Philonthus caffer, Boheman, 1848

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 : 162-163

Philonthus caffer species group

Representatives of the Philonthus caffer species group are characterized by the combination of the following characters:

Body small to middle-sized (6.2–10.2 mm). Head black, iridescent in some species; temporal area with variable number of punctures; four coarse punctures situated between eyes; surface of head without microsculpture or with very fine, irregular microsculpture here and there. Antennae slender and very long, mostly reaching posterior margin of pronotum when reclined. Pronotum from black to brown, highly convex, slightly narrowed anteriad, each dorsal row with 5 (or rarely 4) punctures, each sublateral row with 2 punctures; surface of pronotum mostly with microsculpture. Scutellum variably punctate. Elytra slightly widened posteriad, uniformly red or black, or black with red patches posteriorly, sometimes only posterior margin narrowly red. Abdomen black to brown, sometimes with violet-green or blue-greenish metallic reflection; first three visible tergites with two basal lines, elevated area between basal lines variably punctate or impunctate. Protarsomeres 1–3 of male dilated, sub-bilobed, each covered with modified pale setae ventrally. Protarsomeres 1–3 of female much less dilated than in male. Aedeagus narrow and more or less pointed at apex in most species, paramere nearly, or quite, as broad as median lobe in its apical region. In two species, P. biguttulus ( Figs. 8–13 ) and P. tomicus (Figs. 62–63), paramere much narrower than median lobe, being very broad at apex.

The following species are included in the group:

Philonthus aminius Tottenham, 1955 Kenya

Philonthus aonyx sp. nov. Ethiopia

Philonthus biguttulus Fauvel, 1907 Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sierra Leone

Philonthus bucorvus sp. nov. Malawi

Philonthus caffer Boheman, 1848 Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Namibia, Republic of South

Africa

Philonthus cliens Eppelsheim, 1890 India, Nepal, Botswana, Nigeria, Senegal, ‘Tanganyika’

Philonthus combustus Fauvel, 1907 Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Zambia

Philonthus falco sp. nov. Botswana, Madagascar, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Philonthus gabonensis Levasseur, 1966 Gabon, CentralAfricanRepublic, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Philonthus iridicollis Bernhauer, 1932 DemocraticRepublicoftheCongo, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe

Philonthus kenyanus Bernhauer, 1939 Kenya, Chad

Philonthus leptophilus Hromádka, 2006 Sierra Leone

Philonthus limbipennis Fauvel, 1905 Madagascar

Philonthus maridadus Tottenham, 1962 Kenya, ‘Tanganyika’, Tanzania

Philonthus sequens Bernhauer & Schubert, 1914 Ethiopia, Kenya,? Republic of South Africa

Philonthus tomicus Tottenham, 1962 Cameroon, Senegal

Figures

Figs. 1–11. 1–2 – Philonthus aminius Tottenham, 1955; 3–7 – P. aonyx sp. nov.; 8–11 – P. biguttulus Fauvel, 1907 (8–9: Angola; 10–11: Ethiopia). 1, 3, 8, 10 – aedeagus, ventral view; 2 – male sternite VIII, ventral view; 4 – aedeagus, lateral view; 5 – apex of paramere with sensory peg setae, ventral view; 6 – apical portion of male sternite VIII, ventral view; 7 – elytra; 9, 11 – paramere with sensory peg setae, ventral view.

Figs. 12–24. 12–13 – Philonthus biguttulus Fauvel, 1907 (Côte d’Ivoire); 14–16 – P. bucorvus sp. nov.; 17–20 – P. caffer Boheman, 1848; 21–24 – Philonthus cliens Eppelsheim, 1890. 12, 14, 17, 21 – aedeagus, ventral view, 13 – paramere with sensory peg setae, ventral view; 15, 18, 22 – aedeagus, lateral view; 16, 20 – male sternite IX, ventral view; 19, 23 – aedeagus without paramere, ventral view; 24 – apex of paramere with sensory peg setae, ventral view.