Quedius (Microsaurus) fusicornis Luze, 1904

Salnitska, Maria & Solodovnikov, Alexey, 2018, Revision of the Quedius fauna of Middle Asia (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Staphylininae), Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 65 (2), pp. 117-159 : 124-126

Quedius (Microsaurus) fusicornis Luze, 1904 Fig. 8

Quedius fusicornis Luze, 1904, 28 (original description); Gridelli 1924, 69 (characters, notes)

Material examined.

Type material: Tajikistan or Uzbekistan: Lectotype (here designated): ♂, "♂/ Seravchan Putchin Pass. Glasunov 1892 [printed]/ Type fusicornis Luze [handwritten]/ ex. coll. Luze [printed]/ ex. coll. Scheerpeltz [printed]/ Typus Quedius fusicornis Luze [pre-printed] ’’; Paralectotypes: 1 ♀, "Seravchan Putchin Pass. Glasunov 1892 [printed]/ Type fusicornis Luze [handwritten]/ Quedius fusicornis Luze [handwritten]/ [square orange piece of paper] ’’; 1 ♀, "Seravchan Boschara Glasunow 1892 [printed]/ Type fusicornis Luze [handwritten]/ Quedius fusicornis Luze [pre-printed] ’’ (Fig. 8F, G) (NMW).

Additional material.

Uzbekistan: 1 ♂, Samarqand Region, Aman Kutan, 04.VII.1932, V.V. Gussakovsky leg.; Kyrgyzstan: 1 ♂, Kyrgyz-Alatoo Mts, 09.VII.2010, 72°28' 38.6N, 42°48' 49.2E, V.A. Kastcheev leg. (ZIN).

Comments on taxonomy and type material.

In the original description, Luze (1904) provided no information on the type material, but he indicated 7.7-8.5 mm body size range for the species. This suggests that he must have had more than one specimen to base a description on. He also indicated "Seravschan: Putschin-Pass, Boschara’’ as a locality that his material was from. Finally, we know from the introduction in Luze’s paper that the material he examined was collected by Glasunov. Therefore, a single male (NMW) and two females (ZIN) that we examined and that match the original description morphologically and in the label data, are syntypes. Luze (1904) compared Quedius fusicornis with his Q. solskyi and the widespread Q. cruentus Ol. Gridelli (1924) apparently based his short notes about this species exclusively on Luze’s description, without seeing any material. Similarly to other species of Quedius described by Luze (1904), Q. fusicornis is missing in the monograph by Coiffait (1978) who apparently overlooked Luze’s publication. Here we provide a redescription and first illustrations of this poorly known species, including its aedeagus.

Redescription.

Measurements and ratios (range, arithmetic mean; n = 6): HL: 1.0-1.2 (1.1); HW: 1.0-1.4 (1.1); PL: 1.1-1.5 (1.3); PW: 1.3-1.6 (1.4); EL: 1.5-1.7 (1.6); EW: 1.3-1.6 (1.5); FB: 3.7-4.4 (4.0); TL: 6.0-8.6 (7.3); HL/HW: 0.9-1.1 (1.0); PL/PW: 0.8-0.9 (0.9); EL/EW: 1.00-1.2 (1.1).

Body length: 6.0-8.6 (7.3); head, scutellum and abdomen blackish, pronotum and hind margins of abdominal tergites slightly paler; elytra light red or orange; palpi, antennae and legs brown; body glossy (Fig. 8A, B).

Head approximately as wide as long HL/HW: 0.9-1.1 (1.0); eyes small, not convex; temples slightly longer or as long as longitudinal diameter of eye; posterior frontal puncture closer to posterior margin of head than to anterior frontal puncture; temporal puncture closer to posterior margin of head than to posterior margin of eye; two vertical punctures behind posterior frontal puncture arranged as slightly oblique line between posterior margin of eye and dorsal part of neck; microsculpture of entire surface of head with transverse waves.

Antennae moderately long, antennal segments: 3rd longer than 2nd, 4 th– 10th gradually widening towards apex of antenna.

Pronotum slightly wider than long PL/PW: 0.8-0.9 (0.9), widest at about posterior third, gradually narrowing anteriad; hind angles rounded but distinct; dorsal and sublateral rows each with three punctures; microsculpture with transverse waves similar to that on posterior part of head. Scutellum impunctate with microsculpture as on pronotum. Elytra parallel-sided, slightly longer than wide, as long as or slightly longer than pronotum and narrower than maximum width of pronotum; punctation dense; setation gray; interspaces shiny, with distinct minute irregularities.

Abdomen: punctation fine and moderately dense; interspaces with vaguely distinct minute irregularities; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

Male: protarsi with tarsomeres 1-4 dilated stronger than in females. Aedeagus (Fig. 8 C–E: median lobe parallel-sided along most of its length with broad and obtuse apex and tooth located near apex (Fig. 8C). Paramere parallel-sided, narrowing only in rhomboid apical portion; its apex almost reaching apex of median lobe, with two pairs of apical setae and two pairs of lateral setae below apex, with 6 peg setae arranged in two regular longitudinal rows apically extending basad over pairs of lateral setae (Fig. 8D).

Comparison.

Quedius fusicornis is similar to Q. capitalis . For comparison, see the latter species above. From other similar species such as Q. solskyi , Q. cruentus and Q. ochripennis , it can be easily distinguished by the structure of the apical part of the paramere with two medially situated short rows of peg setae (3 in each row) extending basad the pairs of lateral setae.

Distribution.

We were not able to locate the type locality "Putchin Pass" situated somewhere along Zeravchan River that is extended from eastern Uzbekistan to western Tajikistan. Additional material was studied from eastern Uzbekistan (near Aman-Kutan) and north-west ern Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyz-Alatoo). Finally, one specimen was from ‘Tangi-Gharuh’, a toponym in Afghanistan that we could not locate.

Bionomics.

Unknown.