Paederus

Li, Xiao-Yan & Zhou, Hong-Zhang, 2009, A review of Chinese species of the subgenus Paederus s. str. (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae) with description of a new species, Zootaxa 2083, pp. 46-64 : 55-56

4. Paederus (s. str.) pilifer Motschulsky, 1860

(Figs. 4A–E)

Motschulsky, 1860: 74 (epithet incorrectly formed as piliferus; type locality: East– India); Gemminger & Harold, 1868: 628 (spelled as pilifer ); Cameron, 1931: 44 (description); Cameron, 1940: 88; Frank, 1988: 127 (placed in subgenus Paederus s. str.); Smetana, 2004: 614 ( China: Taiwan).

Material. CHINA: Taiwan: 1 female, Takao, collected by Sauter ( FMNH (Bernhauer collection)).

Description. Female. Length: 8.25 mm; width: 1.21 mm. Length of different body parts: HL AL PL ELL = 1.36 1.10 2.59 1.06 mm; width: HW PW ELW ABW = 1.19 1.21 0.98 1.00 mm.

Head and elytra blackish blue with metallic shine. Labrum blackish brown, anterior margin brown, mandibles brown with outer margin blackish brown. Labial palpi brown with two apical segments black. Antennae with first two segments brown, the rests blackish brown. Pronotum and 3rd–6th abdominal segments brownish red; in addition, 3rd–5th tergites each with one small black medial patch, patches decreasing in size from 3rd to 5th segment; 7th–8th segments black. Scutellum reddish brown with hind margin black. Legs blackish brown..

Head nearly hexagonal, HL/HW = 1.06, nearly straight laterally. Eyes relatively large, protruding, HL/EL = 2.79, diameter of eye longer than gena but slightly shorter temple (gena eye temple = 0.33 0.32 0.26 mm). Labrum (Fig. 4A) transverse, anterior margin sinuate with one obtuse lateral tooth on each side, with small and acute denticle at bottom of medial notch. Mandibles (Fig. 4B) with acute bicuspidate tooth on inner margin, behind it with a round notch.

FIGURES 4A–E. Paederus pilifer Motschulsky , female from Taiwan, China. A—labrum; B—right mandible; C—8th tergite; D— 8th sternite; E—9th sternite. Scale bar A–H, J–O = 0.5 mm; I = 1mm.

Pronotum nearly oviform, PL/PW = 1.11, widest in apical 1/3, lateral margin broadly rounded. Disc very convex, longitudinal median area smooth and glabrous, lateral areas covered with sparse and medium-sized punctures, puncture diameter as on head, each puncture with pale seta. Metaventrite with fine and shallow groove in middle of posterior part, the groove gradually tapered anteriorly.

Elytra broad and nearly parallel, ELL\ELW = 1.12, ESL/ELL = 0.82, humeral angles well developed, posterior margin slightly sinuate. Punctures on surface medium-sized but dense, about as long as large punctures on pronotum, intervals between punctures slightly longer than puncture diameter, each puncture with pale seta. Hind wings well developed. Legs long, protarsi with 2nd segment broadest, 1st slightly narrower than 2nd, 3rd and 4th gradually narrowed apically, meso- and metatarsi with first four segments gradually shortened from 1st to 4th.

Abdomen elongate, widest at 7th (5th visible) segment, where wider than head or pronotum but narrower than elytra. Setiferous punctures on tergites fine and dense, denser laterally, base of 3rd segment with larger and denser punctures, base of the rest segments with fine and sparse punctures. Sternite punctures as tergite punctures. 8th sternite (Fig. 4D) without distinct notches on both sides of apex. 9th sternite (Fig. 4E) slender, anterior and posterior margin slightly emarginate.

Remarks. This species is similar to P. c o x a l i s in the following characters: the black antennae, tibiae and tarsi, the distinct shape of mandibles (Fig. 4B) and the posterior margin of the 8th abdominal sternite (Fig. 4D), but at least females of the two species can be easily distinguished by the shape of labrum (Figs. 2B, 4A) and 9th sternites (Figs. 2H, 4E). Like P. c o x a l i s, P. pilifer may belong to the subgenus Eopaederus . The problem is nevertheless left open since we did not have an opportunity to examine the types of P. pilifer , and could not confirm the taxonomic position of this species.

Distribution. China ( Taiwan); India.