Phelister puncticollis Hinton, 1935

Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2019, A revision of the Phelisterhaemorrhous species group (Coleoptera, Histeridae, Exosternini), ZooKeys 854, pp. 41-88 : 59-61

Phelister puncticollis Hinton, 1935 Figs 2, 5; Map 3

Phelister puncticollis Hinton, 1935c: 64.

Type material.

Holotype of undetermined sex: "H.H. Smith, S. Amer" / "Monte Alegre" [ Pará] / "Phelister puncticollis Type Hntn." / "G. Lewis Coll. B.M.1926-369", NHMUK.

Diagnostic description.

Length: 1.54-1.65 mm (avg. 1.59 mm); width: 1.30-1.38 mm (avg. 1.29 mm). Body elongate oval, dark rufescent, with elytra lighter toward their apices; frons depressed along midline, disk strongly punctate; frontal striae obsolete between antennal insertions; labrum short, weakly emarginate; both mandibles with distinct median tooth, that of right mandible small; entire pronotal disk almost uniformly punctate, only slightly less dense at middle; prescutellar impression distinct, though somewhat obscured by discal and posterior marginal punctures; marginal pronotal stria complete along lateral and anterior margins, crenulate anteriorly; lateral submarginal stria complete at sides, curving mediad at front, ending freely behind eye; elytra with complete outer subhumeral stria, inner subhumeral stria absent; dorsal elytral striae 1-5 complete, sutural stria obsolete in basal one-third, all striae distinctly crenulate; propygidium almost uniformly punctate, with small round punctures separated by approximately their diameters; pygidial punctures smaller and sparser, fading to indistinct at apex; prosternal lobe short, with fine, complete marginal stria; prosternal keel with striae united anteriorly to form a triangle, the male’s more densely punctate within; mesoventrite weakly projecting at middle; marginal mesoventral stria complete, evenly arched anteriad between inner corners of mesocoxae; mesometaventral stria arched strongly forward to mesoventral midpoint, extended by inner mesoventral stria to metacoxa; metaventral disk with distinct ground punctation and coarser punctures along most of posterior third; 1st abdominal ventrite with complete inner lateral stria and fragments of outer lateral stria; protibia with lateral margin strongly rounded, with 6-7 marginal spines, apex obliquely truncate, with two small apical spurs; protarsal claws somewhat unevenly curved, slightly bent at base; meso- and metatibiae evenly widened to apices, with few weak marginal spines confined to apical halves; basal piece of aedeagus ca. one-fourth total aedeagus length; tegmen narrow at base, widened toward narrowly rounded apex, apical emargination narrow, incised ca. one-fourth of tegmen length, ventral process absent; median lobe with long proximal apodemes, evenly differentiated into thicker and thinner portions.

Remarks.

This species is similar to P. bryanti described below, but differs in the presence of a submarginal pronotal stria, abbreviated, united male prosternal striae, and the presence of punctures on the metaventrite in front of the metacoxae. The aedeagus of P. puncticollis is narrow and evenly rounded to the apex, whereas that of P. bryanti is abruptly narrowed.

Biology.

Nothing is known of the biology of this species.

Distribution.

We have only seen specimens from Pará state, Brazil, including the types, and only three additional specimens, from Belém and Benevides. One specimen was collected in the nest of the fire ant Solenopsis saevissima (Smith).