Anhoraeomorphus compactus (Franz) Jałoszyński, 2024

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2024, The ‘ curse of Horaeomorphus’ (almost) lifted. Revision of misplaced species from Madagascar, Comoros and Mascarenes (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 5505 (1), pp. 1-96 : 30-31

Anhoraeomorphus compactus (Franz) , comb. n.

( Figs 107–110 )

Horaeomorphus compactus Franz, 1986b: 168 .

Type material studied. Holotype ( Madagascar): ♀, five labels: “S-Madagaskar / Umg.Ft.Dauphin / lg. H.Franz 1969” [white, printed], “ ♀ ” [white, printed], “Scierie de / Bimanguidy” [white, handwritten], “ Horaeomorphus / compactus m. / det. H.Franz ” [yellowish, handwritten and printed] ( NHMW).

Revised diagnosis. Body ( Fig. 107 ) stout and conspicuously strongly convex; head ( Figs 108–109 ) strikingly small compared to prothorax and distinctly elongate, with vertex posteriorly broadly rounded; pronotum ( Fig. 107 ) round, broadest between middle and anterior third, lacking antebasal pits; antennomeres 3–5 ( Fig. 110 ) each elongate, 6 as long as broad, and 7–10 each transverse; profemora much thicker than meso- and metafemora.

Redescription. Body of female ( Fig. 107 ) dark brown with reddish hue, tarsi and palps distinctly lighter, setae yellowish; BL 2.78 mm.

Head ( Fig. 108 ) in anterodorsal view elongate, broadest at eyes, HL 0.58 mm, HW 0.48 mm; temple in lateral view ( Fig. 109 ) slightly longer than eye; vertex and frons confluent, together weakly convex and clearly elongate; vertex posteriorly broadly rounded; each eye small and weakly convex, oval with shallow posteromedian emargination, weakly projecting from head silhouette. Punctures on vertex fine, inconspicuous; setae short, dense and suberect; frons and vertex densely covered with thick bristles directed posteriorly. Antenna ( Fig. 110 ) massive and short, as long as half BL, AnL 1.35 mm, antennomeres 1–5 each distinctly elongate, 6 as long as broad, 7–10 each transverse, 11 clearly longer than 9 and 10 combined, as wide as 10, about twice as long as broad.

Pronotum round, broadest between middle and anterior third; PL 0.73 mm, PW 0.70 mm. Anterior margin strongly rounded, lateral margins rounded in anterior half, nearly straight in posterior half; posterior corners blunt; posterior margin nearly straight. Base lacking pits, but with short but distinct sublateral carinae. Disc with fine, inconspicuous punctures; setae dense, short and suberect, lateral surface of pronotum with dense thick bristles.

Elytra together oval and conspicuously strongly convex, broadest slightly in front of middle; EL 1.48 mm, EW 1.20 mm, EI 1.23; humeral calli not marked, basal elytral foveae indiscernible. Punctures very dense but extremely shallow and diffuse, so that surface of elytra is slightly less glossy than pronotum; setae sparse, short and nearly recumbent.

Legs long, slender, unmodified except thickened protibiae with large distal patch of adhesive setae and weakly curved pro- and mesotibiae.

Male. Unknown.

Distribution. Southern Madagascar (Anosy Region).

Remarks. Anhoraeomorphus compactus is known from only a single holotype female, which differs from all congeners in strongly convex and stout elytra (EI merely 1.23), round pronotum lacking antebasal pits, small and elongate head, and massive antennae strongly broadening and with strongly transverse antennomeres 7–10.

The label information “Umg.Ft.Dauphin” means in fact ~ 100 km north of Fort-Dauphin, according to Franz (1986b). An additional label written in a hand different than Franz’s reads “Scierie de / Bimanguidy” (i.e., sawmill Bimanguidy), whereas Franz (1986b) translates this into German with an error, as “Säge Bemangidy”.

Figures

FIGURES 107–110. Anhoraeomorphus compactus (Franz), holotype. Habitus in dorsal view (107); head in anterodorsal view (108); head and prothorax in lateral view (only bristles on head are shown) (109); antenna (110).