Sunius cameroni, Assing, 2011

Assing, Volker, 2011, A revision of the genus Neosclerus C (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 6 (1), pp. 89-148 : 144-146

Sunius cameroni nom. n. ( Figs 179-185)

Lobochilus brachypterus CAMERON, 1943: 33 f.

Neosclerus brachypterus: SMETANASMETANA (2004: 622) .

Type material:

Holotype : "Ghum dist. Tiger Hill, 8,500 -10,000 ft., v-vi.31, Dr. Cameron / Syntype / Type / L. brachypterus Cam. Type / M. Cameron. Bequest. B.M. 1955-147. / Holotypus Lobochilus brachypterus Cameron , rev. V. Assing 2010 / Sunius cameroni nom. n., det. V. Assing 2010 " ( BMNH). Paratype : "Ghum dist. Tiger Hill, 8,500 -10,000 ft., v-vi.31, Dr. Cameron / Syntype / M. Cameron. Bequest. B.M. 1955-147. / Syntype Lobochilus brachypterus Cameron, 1943: 33 , det. R.G. Booth 2010 / Paratypus Lobochilus brachypterus Cameron , rev. V. Assing 2010 / Sunius cameroni nom. n., det. V. Assing 2010 " ( BMNH).

Additonal material examined:

1 , 1 , N-India, Ghum district , V.-VI.1931, leg. Cameron ( BMNH) .

Comment:

The original description is based on an unspecified number of specimens from "Ghum district: Tiger Hill, altitude 8000-10,000 feet " ( CAMERON 1943). Two of them, a male and a female, were located in the collections of the BMNH. In referring to one of them as the type ("Type in my collection"), CAMERON (1943) designated a holotype. As can be inferred from the labels attached to the two specimens, the female must be regarded as the holotype.

The aedeagus of the male listed as additional material above is distinguished from that of the paratype by the slightly different shape of the apex of the ventral process, both in lateral and in ventral view ( Figs 172-175), suggesting that it may represent a distinct species. However, since it is currently not known whether these differences are constant, they are provisionally attributed to intra- rather than interspecific variation.

An examination of the types and the additional material, particularly the morphology of the aedeagus, but also external characters such as the size of the eyes, the shape of the labrum, and the shape and punctation of the pronotum, revealed that the species is not particularly closely related to N .. fortepunctatusfortepunctatus and other NeosclerusNeosclerus species. Consequently, there is little doubt that an inclusion of this species in NeosclerusNeosclerus would render the genus polyphyletic. Instead, the characters examined are more similar to those of species currently attributed to the genus Sunius . The eyes are larger than is usually the case in SuniusSunius - similarly large-eyed SuniusSunius species are known only from the Himalaya and southern China (( ASSING 2010) -, but not near as large as in Neosclerus . Even in micropterous true Neosclerus , the eyes are not distinctly smaller than in macropterous species.

As the binomen Sunius brachypterus is preoccupied by S. brachypterus (GEMMINGER & HAROLD, 1868) , a species distributed in the western Pyrenees, the replacement name S. cameronicameroni nom. n. is proposed for Lobochilus brachypterus CAMERON.

Description:

Body length 3.5-3.7 mm. Coloration: body blackish-brown; legs and antennae reddish.

Head across eyes 1.05-1.10 times as wide as long, tapering behind eyes; postocular region approximately half the length of eyes ( Fig. 179); punctation coarse and dense in anterior half, sparse in posterior half of dorsal surface; interstices without microsculpture and glossy; antenna approximately 1.0 mm long.

Pronotum 1.05-1.10 times as wide as long and approximately 0.97 times as wide as head; punctation coarse and dense; midline rather narrowly impunctate ( Fig. 179); interstices without microsculpture and glossy.

Elytra short, 0.60-0.65 times as long and at posterior margin approximately 1.05 times as wide as pronotum, noticeably widened posteriad; humeral angles weakly pronounced ( Fig. 179); punctation rather dense and shallow. Hind wings reduced.

Abdomen approximately 1.1 times as wide as elytra; punctation fine and dense, moderately dense on tergites III-V and sparse on posterior tergites; interstices with shallow microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

: sternite VII with posterior margin very weakly concave in the middle, otherwise unmodified ( Fig. 180); sternite VIII with very shallow posterior excision, otherwise unmodified ( Fig. 181); aedeagus with short, stout, subapically dentate (lateral view), and apically very acute (ventral view) ventral process and with U-shaped (lateral view) internal structures ( Figs 182-185).

Comparative notes:

This species is readily distinguished from other Sunius species recorded from the Eastern Palaearctic region by the larger eyes, the shorter elytra, the reduced hind wings, the absence of a palisade fringe at the posterior margin of the abdominal tergite VII, and by the male sexual characters.

Distribution and bionomics:

The type locality is situated in Ghum district, near Darjiling, West Bengal, northern India. The adaptive reductions of the eyes and wings suggest that N .. cameroni has a restricted distribution. Therefore, it seems very likely that the record from Meghalaya (as Neosclerus brachypterus )) by BISWAS & BISWAS (2000) refers to a different species. The type specimens were collected in moss at an altitude of 2400-3050 m.