Achilia frontalis, Jeannel, 1962

Kurbatov, Sergey A., Cuccodoro, Giulio & Sabella, Giorgio, 2018, A revision of the Chilean Brachyglutini – Part 3. Revision of Achilia Reitter, 1890: A. frontalis species group (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae), Revue suisse de Zoologie 125 (1), pp. 165-188 : 166

Achilia frontalis species group

Jeannel (1962: 397, 408-409) distinguished the A. validicornis and A. frontalis groups by the number of elytral basal foveae (2 in the A. validicornis group and 3 in the A. frontalis group), and the shape of the copulatory pieces of the aedeagus (ramified in the A. validicornis group and not ramified in the A. frontalis group).

One year later he described Achilia pachycera as a new member of the A. frontalis group ( Jeannel 1963: 363). However, shortly thereafter Jeannel (1964: 10) pointed out that A. pachycera was very similar to A. validicornis , and that the latter species belonged indeed to the A. frontalis group, implicitly sinking his A. validicornis group into the A. frontalis group. Consequently the species described later by Franz (1996: 116-117) in the A. validicornis group – i.e. A. pseudovalidicornis , A. longispina and A. validicorniformis – technically also belong to the A. frontalis group.

According to Jeannel (1962 and 1964) the species of the A. frontalis group are characterised by: 2 or 3 elytral basal foveae; basal striae of abdominal tergite I separate at most by 1/3 of tergal width; frons of male with a high and narrow median protuberance flanked by two more or less deep pits with the outer margin often toothed; antennomeres unmodified; copulatory pieces of the aedeagus thin and ramified, or not.

As defined the group currently includes: A. acicularis Jeannel, 1962 , A. auriculata Jeannel, 1962 , A. caracolana Jeannel, 1962 , A. excisa ( Schaufuss, 1880) , A. foveifrons Jeannel, 1962 , A. frontalis Jeannel, 1962 , A. longispina Franz, 1996 , A. ovallensis Jeannel, 1962 , A. pachycera Jeannel, 1963 , A. pseudovalidicornis Franz, 1996 , A. testacea Jeannel, 1962 , A. validicornis ( Reitter, 1885) , and A. validicorniformis Franz, 1996 .

However, in addition all species, except A. longispina , share the following features: pubescence decumbent with long setae, uniform on entire body; head wider than long; surface of head smooth, shiny, with some punctures; frontal lobe with rounded apex; vertexal sulcus impressed; vertexal foveae shallow and broad (not visible in males of A. excisa , A. pachycera , A. fiura n. sp., A. caracolana , A. frontalis ); eyes protruding; temples convex; pronotum wider than long; anterior portion of lateral margins of pronotum convergent, posterior portion subparallel and sinuate; pronotal disc slightly convex, smooth and shiny with some punctures; basal margin of pronotum bordered with row of contiguous shallow impressions; elytra together wider than long, with protruding humeri; elytral disc smooth, shiny, with punctures; presence of four basal foveae (two lateral foveae very close); sutural stria entire; discal stria extending to about elytral midlength; legs rather long; abdomen smooth, with some minute punctures; tergite I with short and sparse setal brush between basal striae.

In order to keep the text more concise, these features are not repeated in the descriptions below.