Hesperus fraternus, 2012

Hromádka, L., 2012, Revision of the Afrotropical species of the genus Hesperus FAUVEL (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Philonthina), Linzer biologische Beiträge 44 (1), pp. 551-589 : 560-561

Hesperus fraternus BERNHAUER 1928 (Fig. 30)

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype: Frere-Natal, Marshall-Collection 1910-42, // Hesperud fraternus Bernhauer n.sp. [ochre oiblong label handwritten]’, (BMNH). Paratype ["COTYPE"]:, #Süd - Afrika Natal, Zululand, // Hesperus fraternus Bernhauer COTYPUS [ochre oblong label handwritten], Chicago NHMus M. Bernhauer collection (FMNH).

R e d e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 9.3 mm, length of fore body (to end of elytra) 4.8 mm.

C o l o u r a t i o n: Head, pronotum and scutellum black, pronotum slightly golden iridescent, elytra red, abdomen black-brown, mandibles black, maxillary and labial palpi yellow-brown, antennae black-brown, legs brown-yellow, tibiae slightly darker.

Head wider than long (ratio 36: 32), slightly narrowed posteriad, posterior angles indistinct, bearing one long black bristle. Clypeus with two coarse punctures arranged in ventical row on each side. Middle of head impunctate, sides and temporal area coarsely punctate. Eyes slightly convex, shorter than temples (ratio 11: 13). Surface with very fine microsculpture consisting of transverse waves.

Antennae stout, distinctly widened distally, reaching posterior third of pronotum when reclined. Antennomeres 1-3 and 11 longer than wide, antennomere 4 as long as wide, antennomeres 5-10 distinctly wider than long. Antennomere 1 longer than antennomere 11, antennomere 2 longer than antennomere 3.

Pronotum almost as long as wide, distinctly sinuately narrowed posteriad. Anterior angles indistinct, each bearing several bristles of variable length. Posterior angles markedly rounded. Each dorsal row with about ten punctures, with wide impunctate midline, each side with several fine, irregularly spaced punctures. Surface with microsculpture similar to that on head.

Scutellum very densely and coarsely punctate, punctures as large as two eye-facets combined, separated by much less than a puncture diameter in transverse direction.

Elytra almost as wide as long, parallel-sided. Punctation finer and sparser than that on scutellum. Punctures slightly larger than eye-facets, separated by one or one and half puncture diameters.

Legs. Metatibia longer than metatarsus (ratio 23: 21). Metatarsomere 1 shorter than metatarsomere 5.

Abdomen wide, from visible tergite 3 slightly narrowed posteriad. First three visible tergites with two basal lines, elevated area between basal lines densely punctate. Punctation of visible tergites somewhat coarser and sparser than that on elytra. Surface between punctures without microsculpture; setation of the same colour as that on elytra.

Male. Unknown to the author.

Female. Protarsomere 1-3 slightly dilated, each covered with modified pale setae ventrally, protarsomere 4 narrower than preceding ones. Gonocoxite of female genital segment (Fig. 30).

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s Hesperus fraternus may be distinguished from the similar H. obscurior by the shorter elytra and finer punctation of the abdomen, from H. sparsior by the slightly longer eyes, narrower head, wider elytra, from H. obscurior by the narrower head, longer eyes, darker legs and from the latter by the different shape of the aedeagus.

D i s t r i b u t i o n: Republic of South Africa ( HERMAN 2001).