Cercyon quisquilius (Linnaeus, 1761)

Arriaga-Varela, Emmanuel, Seidel, Matthias, Deler-Hernandez, Albert, Viktor Senderov, & Fikacek, Martin, 2017, A review of the Cercyon Leach (Coleoptera, Hydrophilidae, Sphaeridiinae) of the Greater Antilles, ZooKeys 681, pp. 39-93 : 57

Cercyon quisquilius (Linnaeus, 1761) Figures 3 g–i, 6 l–n, 13 e–f, 15c

Scarabaeus quisquilius Linnaeus, 1761: 138.

Cercyon quisquilium Stephens (1829: 153). For complete synonymy see Smetana (1978) and Hansen (1999).

Figures in Flickr.

www.flickr.com/photos/142655814@N07/albums/72157671688128241

Type locality.

“Suecia” [= Sweden, without specified locality].

Specimens examined.

CUBA: Holguín: Mayarí Municipality, Feltón, Vuelta Larga, permanent lagoon, 23.iii.2013, leg. A. Deler-Hernández (2 spec.: NMPC) [DNA extraction: MF1599].

Published records.

JAMAICA: without precise locality ( Leng and Mutchler 1917).

Diagnosis.

Body size 2.4-3.2 mm; dorsal surface of head completely black; pronotum (Figs 3g, i) black with vaguely defined yellowish to brownish lateral margins, broader in anterolateral corners; scutellar shield black; elytra yellow to brownish-yellow; mesoventral plate (Fig. 13e) narrow, ca. 6.3 × as long as wide; metaventrite (Fig. 13f) without femoral lines, with raised pentagonal area very wide, 0.6 × as long as wide in widest part; first abdominal ventrite without spiniform process in both sexes; apex of fifth abdominal ventrite without triangularly bulged projection; aedeagus with parameres ca. 0.75 × as long as phallobase, narrowing towards slightly lobate apex; median lobe fusiform, without spines.

Cercyon quisquilius was assigned to C. unipunctatus group according to Smetana (1978). This species can be only confused with C. nigriceps in Greater Antilles. It may be distingushed from it by the coloration of the pronotum (blackish with diffuse yellowish areas on lateral margins in C. quisquilius , almost homogeneously piceous to reddish brown and similar to elytral coloration in C. nigriceps ), larger body size (2.4-3.2 mm in C. quisquilius , 1.0-2.1 mm in C. nigriceps ), and by metaventrite without femoral lines and with wide raised median part (with femoral lines and narrower median part in C. nigriceps ).

Distribution.

Cercyon quisquilius is a species native to the Palearctic Region, but currently introduced to the Nearctic, Neotropical and Australian Regions ( Smetana 1978; Hansen 1999; Fikáček 2009). We are providing the first precise records of this species from the Caribbean based of specimens from Cuba ( Holguín province) (Fig. 15c).