Sternolophus (Sternolophus) unicolor Laporte de Castelnau, 1840

Fikáček, Martin, Delgado, Juan A. & Gentili, Elio, 2012, The Hydrophiloid beetles of Socotra Island (Coleoptera: Georissidae, Hydrophilidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 52, pp. 107-130 : 125

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.5334580
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5413335
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/0394878E-FFB7-FFD3-4206-FD4EFD1D852E
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Sternolophus (Sternolophus) unicolor Laporte de Castelnau, 1840
status

Treatment

Sternolophus (Sternolophus) unicolor Laporte de Castelnau, 1840 View in CoL

Material examined. 1 ♀ ( CULS): wadi Far , 1.iv.2001, lgt. J. Farkač ; 1 J ( NMPC): Firmin , x.2000, lgt. V. Bejček & K. Šťastný ; 2 spec. ( CULS, NMPC): Calanthia , 29.–30.iii.2001, lgt. J. Farkač ; 2 JJ, 1 spec. ( CULS): Ayhaft , 15.iii.2000, lgt. J. Farkač ; 1 spec. ( NMPC): wadi Ayhaft , 12°36.5′N 53°58.9′E, 200 m a.s.l., 7.–8.xi.2010, lgt. J. Hájek GoogleMaps ; 1 spec. ( NMPC): same locality and date, lgt. P. Hlaváč GoogleMaps ; 3 spec. ( NMPC): Firmihin plateau, 12°28′46″N 54°01′E, 400–500 m a.s.l., 18.–19.vi.2010, lgt. V. Hula & J. Niedobová GoogleMaps ; 1 spec. ( IRSNB): hills near Hadibu , 29.ii.2008, G. 31.496, lgt. A. Saldaitis ; 8 spec. ( CULS, NMPC): wadi Faar , 12.433°N 54.195°E, 69 m a.s.l., 3.xii.2000, lgt. V. Bejček & K. Šťastný GoogleMaps .

Distribution. African species widely distributed in Madagascar and east Africa. First record from Socotra Island.

Note. WRANIK (2003) lists the Near East/Arabian species S. decens Zaitzev, 1909 for the Socotran fauna, but this record seems to be based on the misidentification. The taxonomy of the genus Sternolophus Solier, 1834 is still not properly resolved and no modern revision exists for the Old World species of the genus. The Socotran specimens clearly differ from S. decens by the diagnostic characters given in the identification key by ZAITZEV (1909): they are generally wider than the Arabian specimens of S. decens and bear a longer and stouter metaventral spine. They agree well with the specimens of S. unicolor from Madagascar present in the collection of NMPC. Few Sternolophus specimens with a wider general body form from southern Yemen are present in the collection of NMPC, but they clearly differ from the Socotran specimens by a shortened and apically blunt metaventral spine and may be conspecific with the Yemeni specimens which BALFOUR- BROWNE (1951) identified as possibly belonging to S. solieri Laporte de Castelnau, 1840 .