Orphilus africanus, Hava, 2005, Hava, 2005

Holloway, Graham J., Foster, Christopher W. & Herrmann, Andreas, 2024, The Genus Orphilus Erichson, 1846 (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) in Europe, The Coleopterists Bulletin 78 (2), pp. 117-124 : 119-120

ORPHILUS afRIcanUS Háva, 2005

Only males of O. africanus ( Fig. 5A ) are known.

Mean ♂ BL = 3.3 ± 0.11 mm (n = 4, max = 3.4 mm, min = 3.15 mm), mean ♂ BW = 2.07 ± 0.03 mm, mean ♂ BW/EL = 0.893 ± 0.022. The integument of O. africanus is heavily punctured but there is a slight reddish-brown hue to the elytra. The reddish-brown of the elytra is evident in dissected specimens, less so prior to dissection.

The antenna ( Fig. 5B ) is reddish brown, with an asymmetrical, pubescent club. The example shown in Fig. 5B is 221 µm long and 144 µm across antennomere 10.

The margins of the aedeagus ( Fig. 6A ) bulge out slightly at about halfway before curving smoothly inwards towards the paramere tips. The tips of the parameres are more extensively pale than in O. aegeanus . The median lobe is broad across the base, narrowing gradually with the final part to the apex forming an almost parallel-sided finger. The median lobe ( Fig. 6B ) does not narrow towards the tip and is broad and blunt. The “tooth” on the ventral surface is positioned very near to the tip, with the tip of the median lobe barely protruding beyond the tooth. The ventral surfaces of the posterior ends of the parameres bear numerous obvious setae.

Orphilus africanus is currently only recorded from Morocco and Spain ( Fig. 4 ).

Figures

Fig. 5. Orphilus africanus. A) Habitus, dorsal aspect (scale bar = 1 mm), B) Antenna (scale bar = 100 µm).

Fig. 6. Orphilus africanus aedeagus. A) Dorsal aspect, B) Lateral aspect. Scale bars = 200 µm. Images first appeared in Holloway and Herrmann (2023).

Fig. 4. Distributions of Orphilus aegeanus and O. africanus. Hatched areas indicate countries from which O. africanus is found according to Háva (2023a). Records supplemented with other specimens in AHEC dissected prior to the current study, and Háva (2023b).