Cryptomanum, Assing, Volker, 2008

Assing, Volker, 2008, On the Cryptobiina of the Arabian peninsula (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Zootaxa 1892, pp. 53-64 : 55-57

Cryptomanum gen. n.

Type species: Cryptobium omanicum Coiffait, 1981

Etymology. The name is composed of the first part of the generic name Cryptobium and Oman, the country from where the type species was described. The gender is neuter.

Description. Head of oblong subrectangular shape. Temples behind eyes subparallel (dorsal view), posterior angles rounded, but marked ( Figs. 10 , 19 ); temples weakly keeled (lateral view), with an inconspicuous infra- and and a similarly inconspicuous supratemporal trichobothrium. Gular sutures completely fused. Punctation coarse, dense, and well-defined ( Figs. 10 , 19 ). Neck broad, approximately 0.55–0.60 times as broad as head (across eyes), smooth, with fine transverse carina. Eyes distinctly convex, projecting from lateral contours of head, much shorter than postocular region in dorsal view. Anterior margin of labrum excised in the middle, on either side of this excision dentate ( Fig. 11 ). Both mandibles bicuspidate in molar region. Maxillary palpomere III pubescent and apically somewhat truncate; apical palpomere small, apically acute, weakly projecting from the excavate apex of palpomere III. Antenna with antennomere I long, at least as long as combined length of II–VI; antennomere III approximately as long as or slightly longer than II; all antennomeres with pubescence in addition to longer setae.

Pronotum slender, strongly convex in cross-section. Lateral margins obsolete in anterior 1/3–1/2, in dorsal view narrowly visible only in posterior third of pronotum. Punctation coarse and dense; impunctate midline relatively narrow ( Figs. 10 , 19 ).

Elytra of subrectangular shape, distinctly broader and longer than pronotum. Epipleura without additional line above epipleural margins (lateral view). Punctation coarse and very dense. Scutellum anteriorly depressed and smooth, posteriorly with few fine punctures. Legs of moderate length.

Abdomen broadest at segment VI ( Fig. 9 ). Posterior margin of tergite VIII with more or less pronounced concave excision in the middle in both sexes ( Fig. 12 ). Lateral processes of tergite IX apically with distinct spine-like process bent dorsad.

ɗ: sternite VII with pronounced median impression, this impression with distinct patch of dense pubescence, posterior margin weakly concave ( Figs. 13 , 20 ); sternite VIII with moderately deep (distinctly less than half the length of tergite) and not very narrow posterior excision, pubescence unmodified ( Figs. 14 , 21 ); aedeagus with distinctly sclerotised internal structures.

Comparative notes. In the key to the Afrotropical genera of Cryptobiina by Fagel (1977), the genus would key out at couplet 2, together with Ophitodum and Monocrypta Casey, 1905 . From the former, it is separated by the different head shape ( Ophitodum : lateral margins behind eyes smoothly curving towards neck; posterior angles completely obsolete), broader neck, shorter antennae, the morphology of the mandibles, the dentate and in the middle more narrowly excised anterior margin of the labrum, shorter and less slender maxillary palpi, the less slender and more densely punctate pronotum, the posteriorly excised tergite VIII ( Ophitodum : posterior margin distinctly convex), the pronounced spine-like apices of the lateral process of tergite IX, the pronounced modifications of the male sternite VII, the different shape of the male sternite VIII ( Ophitodum : posterior excision distinctly V-shaped). From Monocrypta , it is also distinguished by the shape of the head ( Monocrypta : less oblong and posteriorly more or less dilated), the smaller apical maxillary palpomere, the morphology of the mandibles, the dentate and more narrowly excised anterior margin of the labrum, the incomplete lateral margin of the pronotum, the absence of a fine line on the elytral epipleura, the posteriorly excised tergite VIII, and the modifications of the male sternite VII. For separation from other genera present in the Afrotropical and Western Palaearctic regions see Fagel (1977) and the key above.

Distribution. The genus is probably of Afrotropical origin. I have seen a specimen of a possibly undescribed species also from Nigeria.

Figures

FIGURES 9 – 18. Cryptomanum omanicum (Coiffait): 9 — habitus; 10 — forebody; 11 — mouthparts in dorsal view; 12 — male tergite VIII; 13 — male sternite VII; 14 — male sternite VIII; 15 — aedeagus in lateral view; 16 – 17 — aedeagus in ventral view; 18 — apical internal structures of aedeagus in ventral view. Scale bars: 9 – 10: 1.0 mm; 11 – 14: 0.5 mm; 15 – 18: 0.2 mm.

FIGURES 19 – 23. Cryptomanum spinosissimum sp. n.: 19 — forebody; 20 — male sternite VII; 21 — male sternite VIII; 22 — aedeagus in lateral view; 23 — apical part of aedeagus in ventral view. Scale bars: 19: 1.0 mm; 20 – 23: 0.5 mm.