On Octavius from Maloti-Drakensberg and Golden Gate National Parks, South Africa (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Euaesthetinae)
Author
Janák, Jiří
text
Zootaxa
2024
2024-04-24
5443
4
495
522
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5443.4.2
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.5443.4.2
1175-5326
11064278
A91A8D67-A81B-427D-8096-59E41326A8E3
Octavius endroedyanus
Puthz, 1986
Figs. 21–28
,
120
,
125–127
Octavius endroedyanus
Puthz, 1986: 190
;
Herman, 2001: 1858
.
Type
locality.
South Africa
,
KwaZulu-Natal Province
,
Maloti-Drakensberg Park
,
Cathedral Peak National Reserve
.
Material examined
(
89 specimens
).
SOUTH AFRICA
:
KwaZulu-Natal
:
5 ♂
,
11 ♀
:
Maloti-Drakensberg Park
,
Royal Natal
NR,
Gudu Forest
28°41.0ʼS, 28°55.8ʼE,
1730m
,
9.i.2019
,
J. Janák
lgt.,
Berlese
extraction, leaf & log litter, sifting (
JJRC
)
;
6 ♂
,
3 ♀
:
Maloti-Drakensberg Park
,
Royal Natal
NR, Devilʼs
Hoek
, 28°42.7ʼS, 28°55.4ʼE,
1620m
,
10.i.2019
,
J. Janák
lgt.,
Berlese
extraction, leaf & log litter, sifting (
TMSA
,
JJRC
)
;
22 ♂
,
15 ♀
:
Maloti-Drakensberg Park
,
Cathedral Peak
NR,
Oqualweni Fern forest
, 28°56.6ʼS, 29°11.0ʼE,
1570m
,
7.i.2019
,
J. Janák
lgt.,
Berlese
extraction, leaf & log litter, sifting (
TMSA
,
JJRC
,
1 ♂
in 96 % alcohol)
;
13 ♂
,
4 ♀
:
Maloti-Drakensberg Park
,
Cathedral Peak
NR,
Rainbow Gorge
, 28°57.6ʼS, 29°13.4ʼE,
1500m
,
4.i.2019
,
J. Janák
lgt.,
Berlese
extraction, leaf & log litter, sifting (
TMSA
,
JJRC
)
;
4 ♂
,
6 ♀
:
Cathedral Peaks Forest Station
,
17.xii.1979
, podocarp forest, rotted stump
Cussonia spicata
, S. & J.
Peck
(
FMNH
)
.
FIGURES 16–28.
16–20:
Octavius crucialis
(Kistner)
, Oqualweni Fern forest. 21–28:
Octavius edroedyanus
Puthz
, 21–23, 25, 27, Oqualweni Fern Forest; 24, 26, 28, Gudu forest. 16, 21, habitus; 17–18, 22–24, aedeagus ventral; 19, 25–26, male sternite VIII; 20, 27–28, male sternite IX. Scale 0.5 mm: 16, 21; scales 0.1 mm: remaining figures.
Distribution.
The species was described from Cathedral Peak and is surprisingly not distributed only in Cathedral Peak NR forests (Rainbow gorge, Oqualweni Fern forest), but also in forests in Royal Natal NR (Gudu forest, Devilʼs Hoek,
Fig. 120
).
Bionomics.
All specimens were collected in siftings of forest litter in patches of indigenous forests at the elevation of about
1500–1700 m
a.s.l. (
Figs. 124–127
, the abundance of specimens per kg of sifted material: 1.0 in Gudu forest,
0.7 in
Devilʼs Hoek,
2.3 in
Oqualweni Fern forest and
0.9 in
Rainbow gorge).