Pseudohesperus proselytus ( Herman, 2001 ) Hromádka, 2010

Hromádka, Lubomír, 2010, Revision of the Afrotropical species of the genus Pseudohesperus, with taxonomic notes on other Afrotropical species of the subtribe Philonthina (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 50 (2), pp. 495-516 : 507-508

Pseudohesperus proselytus ( Herman, 2001) comb. nov.

( Figs. 11‒12 )

Philonthus tamulus Tottenham, 1949:358 (junior primary homonym of P. tamulus Cameron, 1932 ). Philonthus proselytus Herman, 2001: 47 (replacement name).

Type locality. Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kivu, Tshibinda.

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE: ♀, ‘ Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kivu: Tshibinda, xi, 1932, L Burgeon, Musée du Congo, // Philonthus tamulus, Tottenham , Type [yellow square label, handwritten]’ ( MRAC).

Redescription. Body length 7.5 mm, length of fore body (to end of elytra) 3.4 mm.

Colouration. Head black, pronotum black-brown, elytra including suture black, abdomen pitchy brown, golden-bluish iridescent, maxillary palpi and labial palpi yellow-brown, mandibles brown, slightly paler distally, antennae black, legs pitchy brown with femora vaguely lighter.

Head wider than long (ratio 24: 20), sides very slightly rounded, posterior angles obtusely rounded, base straight. Four coarse punctures present between eyes, distance between medial interocular punctures four times as long as distance between medial and lateral puncture, medial punctures slightly shifted anteriad, outer punctures situated halfway between inner punctures and marginal punctures of eyes, one or two much smaller shallow punctures present behind these; temples with several variably large punctures. Eyes flat, slightly shorter than temples (ratio 7: 8). Surface with very fine, almost inconspicuous microsculpture.

Antennae slender and long, all antennomeres longer than wide, exceeding posterior margin of pronotum by length of antennomere 2 when reclined. Relative lengths of antennomeres 1–11: 1 = 7 units, 2 and 3 = 5 units, 4 and 5 = 4.5 units, 6 and 7 = 4 units, 8–10 = 3.5 units and 11 = 6 units.

Pronotum highly convex, as wide as long, vaguely narrowed anteriad, anterior angles conspicuously deflexed, obtusely rounded, posterior angles markedly rounded. Each dorsal row irregular, consisting of about four coarse punctures and 5–6 very small but distinct punctures (number of punctures in dorsal row difficult to state owing to its irregular nature), other similar small and 1–2 larger punctures scattered over whole lateral area, surface with microsculpture similar to that on head.

Scutellum sparsely and finely punctate, punctures smaller than eye-facets, separated by 1.5–2 puncture diameters in transverse direction.

Elytra combined wider than long (ratio 39: 36), slightly widened posteriad, very finely and densely punctate, with several distinctly larger punctures in indistinct longitudinal rows.

Legs. Metatarsus shorter than metatibia (ratio 21: 23), relative lengths of metatarsomeres 1–5: 1 = 6 units, 2 = 3.5 units, 3 = 3 units, 4 = 2.5 units and 5 = 5 units.

Abdomen wide, very slightly and gradually narrowed towards apex. First four visible tergites with two basal lines, elevated area between lines with scattered punctures. Punctation at base of all tergites coarser and sparser than on elytra, gradually becoming finer and sparser towards posterior margin of each tergite. Surface without microsculpture; setation similar to that on elytra.

Male. Unknown.

Female. Protarsomeres 1–4 simple, each with few modified pale setae laterally. Tergite X ( Fig. 11 ), gonocoxite of female genital segment ( Fig. 12 ).

Differential diagnosis. Pseudohesperus proselytus may be distinguished from P. apsilus sp. nov. by a narrower head, shorter antennae and sparser punctation of the abdomen, from P. bafutensis by a narrower head, longer antennae and sparser punctation of the scutellum, from P. conradti by a narrower head, shorter antennae, darker antennomere 1 and sparser punctation of the scutellum, pronotal sides and abdomen, from P. eccoptomus by shorter eyes and the lack of rainbow-coloured iridescence of the abdomen, from P. tauraco sp. nov. by a narrower head, shorter antennae and denser punctation of the scutellum, from P. tyto sp. nov. by a narrower head, shorter antennae, darker antennomere 1 and sparser punctation of the scutellum and abdomen, and from P. varanus sp. nov. by a narrower head and shorter eyes and antennae.

Distribution. Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Figures

Figs.1–12. 1–5 – Pseudohesperus apsilus sp. nov. (1 – aedeagus, ventral view; 2 – aedeagus, lateral view; 3 – apical portion of paramere with sensory peg setae, ventral view; 4 – apical portion of male sternite VIII, ventral view; 5 – male sternite IX, ventral view). 6–10 – Pseudohesperus conradti (Bernhauer, 1912) (6 – aedeagus, ventral view; 7 – aedeagus, lateral view; 8 – apical portion of paramere with sensory peg setae; 9 – apical portion of male sternite VIII, ventral view; 10 – male sternite IX, ventral view). 11–12 – Pseudohesperus proselytus (Herman, 2001) (11 – female tergite, ventral view; 12 – gonocoxite of female genital segment).