Philonthus biguttulus Fauvel, 1907

Hromádka, Lubomír, 2009, Revision of the Afrotropical species of the Philonthus caffer species group (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Philonthina), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 49 (1), pp. 161-190 : 166-167

Philonthus biguttulus Fauvel, 1907

( Figs. 8–13 )

Philonthus biguttulus Fauvel, 1907: 44 .

Type locality. Abyssinie, Escarpment.

Type material. Not studied.

Additional material examined. ANGOLA: 1J., ‘ Rives du lac Calundo lumiere, Aug. 1.1955, A. de Barros Machado, coll. Mus.Tervuren // Philonthus biguttulus Fauv. det. C. E. Tottenham i.1961 ’ ( MRAC) ; 1 ♀, ‘ Marco de Canavezes

(distr.Benguela) iii. 1956, E. Luna de Caravalho // Philonthus biguttulus Fauv. det. C. E. Tottenham, ii.1961 ’ ( MRAC) ; CÔTE d’IVOIRE: 1J, ‘ Komoe NP, 27.iv.1998, lux, 3°48′48″W / 8°44′54″N’ ( LHPC) ; ETHIOPIA: 1J, ‘ Bahr-Dar, 4.vi.1967, P.Štys leg.’ ( LHPC), SIERRA LEONE: 62 spec., Makeni , 12°03′W, 8°53′N, 27.xi.1993, loc., 9, light trap 18-21, Lund University Sierra Leone Expedition 1993, leg., L. Cederholm – R. Danielsson ( MYLU, LHPC) .

Redescription. Body length 7.8–8.0 mm, length of fore body (to end of elytra) 3.7– – 3.9 mm.

Colouration. Head, pronotum, scutellum, elytra and abdomen black, only posterior fourth of elytra red, maxillary and labial palpi, antennomere 1 and base of antennomere 2 brownyellow, remaining antennomeres black-brown, legs yellow-brown.

Head longer than wide (ratio 24: 21), posterior angles obtusely rounded, with one long, black bristle. Eyes slightly projecting, vaguely shorter than temples (ratio 9: 10.5). Distance between medial interocular punctures about 4 times as long as distance between medial and lateral interocular punctures. Lateral interocular punctures slightly shifted anteriad. Temporal area with many punctures of variable size. Surface without microsculpture.

Antennae reaching posterior fourth of pronotum when reclined. Antennomere 1 somewhat longer than antennomere 11, antennomere 2 shorter than antennomere 3. Relative length of antennomeres: 1 = 6; 2 = 4; 3 = 5; 4–10 = 3; 11 = 5.

Pronotum highly convex, distinctly longer than wide (ratio 30: 24), parallel-sided.Anterior angles and lateral margins each with several short bristles. Posterior angles markedly rounded. Each dorsal row with 5 punctures, punctures 1–4 equidistant, interval between punctures 4 and 5 about 1.5 times as large as distance between punctures 1 and 2. Each sublateral row with 2 punctures, puncture 1 situated behind level of punctures 2–3 of dorsal rows, puncture 2 distinctly shifted laterad. Surface without microsculpture.

Scutellum very densely and coarsely punctate, punctures somewhat larger than eye-facets, distance between punctures much smaller than their diameter.

Elytra combined as long as wide, very slightly widened posteriad. Punctation similar to that on scutellum. Setation fine, brown-yellow.

Legs. Metatibia longer than metatarsus (ratio 26: 21). Metatarsomere 1 somewhat longer than metatarsomeres 2–3 combined, metatarsomere 5 as long as metatarsomeres 3–4 combined. Relative length of metatarsomeres: 1 = 7; 2 = 3.5; 3 = 3; 4 = 3; 5 = 6.

Abdomen parallel-sided, slightly narrowed from tergite V posteriad. Elevated area between two basal lines on first four visible tergites almost impunctate. Entire visible tergites very densely and coarsely punctate, most punctures of raindrop shape. Distance between punctures much smaller than their diameters.

Male. Protarsomeres 1–3 strongly dilated, each densely covered with modified pale setae ventrally, protarsomere 4 narrow and small. Aedeagus ( Figs. 8–13 ).

Female. Unknown.

Differential diagnosis. Philonthus biguttulus may be distinguished from the habitually similar P. tomicus by longer eyes, shorter antennae, elytra without red spot, yellow-brown legs and by the different shape of the aedeagus.

Bionomics. Unknown.

Distribution. Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone (this paper); Kenya, Rwanda (HERMAN 2001).

Figures

Figs. 1–11. 1–2 – Philonthus aminius Tottenham, 1955; 3–7 – P. aonyx sp. nov.; 8–11 – P. biguttulus Fauvel, 1907 (8–9: Angola; 10–11: Ethiopia). 1, 3, 8, 10 – aedeagus, ventral view; 2 – male sternite VIII, ventral view; 4 – aedeagus, lateral view; 5 – apex of paramere with sensory peg setae, ventral view; 6 – apical portion of male sternite VIII, ventral view; 7 – elytra; 9, 11 – paramere with sensory peg setae, ventral view.

Figs. 12–24. 12–13 – Philonthus biguttulus Fauvel, 1907 (Côte d’Ivoire); 14–16 – P. bucorvus sp. nov.; 17–20 – P. caffer Boheman, 1848; 21–24 – Philonthus cliens Eppelsheim, 1890. 12, 14, 17, 21 – aedeagus, ventral view, 13 – paramere with sensory peg setae, ventral view; 15, 18, 22 – aedeagus, lateral view; 16, 20 – male sternite IX, ventral view; 19, 23 – aedeagus without paramere, ventral view; 24 – apex of paramere with sensory peg setae, ventral view.