Pinophilinus socotranus, Assing, 2012

Assing, V., 2012, On the Staphylinidae of Socotra Island, Yemen (Insecta: Coleoptera), Linzer biologische Beiträge 44 (2), pp. 973-986 : 980-982

Pinophilinus socotranus nov.sp. ( Figs 10-15 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype: " Yemen, Sokotra, Al Haghier Mts., Scant Mt. env., 12°35'N, 54°02'E, 1450 m, sifted, 12.-13.XI.2010, leg. Hlaváč / Holotypus Pinophilinus socotranus sp. n. det. V. Assing 2012" (NMNHP). Paratype: same data as holotype (cAss).

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from Socotra, where this species is probably endemic.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 5.3-6.0 mm; length of forebody 2.2 mm. Habitus of holotype as in Fig. 10 . Coloration: forebody dark castaneous; abdomen dark-brown to blackish; legs dark-yellowish; antennae yellowish-red.

Head ( Fig. 11 ) strongly transverse, approximately 1.4 times as wide as long; posterior margin concave in the middle; frons practically impunctate; punctation of vertex moderately dense, rather coarse, and defined; interstices glossy, without microsculpture, on average broader than diameter of punctures. Eyes of moderate size, slightly shorter than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna approximately 1.2 mm long; antennomeres III-

VIII weakly oblong, IX-X approximately as long as broad. Mandibles long, slender, and curved, not dentate.

Pronotum ( Fig. 11 ) flattened, weakly convex in cross-section, indistinctly oblong and of subtrapezoid shape, at anterior angles approximately as wide as head, and distinctly tapering posteriad; posterior angles abruptly rounded, moderately marked; punctation as coarse as that of head, but somewhat denser; interstices without microsculpture, on average approximately as broad as diameter of punctures.

Elytra short and narrow, approximately 0.75 times as long and 0.9 times as broad as pronotum, distinctly widened posteriad ( Fig. 11 ); humeral angles almost obsolete; punctures even larger than those of pronotum, but less defined; interstices without microsculpture. Hind wings completely reduced. Metatarsomere I longer than the combined length of II and III.

Abdomen ( Fig. 12 ) long and slender, broader than elytra; maximal width at segment VII; punctation coarse and dense, denser on anterior than on posterior tergites; interstices without microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

: sternite VIII oblong, distinctly tapering posteriad, and with small, V-shaped posterior excision ( Fig. 13 ); aedeagus as in Figs 14-15.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: The only other Pinophilinus species with short elytra and reduced hind wings in the region is P. schatzmayri ( KOCH 1934) from the south of the Sinai peninsula. This species, however, is distinguished from P. socotranus by larger body size (7 mm), paler coloration (body yellowish-red), a wider head (wider than pronotum), a densely punctate vertex, the less extensively impunctate frons, the more oblong pronotum (approximately 1.25 times as long as broad) with a laterally finer punctation, the presence of a pair of posterior impressions on the pronotum, the posteriorly subparallel lateral margins of the elytra. For more details see KOCH (1934). The male sexual characters of P. schatzmayri are unknown.

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d n a t u r a l h i s t o r y: The type locality and the circumstances of collection are identical to those of Octavius curtissimus , Edaphus hlavaci , and E. socotranus (see above). The short elytra and reduced hind wings suggest that the species is endemic to Socotra.

Figures

Figs 10-19: Pinophilinus socotranus nov.sp. (10-15) and Pseudomedon macer nov.sp. (16-19): (10, 16) habitus; (11, 17) forebody; (12) abdomen; (13) male sternite VIII; (14-15, 18-19) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view. Scale bars: 10, 16: 1.0 mm; 11-12, 17: 0.5 mm; 13-15, 18-19: 0.2 mm.