Ophionthus serpentinus Bernhauer, 1908

Rodríguez-Melgarejo, Maryzender & Chani-Posse, Mariana, 2021, On the rare Neotropical genus Ophionthus Bernhauer (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylininae): redescription of the type species and description of a new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 735, pp. 15-33 : 20-24

Ophionthus serpentinus Bernhauer, 1908

Figs 1–2 , 4–6

Ophionthus serpentinus Bernhauer, 1908: 329 .

Ophionthus serpentinus – Bernhauer & Schubert 1914: 372 (catalogue). — Lucas 1920: 461 (catalogue). — Blackwelder 1944: 138 (checklist); 1952: 276 (type species: O. serpentinus ). — Herman 2001: 2721 (catalogue). — Chani-Posse 2014a: 81, fig. 12h (habitus); 2014b: 252 (characters in data matrix). — Chani-Posse et al. 2018b: 51 (checklist). — Asenjo et al. 2019 (catalogue). — Chani-Posse & Ramírez-Salamanca 2020a: 198, 209–210, 213–214 (taxon sampling, phylogenetic placement); 2020b: 238, 246 (discussion on characters and phylogenetic placement).

Material examined

Holotype

PERU • ♂ [specimen glued to the tip of a triangle of white card]; “ Xanthopygus sp. / Perú central 1873. / C. Jelski [handwriting on white label]”, “Peruvia centr. / lg. Jelski 1873 / ded. [latin dedit = gave] Skalitzky. [Bernhauer’s handwriting on white label]”, “ Ophionthus / serpentinus / Brh. Typus. [Bernhauer’s handwriting on brown label]”, “Chicago NHMus / M. Bernhauer / Collection [printed on white label]”; FMNH.

Comments

Bernhauer (1908) stated that Skalitzky gave him a unique specimen of O. serpentinus ; the specimen mentioned above agrees with the original description and is considered to be the holotype, fixed by monotypy.

Other material

PERU – La Libertad • 1 ♀ [specimen glued to the tip of a triangle of white card]; LL [La Libertad], Quebrada Borgapampa, Hda. [Hacienda] Llaguén ; ca 7°40′ S, 78°40′ W; ca 1800 m [m a.s.l.]; 12 Dec. 1952; H-W. Koepcke & M. Koepcke leg.; a clearing in montane forest and riverside shrubbery; Coll. Koepcke #665; MUSM .

Diagnosis

Ophionthus serpentinus differs from O. asenjoi sp. nov. by having the head with two pairs of interocular punctures, antennae with the last two antennomeres much lighter than the preceding segments ( Figs 1A , 2 A–B) and the abdominal terga III–V each with a distinct posterior basal transverse carina.

Redescription

DIMENSIONS. BL= 11.3–1.6 ( Figs 1A , 2 A–B).

COLOURATION. Head, thorax, and abdomen shiny black, except apical half of tergum VII, apical third of sternum VII, and segments VIII and IX yellow; mandibles, maxillary and labial palps, elytra, and legs dark brown; antennomeres 1–9 dark brown to black and 10–11 yellowish ( Figs 1A , 2 A–B).

HEAD. As wide as long (female) ( Fig. 2A ) to wider than long (male) ( Fig. 1A ) (HW/HL= 1.0–1.2) and moderately wider than pronotum (HW/PW = 1.2–1.4). Eyes moderately shorter than temples (YL/TL = 0.5–0.6) seen from above. Epicranium with 2 pairs of interocular punctures; each side of vertex with 4–5 postocular punctures. Antennae with antennomere 1 at least 2× as long as antennomere 2 (A1/A2 = 2.1–2.6) and almost as long as antennomeres 2 and 3 combined (A1/(A2+A3) = 0.9–1.1), antennomere 2 moderately shorter than antennomere 3 (A2/A3 = 0.8). Labial palpus with palpomere 2 1.4× as long as palpomere 1 and 0.6× as long as palpomere 3. Maxillary palpus with palpomere 1 distinctly short; palpomere 2 curved, 2× as long as palpomere 3; palpomere 4 slightly longer than palpomere 2, 2× as long as palpomere 3. Neck about 0.4× as wide as head at widest point.

PRONOTUM. Longer than wide (PL/PW = 1.2–1.3), with two dorsal rows of 4 punctures each on disk of pronotum, 3–4 sublateral punctures.

LEGS. First metatarsomere longer than fifth (S1/S5 = 1.8) ( Fig. 2A ).

ELYTRON. Longer than wide (EL/EW = 1.8), at sides about 1.6× as long as elytron along suture.

ABDOMEN. Abdominal terga III–V each with posterior basal transverse carina distinct.

MALE SEXUAL CHARACTERS. Tergum VIII with hind margin projected, forming an obtuse angle ( Fig. 1C ). Sternum VIII slightly emarginate apically at middle, with numerous long setae on apical area and small setae on basal area ( Fig. 1D ). Sternum IX symmetrical, narrowed in the middle of its lateral margins, deeply emarginate apically, with several fine and short setae at each side of emargination ( Fig. 1E ). Tergum X with apex rounded, with numerous setae at apex ( Fig. 1F ). Aedeagus with median lobe distinctly broadened at middle and gradually narrowed towards a rather truncate apex seen from above, paramere triangular with base concave ( Fig. 1 G–H), internal sclerites as in Fig. 1 G–H.

FEMALE SEXUAL CHARACTERS. As described for the genus.

Geographical distribution and bionomics

The male holotype of O. serpentinus was collected in 1873 by Jelski in “Peruvia centralis” ( Fig. 1B ). Jelski travelled and collected in the central Andes of Peru during that year ( Solsky 1875; Taczanowski 1875; Mlíkovský 2009) and the localities he visited are summarized in the Supp. file 1 and Figs 4–5 . Based on these analyses, the type locality “Peruvia centralis” is located in the department of Junín, but we do not have more information (e.g., day and/or month of collection) to improve the accuracy of this type locality ( Fig. 1B ). Additionally, the new locality provided by the female specimen from Hacienda Llaguén, ca 7°40′ S, 78°40′ W, 1800 m [m a.s.l.] ( Koepcke 1982) is located in the department of La Libertad and close to the Forest of Llaguén (7°42′ S, 78°44′ W, 2642 m [m a.s.l.]), which is described as a dry cloud forest, with high human disturbance and used for grazing cattle and as a source of fuel ( Valencia 1990). Hacienda Llaguén is placed in the ecoregion of Peruvian Yungas ( Olson et al. 2001) or in the Puna province ( Morrone 2014) ( Fig. 4 ) and nowadays it is placed in the ecosystem of Andean shrublands ( MINAM 2019). According to label information, the female specimen was collected in an open area within a montane forest and riverside shrubbery.

Figures

Fig. 1. Ophionthus serpentinus Bernhauer, 1908. Holotype, ♂ (FMNH). A. Habitus, dorsal view, after Chani-Posse (2014a). B. Original labels. C. Tergum VIII. D. Sternum VIII. E. Sternum IX. F. Tergum X. G. Aedeagus, lateral view. H. Aedeagus, dorsal view. Stippled areas in G represent membranes. Shadded areas in G and H represent internal sclerites Scale bars: A = 5 mm; C–H = 0.5 mm.

Fig. 2. Ophionthus serpentinus Bernhauer, 1908. ♀ (MUSM). A. Habitus, dorsal view.B. Habitus, lateral view. C. Right protarsomeres, ventral view.D. Details of discal setae from right third protarsomere, ventral view. E. Tergum VIII. F. Sternum VIII. G. Lateral tergal sclerites IX and tergum X. H. Gonocoxites of female genital segment. Scale bars: A–B = 5 mm; G–H = 0.5 mm..

Fig. 4. Distribution map of Ophionthus serpentinus Bernhauer, 1908 and O. asenjoi sp. nov.

Fig. 5. Map of probable localities (correct spelling, see Supp. file 1) for the male holotype of Ophionthus serpentinus Bernhauer, 1908 collected in “Peruvia centralis” by Jelski in 1873.

Fig. 6 (continued on next page). Strict consensus of the 28 MP trees obtained showing the systematic placement of Ophionthus Bernhauer, 1908 within the Neotropical lineage of Philonthina Kirby, 1837 (tree length = 579; consistency index (CI) = 0.24; retention index (RI) = 0.71. Black circles: exclusive synapomorphies; open circles, non-exclusive synapomorphies. Numbers above circles are character numbers; numbers below circles represent character states. Support values are indicated in bold below the branches as follows: Bremer/Standard Bootstrap/Jack-knife (cut = 50 for resampling support values).