Philonthus rugulipennis Tottenham, 1949

Hromádka, Lubomír, 2008, Revision of Afrotropical species of the Philonthus peripateticus species group (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Philonthina), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 48 (1), pp. 51-65 : 62-64

Philonthus rugulipennis Tottenham, 1949

( Figs. 35-40 )

Philonthus (Raucalius) rugulipennis Tottenham, 1949: 301 .

Type locality. Democratic Republic of the Congo (former ‘Belge Congo’), Lulua, Kananga.

Material examined. ♁, ZAMBIA: ‘N.W. Rhodesia, Kashitu, N of Broken Hill, xi.1914, H.C. Dollman, H.C. Dollman collection 1919-79 // Philonthus rugulipennis Bernhauer , labelled by Bernhauer as Cotypus / Chicago NHMus M. Bernhauer collection’ ( FMNH). See note below.

Redescription. Body length 10.1 mm (with stretched abdomen), length of fore body (to the end of elytra) 5.4 mm.

Colouration. Head and pronotum black, elytra and abdomen black-brown, suture of elytra narrowly reddish, clypeus along anterior margin and antennal sockets narrowly brown-yellow, maxillary and labial palpi brown-yellow, apices of all palpomeres somewhat paler, antennae black-brown, antennomere 1, base of antennomere 2 and legs yellow-brown, tibiae and tarsi somewhat darker.

Head quadrate, somewhat wider than long (ratio 31: 28), slightly narrowed posteriad. Eyes about as long as temples (ratio 12: 11), slightly convex. Four punctures between eyes, distance separating medial punctures about four times as large as distance separating medial punctures from lateral ones. Posterior margin and temporal area of head with numerous coarse punctures; one coarse puncture posteriad of medial interocular puncture. Surface with very fine, transverse wavy microsculpture, intermixed with numerous microscopic dots here and there.

Antennae relatively long, reaching hind fifth of pronotum, when reclined; antennomere 1 as long as antennomeres 10-11 combined, antennomeres 2 and 3 equal in size.

Pronotum about as long as wide (ratio 36: 35), parallel-sided; anterior angles almost rectangular, distinctive; posterior angles markedly rounded. Each dorsal row with 3 punctures; each sublateral row with 2 punctures. Surface with very fine microsculpture of transverse waves, intermixed with numerous microscopic dots here and there.

Scutellum with very coarse, dense and granular punctation; punctures mostly coalescent.

Elytra wider than long (ratio 49: 43), slightly widened posteriad, with very coarse, granular and dense punctation, punctures mostly coalescent; setation dark brown.

Legs. Metatarsus as long as metatibia, metatarsomere 1 somewhat longer than metatarsomere 5, metatarsomere 2 as long as metatarsomeres 2-3 combined.

Abdomen from visible tergite 5 slightly narrowed towards both base and apex. Elevated area between two basal lines on first three visible tergites coarsely punctate. Punctation somewhat finer than that on elytra; transverse interstices between punctures usually smaller than diameters of punctures; punctures coalescent here and there. Surface without microsculpture. Setation similar to that on elytra.

Male. Protarsomeres 1-3 markedly dilated and sub-bilobed, each covered with modified yellow setae ventrally, protarsomere 4 slender. Sternite VIII ( Fig. 39 ), sternite IX ( Fig. 40 ), aedeagus with branches of paramere widely separated medially ( Figs. 35-38 ).

Female. Unknown to the author.

Differential diagnosis. Philonthus rugulipennis may be distinguished from the two most similar species P. lamtoensis and P. katangaensis by the darker antennae and by the different shape of the aedeagus.

Bionomics. Unknown.

Distribution. Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia ( TOTTENHAM 1949, HERMAN 2001).

Remarks. The holotype of this species is preserved in the Musée royal de l’Afrique centrale in Tervuren. I did not see the holotype. The redescription was done from a specimen (‘Cotype’) from the Bernhauer collection (FMNH). However, Bernhauer never described the species, therefore this specimen (‘comparatype’) does not have any type status.

Figures

Figs. 29-40. 29-34 – Philonthus peripateticus Tottenham, 1949; 35-40 – P. rugulipennis Tottenham, 1949. 29-31, 35-37 – aedeagus: 29, 35 − ventral view, 30, 36 – dorsal view, 31, 37 – lateral view; 32, 38 – underside of paramere, with sensory peg setae; 33, 39 – apical portion of sternite VIII, ventral view; 34, 40 – sternite IX, ventral view.