Lithocharis sororcula KRAATZ , 1859

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 : 1145-1147

Lithocharis sororcula KRAATZ, 1859

( Figs 27-33 )

Lithocharis sororcula KRAATZ, 1859: 140 .

Type material examined: Lectotype ♂, present designation: "92 / Ceylon / Coll. Kraatz / Syntypus / coll. DEI Eberswalde / DEI Müncheberg Col - 04274 / Lectotypus ♂ Lithocharis sororcula Kraatz desig. V. Assing 2014 / Lithocharis sororcula Kraatz , det. V. Assing 2014" ( SDEI) . Paralectotypes: 3♂♂, 1♀: " Ceylon / Syntypus / Coll. Kraatz / coll. DEI Eberswalde / DEI Müncheberg Col - 04271-04273, 0475" ; 1♂ with additional labels "93 / Lithochar. sororcula" (SDEI).

Comment: The original description is based on an unspecified number of syntypes from "insula Ceylan " ( KRAATZ 1859). Five syntypes, four males and one female, were located in the Kraatz collection at the SDEI. One of the males is designated as the lectotype.

Additional material examined: Spain: Canary Islands: 1♂, 3♀♀ [1 teneral], Tenerife, Las Mercedes , 1000 m, 27.IX.1965, leg. Benick ( cAss). India: 1♂, 6♀♀, Karnataka, Bandipur National Park [ca. 11°42'N, 76°34'E], 1000 m, in elephant dung, 21.XII.1992, leg. Cuccodoro ( MHNG, cAss) ; 1♂, Dehra Dun , 19.X.1921, leg. Cameron ( BMNH) ; 1♂, Dehra Dun, 18.III.1921, leg. Cameron ( BMNH) ; 1♂, 2♀♀, " Bengal. Sarda ", leg. Champion ( BMNH, cAss). Sri Lanka: 2♂♂, 1 ex., Yala [ca. 6°31'N, 81°24'E], 20.VI.1976, leg. Quillerou " ( MHNG, cAss). China: 7 exs., Beijing, northern suburbs, manure and straw heap, 30.VIII.1980, leg. Hammond ( BMNH, cAss) ; 11 exs., Yunnan, Dali Bai Aut. Pref., 35 km N Dali, 26°01'N, 100°07'E, 1980 m, pond margin, decaying vegetables sifted, 24.VIII.2009, leg. Schülke ( cSch, cAss). Hong Kong: 1♂, leg. Walker ( BMNH). Thailand: 1♂ [slightly teneral], 130 km NE Bangkok, 12 km SW Pak-Chong , 400 m, fruit orchard, at light, 9.XI.1992, leg. Thielen ( cAss). Malaysia: 1♂, Borneo, Sarawak, Pusa, rotten papaya stem, 26.VIII.1914 ( BMNH) ; 1♂, Sarawak, Gn. Mulu National Park , V-VIII.1978, leg. Hammond & Marshall ( BMNH). Singapore: 1♂, Scott Land , 5.VIII.1922, leg. Saunders ( BMNH) ; 1 ex. [without abdomen], locality not specified, leg. Saunders ( BMNH) ; 1♂ [without aedeagus, sternite VII teratological], Keppel Harbor ( BMNH). East Timor: 1♂, Dili ( BMNH). Peru: 12 exs., Huanaco Prov., Panguana station at Rio Llullapichis , 9°37'S, 74°56'W, 260 m, at light, 2.-20.X.2009, leg. Riedel ( cAss). Australia: 1♂, 1♀, New South Wales. 1.8 km E Loomberah , 31°12'S, 151°02'E, rotting straw, 5.X.1992, leg. Horning ( ANIC) ; 1♀, Queensland, 14 km ENE Mt. Tozer , 12°42'S, 143°20'E, 15.VII.1986, leg. Weir ( ANIC).

Redescription: Small species; body length 3.2-4.0 mm; length of forebody 1.9- 2.0 mm. Coloration: head blackish-brown to blackish, mostly with the frons somewhat paler; pronotum and elytra pale-reddish to reddish-brown, with the suture and the posterior margins of the elytra yellowish; abdomen brown, with the margins of the segments reddish; legs yellowish; antennae reddish to reddish-brown.

Head approximately as broad as long, not dilated behind eyes; punctation very dense and fine; interstices with microsculpture. Eyes large, distinctly longer than postocular portion in dorsal view. Antennae 1.2-1.3 mm long; preapical antennomeres approximately as long as broad or weakly transverse.

Pronotum approximately as wide as long and slightly broader than head; posterior angles obliquely truncate; punctation similar to that of head; midline with or without narrow impunctate band and with fine furrow posteriorly; interstices without microsculpture.

Elytra 1.00-1.05 times as long as pronotum; punctation very dense and fine. Hind wings present. Protarsomeres I-IV weakly dilated in male. Metatarsomere I slightly longer than II, but distinctly shorter than the combined length of II and III.

Abdomen narrower than elytra; punctation fine and very dense; interstices with distinct microreticulation; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

♂: sternite VII ( Figs 27-28 ) distinctly transverse, posterior margin with broad and pronounced excavation of transversely trapezoid shape, margin of this concavity with approximately 30 palisade setae of different lengths (shortest in the middle, longest sublaterally), on either side of middle with one or two projecting palisade setae somewhat resembling a golf club; sternite VIII ( Fig. 29 ) transverse, on either side of middle with a large area without pubescence, posterior excision of somewhat variable shape, broadly V-shaped; aedeagus 0.62-0.65 mm long; ventral process laterally pubescent; dorso-lateral apophyses absent.

Comparative notes: This species is best distinguished from all its congeners by the conspicuous chaetotaxy of the male sternite VII. In coloration and habitus it is similar to L. nigriceps .

Distribution and natural history: Confirmed records are currently known from the Canary Islands (Tenerife), India, Sri Lanka, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singpore, East Timor, Australia, and Peru suggesting that, though probably native in the Oriental region, this species may have a cosmopolitan distribution today. The material from Tenerife represents the first record from the West Palaearctic region. In view of its external resemblance to L. nigriceps , it does not seem unlikely that part of the records of that species, and of L. ochracea , refer to L. sororcula . CAMERON (1931) reports the species also from the West Indies. Some of the examined specimens were collected from elephant dung, decaying vegetable, and at light sources at altitudes of up to 1000 m.

One of the males from Singapore has its sternite VII teratologically deformed (posterior margin with long setae instead of palisade setae) and an abdomen without an aedeagus.

Figures

Figs 27-33: Lithocharis sororcula KRAATZ: (27) male sternite VII; (28) postero-median portion of male sternite VII; (29) male sternite VIII; (30-32) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view; (33) internal structures of aedeagus in ventral view. Scale bars: 27, 29, 30-32: 0.2 mm; 28, 33: 0.1 mm.