Philonthus maridadus Tottenham, 1962

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 : 184-185

Philonthus maridadus Tottenham, 1962

( Figs. 57–58 )

Philonthus maridadus Tottenham, 1962: 223 .

Type locality. Kenya: Nairobi.

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE: J, ‛ Nairobi, 27.xii.1954, V. F. Eastop. // Philonthus maridadus, Tottenham , TYPE [white oblong label handwritten] // C. E. Tottenham collection, B.M. 1974-587’ ( BMNH).

Redescription. Body length 8.8 mm, length of fore body (to the end of elytra) 4.1 mm.

Colouration. Head black, pronotum and abdomen brown. Elytra yellowish brown, anterior part of each elytron dark, border between anterior dark and posterior pale colouration rather weak, going in a straight line from posterior apex of scutellum to posterior third of elytral length at lateral margin when observed from above; deflexed margins of elytra yellow. Maxillary and labial palpi brown, distal palpomeres slightly paler, mandibles brown, antennae brown, antennomere 1 and base of antennomere 2 of maxillary and labial palpi paler, legs yellow, all tibiae somewhat darker.

Head inconspicuously longer than wide (ratio 25: 23), lateral margins behind eyes subparallel to posterior angles. Eyes slightly projecting, vaguely shorter than temples (ratio 10: 12). Distance between medial interocular punctures about 4 times as large as distance between medial and lateral interocular punctures. Lateral interocular punctures slightly shifted anteriad. Posterior margin of each eye with 3 coarse punctures. Surface with irregular, almost indistinct microsculpture here and there.

Antennae long, reaching posterior margin of pronotum when reclined, all antennomeres longer than wide. Relative length of antennomeres: 1 = 8; 2 = 4.5; 3 = 2.5; 4–5 = 4.5; 6–7 = 4; 8–10 = 3.5; 11 = 5.

Pronotum highly convex, hardly narrowed anteriad, longer than wide (ratio 32: 28). Each dorsal row with 5 coarse punctures, punctures 2–4 equidistant, distance between punctures 1–2 and 4–5 twice as long as distance between punctures 2–4. Each sublateral row with 2 punctures, puncture 2 slightly shifted toward lateral margin. Surface without microsculpture.

Entire scutellum very densely and coarsely punctate, punctures somewhat larger than eye-facets, separated by distance much smaller than their diameter.

Elytra combined slightly wider than long (ratio 42: 40), parallel-sided, distinctly widened posteriad. Punctation fine and relatively sparse. Punctures hardly larger than eye-facets, separated by 1.5 or 2 puncture diameters in transverse direction. Surface between punctures without microsculpture; setation dark.

Legs. Metatibia vaguely longer than metatarsus (ratio 25.5: 24), metatarsomere 1 almost as long as metatarsomere 5, metatarsomere 2 hardly longer than metatarsomere 3. Relative length of metatarsomeres: 1 = 7; 2 = 3; 3–4 = 2.5; 5 = 8.

Abdomen slightly narrowed toward apex. Elevated area between two basal lines on first three visible tergites densely punctate. Punctation of visible tergites finer and denser than that on elytra, becoming somewhat sparser toward posterior margin of each tergite. Surface between punctures without microsculpture; setation similar to that on elytra.

Male. Protarsomeres 1–3 strongly dilated, sub-bilobed, protarsomere 4 distinctly narrower than preceding ones. Aedeagus ( Figs 57–58 ).

Female. Unknown.

Differential diagnosis. Philonthus maridadus is similar in most external characters to P. bucorvus sp. nov. It differs by shorter antennae, black elytra each with red triangular patch, and by the different shape of the aedeagus.

Bionomic. Unknown.

Distribution. Kenya (this paper); ‘Tanganyika’, Tanzania (HERMAN 2001).

Figures

Figs. 54–61. 54–56 – Philonthus limbipennis Fauvel, 1905. 57–58 – P. maridadus Tottenham, 1962; 59–61 – P. sequens Bernhauer & Schubert, 1914; 62–63 – P. tomicus Tottenham, 1962. 54, 57, 59 – aedeagus, ventral view; 55, 58, 60 – aedeagus, lateral view; 56, 61 – apex of paramere with sensory peg setae, ventral view; 62 – aedeagus, dorsal view; 63 – paramere, ventral,view.