Paederus chinensis Brnh., 1931

Assing, Volker, 2015, On the Harpopaederus fauna of China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 47 (1), pp. 163-190 : 183-185

Paederus (Harpopaederus) chinensis BERNHAUER, 1931 ( Figs 73-79 , Map 2 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d Syntype ♀: "Szetschwan, Tatsienlu, Exp. Stötzner / 1923, 4 / chinensis Brnh. Typus / Paederus chinensis Brnh. n. sp. / Museum für Tierkunde Dresden (MTD) / Syntypus Paederus chinensis Bernhauer , rev. V. Assing 2015 / Paederus chinensis Bernhauer , det. V. Assing 2015 (SNSD). A d d i t i o n a l m a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d: China S i c h u a n:333, 6♀♀, 70 km

NW Chengdu, Qingcheng Hou Shan [approx. 30°56'N, 103°28'E], 1400 m, 2.-4.V.2006, leg.

Murzin & Shokhin (cSch, cAss); 333, 6♀♀ [identified by Zhong Peng], Dujiangyan, Qingcfheng

Shan, 30°58'N, 103°29'E, 1950 m, 30.VII.2012, leg. Peng (SNUC).

C o m m e n t: The original description of P. chinensis is based on an unspecified number of syntypes from "Szetschwan: Tatsienlu [= Kangding; 30°03'N, 102°01'E]" deposited in "der Sammlung des Dresdener Staatsmuseums und in meiner eigenen" ( BERNHAUER 1931). One syntype, unfortunately a female, was located in the collections of the SNSD. WILLERS (2001b) studied a male syntype from the Bernhauer collection, which he erroneously referred to as the holotype, and recorded the species from Guangkou [31°00'N, 103°37'E] and, based exclusively on females, from the environs of Wolong [30°58'N, 103°11'E]. He concluded from the structure of the aedeagus that P. chinensis did not belong to Harpopaederus . Paederus chinensis is the type species and sole representative of the subgenus Oedopaederus SCHEERPELTZ, 1957. SCHEERPELTZ (1957), however, had misinterpreted this species. The material from the Tianmu Shan in Zhejiang, which he had identified as P. chinensis and on which he based his description of Oedopaederus, was described as P. describendus by WILLERS (2001b), who stated that " Oedopaederus Scheerp. muss jedoch (obwohl inhaltsleer geworden und umzuinterpretieren) mit der Art. [sic] P. chinensis als Typus subgeneris verbunden bleiben" [sic].

Based on the male and female sexual characters ( Figs 73-79 ), the above material is conspecific with the syntype studied by WILLERS (2001b). However, I have been unable to find any characters suggesting that P. chinensis should not belong to Harpopaederus .

As in P. deplectens nov.sp., which P. chinensis is evidently closely related to, the dorsal plate of the aedeagus has conspicuously large apical and subapical denticles. In other respects, the aedeagus is similar also to the aedeagi of other Harpopaederus species. Consequently, P. chinensis is assigned to Harpopaederus and Oedopaederus is synonymized with Harpopaederus . Based on the illustrations and description provided by WILLERS (2001b), P. describendus clearly does not belong to Harpopaederus .

The revised distribution of P. chinensis is confined to three localities in West Sichuan ( Map 2 ). The female-based record from Wolong ( WILLERS 2001b) most likely refers to P. deplectens .

Figures

Map 2: Distributions of Harpopaederus species in Sichuan, Gansu, and Shaanxi (some doubtful female-based literature records omitted): Paederus chinensis (filled triangles); P. deplectens (filled stars); P. antennocinctus (open circles); P. agnatus (filled circles); P. minicus (open diamond); P. edentulus (filled diamonds); P. gracilacutus (open stars).

Figs 73-79: Paederus chinensis BERNHAUER: (73-74) aedeagus in ventral and in lateral view; (75) apical portion of aedeagus in dorsal view; (76) apical portion of aedeagus in lateral view; (77) male sternite VIII; (78) female tergite VIII; (79) female sternite VIII. Scale bars: 77-79: 1.0 mm; 73-76: 0.5 mm.