Lithocharis carinata CAMERON , 1928

Assing, Volker, 2015, A revison of the Lithocharis species of the Palaearctic, Oriental and Australian regions (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae: Medonina), Linzer biologische Beiträge 47 (2), pp. 1133-1178 : 1159-1160

Lithocharis carinata CAMERON, 1928

( Figs 71-75 )

Lithocharis carinatus [sic] CAMERON, 1928: 246.

Type material examined Syntype ♂: "Engano, Bua-Bua. V.VI., Modigliani 1891. / Lithocharis carinatus Cam / Museo Civ. Genova / / M. Cameron. Bequest. B.M. 1955-147. / Cotype / Lithocharis carinata Cameron , det. V. Assing 2015 " (BMNH).

Comment: The original description is based on an unspecified number of syntypes from " Sumatra " ( CAMERON 1928). One of them was located in the Cameron collection at the BMNH; the remainder is deposited in the collections of the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale , Genova. Since the examined syntype is evidently somewhat teneral, it is not designated as the lectotype.

Additional material examined: Burma: 1♂, Tenasserim (BMNH) . Indonesia: 20 exs., Sumatra, Bukittinggi ["Fort de Kock"], 920 m, 1926, leg. Jacobson (BMNH, cAss).

Redescription: Body length 3.0-4.0 mm; length of forebody 1.8-2.1 mm. Coloration: head blackish-brown to black; pronotum pale-reddish to brown; elytra reddish-yellow; abdomen reddish to reddish-brown, with the margins of the segments and the apex (segments VIII-X and posterior portion of segment VII) yellowish; legs yellow; antennae pale-reddish.

Head weakly transverse; posterior angles broadly rounded, weakly marked; punctation very dense and fine; interstices with fine microsculpture; surface only with subdued shine. Eyes large, somewhat longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antennae approximately 1.4 mm long; antennomeres IV weakly oblong, V-VI approximately as long as broad, VII-IX weakly transverse, and X moderately transverse.

Pronotum approximately as long as broad or weakly transverse, and approximately as broad as head; posterior angles obtusely marked; punctation very dense and slightly more distinct than that of head; surface only with subdued shine; midline with distinct narrow glossy band, posteriorly with fine median furrow of variable length.

Elytra 1.07-1.10 times as long as pronotum; punctation very dense and fine; surface nearly matt. Protarsomeres I-IV dilated, distinctly more so in males than in females. Metatarsomere I longer than II, but shorter than the combined length of II and III.

Abdomen narrower than elytra; punctation extremely fine and dense; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

♂: sternite VII ( Figs 71-72 ) strongly transverse, posterior margin broadly concave and with broad comb of numerous relatively short palisade setae; sternite VIII ( Fig. 73 ) distinctly transverse, posterior excision large and broadly V-shaped; aedeagus ( Figs 74- 75 ) small, 0.45-0.48 mm long; apical portion strongly dilated (ventral view) and strongly bent dorsad in lateral view.

Comparative notes: This species is characterized particularly by the male primary and secondary male sexual characters, above all by the conspicuously bent apical portion of the aedeagus. It is additionally distinguished from many other species of similarly small size and of similar coloration by the fine median furrow in the posterior portion of the pronotum.

Distribution: Confirmed records are known from Burma, Sumatra, and the Indonesian island Enggano. CAMERON (1936) reported the species also from Java.

Figures

Figs 71-75: Lithocharis carinata CAMERON, syntype: (71) male sternite VII; (72) postero-median portion of male sternite VII; (73) male sternite VIII; (74-75) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view. Scale bars: 71, 73-75: 0.2 mm; 72: 0.1 mm.