Octavius vulturensis, Janák, 2014

Janák, JiĜí, 2014, New species and subspecies of Octavius from South Africa, with a key and additional distribution records (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Euaesthetinae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 54 (1), pp. 195-231 : 212

Octavius vulturensis sp. nov.

( Figs 35–38 , 57 )

Type locality. South Africa, Eastern Cape Province, Mkhambati NR, Vulture Forest, 31°17.2ƍS, 29°56.8ƍE.

Type material. HOLOTYPE: 3: ‘ SOUTH AFRICA, Eastern Cape, Mkhambati NR, Vulture forest 31°17.2ƍS; 29°56.8ƍE, 29.i.2012, J. Janák lgt. // Octavius vulturensis sp. n., J. Janák det. 2013’ ( TMSA) . PARATYPES: 3332 ♀♀, same data as holotype.

Description (n = 6). Body length 1.6–2.2 mm (M 1.9 mm, HT 1.8 mm), forebody length 0.8–0.9 mm (M 0.8 mm, HT 0.9 mm). Macrophthalmous, apterous, light brownish, tergites 7 and 8 sometimes darker brownish, head and pronotum dull, elytra and abdomen moderately shiny.

Head distinctly narrower than pronotum (R 0.86–0.91, M 0.88, HT 0.88), eyes moderately large, temples less than twice as long as eyes (R 1.28–1.70, M 1.49, HT 1.55), straight, rounded posteriorly, median impression on frons absent, lateral parts of head moderately granulose, median part moderately granulose and very densely and ¿nely reticulate.

Pronotum moderately broader than long (R 1.11–1.18, M 1.15, HT 1.14), strongly narrowed posteriorly; anterior angles slightly angular, dorsal impressions shallow, transverse impression moderately deep, lateral impressions deep and delimited by a sharp longitudinal ridge laterally; lateral parts beside lateral impressions densely granulose, remainder of surface ¿nely granulose, densely and deeply reticulate.

Elytra subquadrate, much broader than long (R 1.41–1.50, M 1.46, HT 1.46), with a sharp longitudinal ridge laterally; irregularly punctate, granulate and moderately reticulate except for narrow more shiny longitudinal areas along suture.

Male. Aedeagus with apical and one subapical hook (n = 4, length 0.40–0.43 mm, M 0.41 mm, HT 0.41 mm). Parameres distinctly shorter than median lobe, with 3–5 apical setae ( Figs 35, 36 ). Sternite 8 broadly emarginate in posterior twenty–¿fth ( Fig. 37 ), sternite 9 as in Fig. 38 .

Differential diagnosis. Octavius vulturensis sp. nov. belongs among species with large eyes, with the temples at most twice as long as eyes, with the head not or at most slightly widened posteriorly, with large body size and the disc of head without a median impression. It is related to O. mikhaili sp. nov., O. multisetosus sp. nov. and related species, from which it differs by the aedeagus morphology, which is characterized by apical and one subapical hook of median lobe.

Etymology. This species is named after the type locality (Vulture Forest). Adjective.

Bionomics. All specimens have been found in siftings among ¿ne roots at base of high trees in indigenous forest ( Fig. 57 ).

Distribution. Octavius vulturensis sp. nov. is currently recorded only from Vulture Forest in Mkhambati NR in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.

Figures

Figs. 35–41. 35–38 – Octavius vulturensis sp. nov., male (35 – PT; 36–38 – HT). 39–41 – O. mikhaili sp. nov., HT male. 35 – aedeagus latero-ventral; 36, 39 – aedeagus ventral; 37, 40 – sternite 8; 38, 41 – sternite 9. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.

Figs. 54–59. Localities. 54 – Fort Fordyce NR; 55 – Kogelberg NR; 56 – Mkhambati NR, forest at Mkhambati river; 57 – Mkhambati NR, Vulture Forest; 58 – Kologha State Forest (with Petr Bulirsch at background); 59 – Table Mt. NP, Echo valley.