Philonthus limbipennis Fauvel, 1905

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 : 182-183

Philonthus limbipennis Fauvel, 1905

( Figs. 54–56 )

Philonthus limbipennis Fauvel, 1905:175 .

Type locality. Diego-Suarez; forêt Audroy; Ambovombe.

Type material examined. LECTOTYPE (here designated): ‛ Madagascar, Ex-Typus J: ‛ Forêt Audroy, R.I.Sc.N.B. 17. 479, coll. et det. A. Fauvel’ [white oblong label, handwritten] // LECTOTYPE C.E. Tottenham’ ( MRAC) .

Note. The designation of the lectotype indicated by a label attached to the specimen examined by Tottenham was never published. For this reason, I am designating the specimen as the lectotype here.

Redescription. Body length 6.7 mm, length of fore body (to end of elytra) 4.5 mm.

Colouration. Head and abdomen black, pronotum, scutellum and elytra black-brown, epipleura and posterior margin of elytra narrowly yellow-brown, maxillary and labial palpi brown-yellow, terminal palpomeres yellow-brown, mandibles brown, antennae dark brown, base of antennomere 2 yellow-brown. Femora and tibiae brown, medial face of all tibiae vaguely darker, tarsi yellow-brown. Head and pronotum with slight purple iridescence.

Head quadrangular, slightly wider than long (ratio 25: 21.5), parallel-sided, posterior angles conspicuously rounded, each bearing two long black bristles. Eyes small, temples much longer than eyes (ratio 12: 6). Distance between medial interocular punctures 4 times as large as distance between medial and lateral interocular punctures. Lateral interocular punctures slightly shifted anteriad. Temporal area with several punctures. Surface with very fine microsculpture consisting of transverse waves.

Antennae stout, reaching posterior fourth of pronotum when reclined. Antennomeres 1–3 and 11 longer than wide, antennomeres 4–10 as long as wide. Relative length of antennomeres: 1 = 7; 2–3 = 4.5; 4–10 = 2.5; 11 = 4.

Pronotum slightly wider than long (ratio 24.5: 23), highly convex, parallel-sided, anterior angles almost rectangular, each with several short black bristles, sides with one long black bristle in anterior third. Left dorsal row with 4 punctures, right dorsal row with 5 punctures, punctures 2–5 equidistant, distance between punctures 1 and 2 twice as large as distance between remaining punctures of row. Each sublateral row with 2 punctures. Surface with very fine microsculpture consisting of transverse waves.

Scutellum punctate only in posterior two thirds, punctation fine and sparse, punctures somewhat larger than eye-facets, separated by a puncture diameter in transverse direction. Anterior third impunctate.

Elytra wider than long (ratio 31: 28), vaguely widened posteriad, anterior angles of elytra each with one long black bristle. Punctation coarser and sparser, punctures somewhat larger than those of scutellum, separated by 1.5–2 puncture diameters in transverse direction. Surface without microsculpture; setation dark and short.

Legs. Metatibia longer than metatarsus (ratio 17: 14). Metatarsomere 1 as long as metatarsomere 5. Relative length of metatarsomeres: 1 = 4; 2 = 2; 3–4 = 1.5; 5 = 4.

Abdomen wide, slightly narrowed from tergite III toward apex and base. Elevated area between two basal lines on first three visible tergites almost impunctate. Punctation of all tergites similar as on scutellum, gradually becoming finer and much sparser towards posterior margin of each tergite, separated by 2 or 3 puncture diameters in transverse direction. Surface without microsculpture; setation similar to that on elytra.

Male. Protarsomeres 1–3 relatively slightly dilated, sub-bilobed, covered with modified pale setae ventrally, protarsomere 4 narrower than preceding ones. Aedeagus ( Figs. 54–56 ).

Female. Unknown.

Differential diagnosis. Philonthus limbipennis is in most characters similar to P. tomicus , but differs by the shorter eyes and antennae, slight purple iridescence of head and pronotum, uniformly black-brown elytra, and by the shape of the aedeagus.

Bionomics. Unknown.

Distribution. Madagascar.

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.