Sunius galiberti ( COIFFAIT 1987)

Assing, V., 2010, A revision of Palaearctic Sunius. XII. New species, new synonymies, and additional records (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 42 (2), pp. 1045-1061 : 1055-1057

Sunius galiberti ( COIFFAIT 1987) ( Figs 19-23 )

Hypomedon apterus COIFFAIT, 1975: 179 ; preocc.

Hypomedon galiberti COIFFAIT 1987: 497 ; replacement name.

M a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d: 9 exs., Nepal, Kathmandu District, Phulcoki, 8000', 27.-31.V.1983, leg. Brendell (BMNH, cAss).

C o m m e n t: The original description of Hypomedon apterus is based on a male holotype and two female paratypes from "Phulchoki près Katmandou" ( COIFFAIT 1975). The name is a primary homonym of Hypomedon apterus FAGEL 1959 and was replaced with the nomen novum Hypomedon galiberti by COIFFAIT (1987). The above specimens were collected at or near the type locality. Based on the illustration of the aedeagus provided by COIFFAIT (1975), there is no doubt that they are conspecific with the holotype.

R e d e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 3.3-4.2 mm. Coloration: head blackish-brown to black; pronotum dark-brown to blackish-brown with slightly paler margins; elytra brown to dark-brown, posterior margin and humeral angles reddish to reddish-brown; abdomen blackish-brown, usually with reddish-brown to brown apex; legs and antennae reddish to reddish-brown.

Head across eyes 1.05-1.10 times as wide as long, often tapering in posterior half; postocular region approximately half the length of eyes; punctation coarse and dense in anterior half, sparser in posterior half of dorsal surface; interstices without microsculpture and glossy ( Fig. 19 ). Antenna approximately 1.1 mm long.

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Pronotum 1.00-1.05 times as long as wide and approximately as wide as head; punctation similar to that of head; midline impunctate; interstices without microsculpture and glossy ( Fig. 19 ).

Elytra short, 0.60-0.65 times as long and at posterior margin approximately as wide as pronotum, noticeably widened posteriad; humeral angles weakly pronounced, almost obsolete; punctation dense, shallow, fine, and rather ill-defined ( Fig. 19 ). Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen slightly wider than elytra; punctation fine, denser on anterior than on posterior tergites; interstices with shallow microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

: sternite VII with posterior margin shallowly concave in the middle, on either side of middle with few (approximately 5) long submarginal setae ( Fig. 20 ); sternite VIII with broad and not very deep posterior excision, its depth approximately 1/10 the length of

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sternite, otherwise unmodified ( Fig. 21 ); aedeagus with relatively short, stout, and apically hooked ventral process and with two large, asymmetric, and strongly sclerotized structures in internal sac ( Figs 22-23 ).

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: In external characters, this species is highly similar to S. cameroni and S. manasluensis , but distinguished from them by the somewhat less coarse punctation of the head and pronotum, the reddish posterior margin and humeral angles of the elytra, and particularly by the completely different shape and internal structures of the aedeagus.

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d b i o n o m i c s: Theabove specimens represent the first record of this species since the original description and were collected close to the type locality in the environs of Phulcoki near Kathmandu, central Nepal. The reduced wings suggest that the species may have a restricted distribution. The specimens were collected at an altitude of approximately 2400 m, one of them under a dead porcupine and one in a dead tree stump.

Figures

Figs 19-23: Sunius galiberti (COIFFAIT): (19) forebody; (20) male sternite VII; (21) male sternite VIII; (22-23) aedeagus in lateral and in dorsal view. Scale bars: 19: 0.5 mm; 20-23: 0.2 mm.