Paraquedius puncticeps Horn, 1878, comb. res.

Brunke, Adam J., 2022, A world generic revision of Quediini (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Staphylininae), part 1. Early diverging Nearctic lineages, ZooKeys 1134, pp. 129-170 : 129

publication ID	https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1134.87853
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:C79C5E40-D9C6-4E3B-816F-0201713DBA77
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/8533B342-2EDE-5979-92A9-8BC381EAE009
treatment provided by	ZooKeys by Pensoft
scientific name	Paraquedius puncticeps Horn, 1878, comb. res.
status

Treatment

Figs 2G View Figure 2 , 5A View Figure 5 , 8G-J View Figure 8 , 9F View Figure 9 , 11D (map) View Figure 11

Quedius puncticeps Horn, 1878: 156, 166.

Paraquedius puncticeps ; Casey 1915 (redescription).

Quedius (Paraquedius) puncticeps ; Smetana 1971 (redescription, partial misidentification of P. marginicollis ).

Type locality.

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Type material.

Lectotype (male, MCZ - Horn coll.): ‘Vanc.’ [= Vancouver] [printed label] / LectoTYPE 3048 [red printed label] / Q. puncticeps H. [handwritten label] / MCZ00732196 [identifier] / LECTOTYPE Quedius puncticeps det. A. Brunke 2022 [red printed label]

Paralectotype (male, MCZ - LeConte coll.): ‘Van.’ [printed label] / [male symbol, printed] / Type 7273 [red printed label] / Q. puncticeps H. [handwritten label] / PARALECTOTYPE Quedius puncticeps det. A. Brunke 2022 [yellow printed label].

Paralectotype (female, MCZ - LeConte coll.): ‘Van.’ [= Vancouver] [printed label] / MCZ00732195 [identifier] / PARALECTOTYPE Quedius puncticeps det. A. Brunke 2022 [yellow printed label].

Non-type material.

Canada: British Columbia: Vancouver Island: Goldstream Park, 5 mi N Victoria, 27.V.1968, Campbell and Smetana (2 females, CNC); Goldstream Park, 27.V.1968, A. Smetana (1 female, CNC); near Mount Finlayson Trail, Malahat, Goldstream Provincial Park, moss on rock, 11.VII.1979, I.M. Smith (1 male, 2 females, CNC); ~2.2 km W Shirley, on beach, algae-covered sandstone in freshwater outflow, 18.X.2018, iNaturalist observation 18374642 by user thomasbarbin. United States: Washington: ‘W.T.’ [= Washington Territory], 1 male (MCZ).

Diagnosis.

Paraquedius puncticeps is most easily distinguished from the only other species of the genus by the entirely dark first antennomere and pronotum. For other differences see the key above.

Redescription.

Measurements ♂ (n = 4): HW/HL 1.06-1.07; PW/PL 1.01-1.04; EW/EL 1.09-1.18; ESut/PL 0.88-0.91; PW/HW 1.03-1.07; forebody length 4.2-4.5 mm.

Measurements ♀ (n = 5): HW/HL 1.05-1.13; PW/PL 1.05-1.08; EW/EL 1.12-1.21; ESut/PL 0.88-0.94; PW/HW 1.00-1.06; forebody length 4.3-4.9 mm.

Head, pronotum and elytra dark brown, slight metallic bronze-green reflection (Fig. 2G View Figure 2 ); antennae dark brown, antennomere 1 entirely dark, base of antennomere 2 paler, red to dark red (Fig. 5A View Figure 5 ); palpi dark brown; legs dark brown with paler, brownish yellow femora, tarsi often paler than tibiae; abdomen dark brown with narrowly to broadly paler apices.

Head slightly transverse, temples short and rather strongly rounded to neck, eyes bulging and distinctly protruding from lateral head margin; frons with central glabrous area extended posteriad to at least middle of eyes (Fig. 5A View Figure 5 ); disc of head with microsculpture of sparse, superficial transverse waves, often changing direction and forming irregular meshes especially on frons; head with moderately deep, circular impressions mediad of anterior frontal punctures (Fig. 5A View Figure 5 ); labrum short, transverse, forming two lobes; antennomeres 1-9 elongate, becoming shorter toward apex of antennae, antennomere 10 subquadrate; pronotum slightly transverse, roughly shield-shaped, varying from flattened with apex broader than neck, to distinctly convex with apex about as wide as neck; pronotum with microsculpture as on head, becoming meshed in places, especially on anterior angles; elytra moderately to distinctly transverse, appearing elongate, distinctly dilated at apex; disc without microsculpture, with sparse, moderately fine and even punctation, most punctures separated by 1.5-2.0 times the width of a puncture, disc weakly convex and uneven, most specimens with only weak discal impressions; with fully developed hind wings; abdominal tergites III-V with basal impression, tergites III-VI with paired, sparse lateral whorls of pale setae (visibility depends on lighting or condition of specimen); tergites with moderately sparse microsculpture of transverse waves, lines separated by at least their widths, tergites with very sparse punctation, punctures separated by many times their diameter.

Male with sternite VIII with moderately deep emargination, slightly less than twice as wide as deep; tergite X triangular, with narrow but broadly rounded apex; sternite IX rather stout, with asymmetrical base, rounded sides and narrow, non-emarginate apex; median lobe of aedeagus in ventral view strongly converging to acute apex, with slightly delimited subapical part (Fig. 8G View Figure 8 ); median lobe in lateral view strongly converging to elongate and curved apical part, apex narrow and slightly bent ventrad (Fig. 8H View Figure 8 ); paramere slightly longer than median lobe, elongate and sub-parallel, with slight middle and subapical expansions or evenly, gradually expanded to subapex, apex slightly emarginate and broad to entire and rounded, with numerous peg setae arranged into long median field that is narrowed basad (Fig. 8I, J View Figure 8 ). Female with tergite X elongate triangular, with short acute apex (Fig. 9F View Figure 9 ).

Distribution.

Canada: BC. United States: WA.

Thus far, P. puncticeps is known only from the Vancouver area and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, and from one male collected somewhere in Washington. More collecting in its preferred microhabitats is needed to determine the full distribution of P. puncticeps .

Bionomics.

Specimens have been collected in moss on rocks near a stream, under stones on muddy ground covered in algae ( Smetana 1971) and on algae-covered sandstone in a freshwater outflow to the ocean (iNaturalist observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/18374642).

Comments.

It is unusual in Staphylinidae for sister species to be sympatric but the morphological differences between the two known species of Paraquedius are so great that they may have diverged allopatrically long ago, with populations coming into secondary contact since then. Indeed, their CO1 barcodes are 8.79% different (Fig. 10 View Figure 10 ).