Phelister affinis JE LeConte, 1859

Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2019, A revision of the Phelisterhaemorrhous species group (Coleoptera, Histeridae, Exosternini), ZooKeys 854, pp. 41-88 : 50-52

Phelister affinis JE LeConte, 1859 Figs 1, 3; Map 1

Phelister affinis JE LeConte, 1859: 311.

Phelister simplex Casey, 1916: 230; Mazur 1997.

Phelister solator Marseul, 1861: 164; Marseul 1870.

Type material.

Neotype male, hereby designated: "Tejeria, Veracruz, MEX, VII:4:41" / "Col. by H. Dybas" / "Collection R. L. Wenzel" / "Phelister #68 det R.Wenzel" / "Compared with type Phelister affinis LeC. RLW’ 51; see type notes under solator "; dissected by Rupert Wenzel (FMNH). The type(s) of this species aren’t known, despite searches in the most likely repository (MCZC) and others (FMNH, CMNH, USNM), and despite the apparent fact that Wenzel studied a supposed type in 1951 (labels on specimen). Due to the extreme similarity among members of Phelister , we feel that a Neotype designation is necessary to anchor a specific concept for this species.

Types of synonyms. Lectotype of Phelister solator Marseul, of undetermined sex, hereby designated: "Phelister solator, Mexic. Sallé 20" / "Coll. Desbordes" / “TYPE”, MNHN. Lectotype of Phelister simplex Casey, of undetermined sex, hereby designated: "Lee Co Tex" / "Casey bequest 1925" / "TYPE USNM 38453" / "simplex Csy", USNM.

Diagnostic description.

Length: 1.73-2.01 mm (avg. 1.94 mm); width: 1.50-1.73 mm (avg. 1.65 mm). Body elongate-oval, widest behind humeri, humeri slightly wider than base of pronotum; body more or less uniformly piceous; entire dorsum finely punctulate, the pronotum more densely so than the elytra; frons finely punctulate, impressed along midline, supraorbital stria complete, frontal stria interrupted at sides and at middle, slightly sinuate laterally; labrum wide, distinctly emarginate apically; both mandibles with strong tooth on inner edges; pronotum usually with distinct fragments of submarginal stria in anterior corners; pronotal disk with larger punctures interspersed with finer punctures along lateral thirds; elytron with single, complete epipleural stria, outer subhumeral stria present in apical third, inner subhumeral stria absent, dorsal striae 1-4 complete, stria 5 present in apical half-two-thirds, very rarely complete, but nearly always with a basal puncture, and sutural stria obsolete in basal third, diverging from the suture anteriad; propygidium with distinct secondary punctures separated by slightly greater than their widths; pygidium more finely punctate; prosternal keel with two complete striae, finely united by anterior arch, free, diverging posteriorly, finely punctulate between in both sexes; mesoventral marginal stria complete, smooth, continued at sides by postmesocoxal stria which runs posteriad two-thirds of the distance to metepipleuron; mesometaventral stria complete, weakly crenulate to smooth, angulate mediad mesocoxa, extending posteriad to near inner corner of metacoxa; first abdominal ventrite with single, complete lateral stria; protibia with apex obliquely truncate, outer margin weakly rounded, bearing ca. six evenly spaced marginal spines; meso- and metatibiae weakly expanded to apex, mesotibia with ca. five marginal spines, more prominent toward apex, metatibia with distinct spines confined to apical fourth. Aedeagus with basal piece a little over one-fourth total length; tegmen widest just beyond middle, abruptly narrowed to thin, divided apices; median lobe more than half tegmen length, proximal apodemes thin near base, thickened toward gonopore.

Remarks.

This species was previously synonymized with Phelister contractus Casey by Mazur (1997), in error. Having studied its type, we instead synonymize P. contractus with P. subrotundus Say (below).

Biology.

Label data indicate rather generalist habitat preferences, having been collected in cow, horse, and gopher tortoise dung, under decayed leaves, in rotting breadfruit, in fire-scorched Yucca L., and in rotten Opuntia Miller, and the species even exhibits some facultative myrmecophily, with records from nests of both Acromyrmex Mayr and Azteca Forel ants.

Distribution.

This species occurs from Central America through Mexico, just into the south-central United States. Records: COSTA RICA: Guanacaste, Puntarenas, San José; EL SALVADOR: La Libertad, San Salvador; GUATEMALA: Baja Verapaz, Escuintla, Santa Rosa; HONDURAS: Choluteca, Francisco Morazán; MEXICO: Chiapas, Colima, Hidalgo, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Veracruz; NICARAGUA: Granada, León, Madriz, Managua, Zelaya; USA: Oklahoma: Latimer; Texas: Cameron, Hidalgo.