Philonthus jelineki, Hromádka, 2009

Hromádka, Lubomír, 2009, Five new Philonthus species (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Philonthina) from the Afrotropical region, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 49 (2), pp. 671-682 : 672-674

Philonthus jelineki sp. nov.

( Figs. 1–7 )

Type locality. Republic of South Africa, Cape Province, Die Panne N. R.

Type material. HOLOTYPE: J, ‛ REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA: Die Panne N. R., Cape Province [= Northern Cape Province], 5.–6.i.1972. Southern African Expedition , B. M. 1972-1., litter by brackish pools // HOLO- TYPE, Philonthus jelineki sp. nov. Hromádka, det. 2008 [red oblong printed label]’ ( BMNH) . PARATYPES: 3 spec., same label data as in holotype [all paratypes with red printed type labels] ( BMNH, LHPC).

Description. Body length 5.8–6.2 mm, length of forebody (to end of elytra) 2.9–3.2 mm.

Colouration. Head, pronotum and antennae black, pronotum, abdomen, maxillary and labial palpi and mandibles black-brown, femora dark brown-yellow, tibiae and tarsi vaguely darker.

Head of rounded quadrangular shape, hardly wider than long (ratio 18: 17), slightly narrowed towards obtusely rounded posterior angles behind eyes, eyes as long as temples. Four punctures situated between eyes, distance between medial interocular punctures 4 times as large as distance between medial and lateral interocular puncture. Temporal area each with several coarser punctures, surface with dense and very fine microsculpture consisting of mostly transverse waves.

Antennae moderately long, reaching posterior margin of pronotum when reclined. Relative lengths of antennomeres 1–11: 5.5-3.5-4-3-3-3-3-2.5-2.5-2.5-4-5.

Pronotum longer than wide (ratio 24: 22), distinctly narrowing anteriorly. Each dorsal row with six punctures, punctures 2–5 equidistant, distance between punctures 1–2 and 5–6 about 1.5 times as large as interval between punctures 2–5. Each sublateral row with two punctures, puncture 1 situated behind level of puncture 3 in dorsal row. Microsculpture similar to that on head.

Scutellum very densely and finely punctate, punctures as large as eye facets, separated by distance larger than their diameter. Surface with traces of fine microsculpture.

Elytra as wide as long, very slightly widened posteriad, punctation fine and dense, punctures as large as eye facets, separated by one puncture diameter in transverse direction. Surface between punctures without microsculpture; setation brown.

Legs. Metatibia longer than metatarsus (ratio 18: 16). Relative length of metatarsomeres: 1–5 = 4.5-3-2.5-2-5.

Abdomen wide, slightly narrowed from tergite V posteriad. First four tergites with two basal lines, elevated area between basal lines on tergites I–III more or less densely punctate, elevated area on tergite IV with scattered punctures. Punctation of tergites similar to that on elytra, gradually becoming sparser towards posterior margin of each tergite, surface without microsculpture; setation similar to that on elytra.

Male. Protarsomeres 1–3 strongly dilated, sub-bilobed, densely covered with modified pale setae ventrally, protarsomere 4 considerably narrower than preceding ones, not sub-bilobed, lacking modified pale setae ventrally. Sternite VIII ( Fig. 4 ); sternite IX ( Fig. 5 ); aedeagus ( Figs. 1–3 ).

Female. Protarsomeres 1–3 only slightly dilated, scarcely sub-bilobed, covered with few modified pale setae ventrally, protarsomere 4 only slightly narrower than preceding ones, lacking modified setae ventrally. Tergite X ( Fig. 6 ); gonocoxite of female genital segment ( Fig. 7 ).

Differential diagnosis. Philonthus jelineki sp. nov. is very similar to P. smaragdinus Tottenham, 1949 ( Fig. 34 ), from which it differs by the presence of microsculpture on the head and pronotum, longer pronotum and different shape of the aedeagus.

Etymology. It is my pleasure to dedicate this and the following new species to my friend and prominent Czech entomologist Dr. Josef Jelínek, specialist on the Nitidulidae .

Bionomics. All species were collected in ground litter near brackish pools at the beginning of January.

Distribution. Known only from the type locality in the Northern Cape Province in the Republic of South Africa.

Figures

Figs 1–10. 1–7 – Philonthus jelineki sp. nov. 1– aedeagus, ventral view; 2 – aedeagus, lateral view; 3 – apex of paramere with sensory peg setae; 4 – apical portion of male sternite VIII; 5 – male sternite IX; 6 – female tergite X; 7 – gonocoxite of female genital segment. 8–10 – Philonthus jelinekianus sp. nov. 8 – aedeagus, ventral view; 9 – aedeagus, lateral view; 10 – apex of paramere with sensory peg setae.

Figs. 32–36. 32–33 – Philonthus tragelaphus sp. nov. 32 – female tergite X; 33 – gonocoxite of female genital segment. 34 – P. smaragdinus Tottenham, 1949, aedeagus, ventral view (Democratic Republic of the Congo). 35 – P. morio Boheman, 1848, aedeagus, ventral view (Malawi); 36 – P. lasti Tottenham, 1955, aedeagus, ventral view (Botswana).