 .

Type locality. Angola, Steppe de Barta.

Type material. not studied.

Additional material examined. ANGOLA: 2 ♀♀, ‘ Angola, Marco de Canavezes (distr. Benguela), 2.iii.1956, E. Luna de Caravalho , coll. Museum Tervuren // Philonthus combustus Fauv. , det. C. E. Tottenham ii. 1961 [white oblong printed label]’ ( MRAC, LHPC) . DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: 3 spec., ‘ Congo, Lualaba: Ruwe , (plège Lumineux ) i./ ii.1960, Dr. V. Allard’ ( MRAC) . KENYA: 1 J, ‘ Kenya: Naivasha, 2000 m, 13.-14.iv.1957, Mission Zoolog. I. R. S. A. C. en Afrique orientale (C. Basilewsky et N. Lelerup), coll. Mus. Congo // Philonthus combustus Fauv. , det., C. E. Tottenham ii.1961 [white oblong printed label]’ ( MRAC). SIERRA LEO- NE: 1 spec., ‘ Sierra Leone, Northern Prov. Sumbrya , leg. W. Rossi’ ( LHPC) . ZAMBIA: 1 spec., ‘ Zambia, Rimo – Marine Hotel , 15°49′07″S / 28°12′03″E, 17.iii.1993, leg. M. Uhlig’ ( ZMHB) ; 1 spec., ‘NC, 185 km S Mwinilunga , 6.xii.2004, Snížek & Tichý ( LHPC) ’.

Redescription. Body length 7.8–8.3 mm, length of fore body (to end of elytra) 3.6– – 3.8 mm.

Colouration. Head and scutellum black, antennal sockets and clypeus along anterior margin narrowly yellow-brown, pronotum and abdomen black-brown, anterior half of elytra blackbrown, posterior half of elytra red, maxillary and labial palpi, mandibles and antennomere 1 brown-yellow, remaining antennomeres black-brown, legs yellow-brown.

Head as wide as long, vaguely narrowed in straight line towards neck, posterior angles markedly rounded, each with one long black bristle. Eyes flat, as long as temples. Four punctures between eyes, distance between medial interocular punctures about 4 times as large as distance between medial and lateral interocular punctures. Dorsal surface with very irregular, almost indistinct microsculpture here and there.

Antennae long, reaching posterior margin of pronotum when reclined, antennomeres1–8 and 11 longer than wide, antennomeres 9–10 as long as wide. Antennomere 1 vaguely longer than antennomere 11, antennomere 2 shorter than antennomere 3. Relative length of antennomeres: 1 = 6; 2 = 4.5; 3 = 5; 4–7 = 3; 8–10 = 2.5; 11 = 5.

Pronotum almost as long as wide, narrowed in almost straight line toward base. Posterior angles markedly rounded. Each dorsal row with 5 punctures, punctures 2–4 equidistant, distance between punctures 1–2 and 4–5 somewhat larger than distance between punctures 2–4. Each sublateral row with 2 punctures, puncture 1 situated approximately behind level of puncture 3 of dorsal row. Microsculpture similar to that on head.

Entire scutellum coarsely and densely punctate, punctures somewhat larger than eye-facets, distance between punctures much smaller than their diameter.

Elytra combined as long as wide, slightly widened posteriad. Punctation fine and relatively dense. Punctures somewhat smaller than those on scutellum, separated by 1 or 1.5 puncture diameters in transverse direction. Surface without microsculpture; setation brown-yellow.

Legs. Metatibia as long as metatarsus. Metatarsomere 1 almost as long as metatarsomeres 2–3 combined, metatarsomere 5 somewhat shorter than metatarsomere 1. Relative length of metatarsomeres: 1 = 7; 2 = 3.5; 3–4 = 3; 5 = 6.

Abdomen slightly, gradually narrowed towards apex. Elevated area between two basal lines on first three visible tergites densely punctate. Punctation of visible tergites much finer and denser than that on elytra, distinctly sparser towards posterior margin of each tergite. Surface between punctures without microsculpture; setation similar to that on elytra.

Male. Protarsomeres 1–3 markedly dilated, covered with modified pale setae ventrally, protarsomere 4 distinctly narrower than preceding ones. Aedeagus ( Figs. 25–27 ).

Female. Protarsomeres 1–3 slightly dilated, each moderately covered with modified pale setae ventrally, protarsomere 4 small. Tergite X ( Fig. 28 ), gonocoxites of female genital segment ( Fig. 29 ).

Differential diagnosis. Philonthus combustus may be distinguished from the very similar P. sequens by longer eyes, shorter pronotum, paler tibiae and by the different shape of the aedeagus.

Bionomics. Unknown.

Distribution. Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Zambia.

Figures

Figs. 25–37. 25–29 – Philonthus combustus Fauvel, 1907; 30–34 – P. falco sp. nov.; 35–37 – P.gabonensis Levasseur, 1966. 25, 30, 35 – aedeagus, ventral view; 26, 31, 36 – aedeagus, lateral view; 27, 33 – apex of paramere with sensory peg setae, ventral view; 28 – female tergite X, ventral view; 29 – gonocoxite of female genital segment; 32, 37 – aedeagus without paramere, ventral view; 34 – elytra.