Platystethus cephalotes EPPELSHEIM, 1878

Assing, Volker & Schülke, Michael, 2019, The Staphylinidae of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh (Coleoptera), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 69 (1), pp. 91-173 : 159-160

Platystethus cephalotes EPPELSHEIM, 1878 , revalidated

( Figs 53–54 )

Platystethus oblongopunctatus ROUBAL, 1911: 2 ; syn. nov.

A specimen close to Platystethus laevis MÄRKEL & KIESEN- WETTER, 1848 with the following labels was found in the Khnzorian collection: “Gegharkunik province, Sevan, Uchtapalar, 3000 m [= Uch-taplar Mt., 40°24'58.1"N, 45°01'41.3"E, highest 2500, not 3000 m], 1.VIII.1948 / F’ de Fontainebl. f.[illegible] Gd. Verneur S. & M. 15.5.1937 [overleaf]”. The specimen had been identified as Platystethus cephalotes by Peter Hammond, who never published this record or notes about the taxonomic status of this species. Platystethus cephalotes was described based on material from Michailovo [= Khashuri], a town in the Kura valley in Central Georgia [altitude approximately 750 m, but surrounded by mountain ranges of up to 2300 m]. The species was synonymized with P. laevis , a species originally described from the Austrian Alps, by GANGLBAUER (1895), who was the first to record P. laevis from the Caucasus region. This synonymy was followed by BERNHAUER & SCHUBERT (1911), HERMAN (2001), SMETANA (2004), and SCHÜLKE & SMETANA (2015). SCHEERPELTZ (1955) and HORION (1963) reported P. laevis from the Caucasus region without explicitly referring to P. cephalotes as a junior synonym. The identification by Peter Hammond raised the question if specimens of P. laevis from the Caucasus region and those from Central Europe were really conspecific.

A comparison of specimens identified as P. laevis both from Central Europe ( Austria, Italy, Slovenia) and the Caucasus region ( Russia: Krasnodar region, Georgia: Abkhasia, Kvemo Svaneti) shows no significant differences in size, body shape, punctation and microsculpture. The same is true of the shape of the aedeagus. The male sternite VIII of Caucasian specimens is slightly more densely punctate in the median subapical region and has longer stout setae on either side of the midline ( Fig. 53 ; for comparison see Fig. 55 ). The only clear differences between Central European and Caucasian specimens are the shape and especially the apical margin of the male tergite X. In Central European specimens, the tergite is as broad as long, with a more or less truncate and unmodified apical margin ( Fig. 56 ), whereas in Caucasian specimens the tergite is longer than broad, with the apical margin rounded and equipped with a small tooth on either side ( Fig. 54 ). Even though the differences are not pronounced, they are constant, suggesting that the populations from Central Europe and those from the Caucasus region represent distinct species. Therefore, P. cephalotes is revalidated and P. oblongopunctatus ROUBAL, 1911 , originally described based on material from Krasnaya Polyana in the Western Caucasus ( Russia) and previously a synonym of P. laevis , is synonymized with P. cephalotes .

The presence of both species in Armenia is doubtful. The specimen examined from the Khnzorian collection belongs to P. laevis , not to P. cephalotes . It can inferred from the different records on both sides of the locality label, from the absence of P. laevis in examined Caucasian material, and finally from the absence of suitable habitats in the surroundings of Paris ( France) that the specimen was most likely mislabeled. In consequence, neither of the two species is included in the checklist ( Tab. 1).

3.6.7 Scydmaeninae (by HEINRICH MEYBOHM)

Figures

Figs 41–56: Tachyusa unguis (41–46), Anotylus hamatoides (47–52), Platystethus cephalotes (53–54), and P. laevis (55–56): forebody (41); abdomen (42); (median lobe of) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (43–44, 51–52); apex of ventral process of aedeagus in ventral view (45); spermatheca (46); male sternite VII (47); posterior process of male sternite VII (48); male sternite VIII (49, 53, 55); posterior process of male sternite VIII (50); male tergite X (54, 56). Scale bars: 41–42: 0.5 mm; 43–56: 0.1 mm.