A revison of the Lithocharis species of the Palaearctic, Oriental and Australian regions (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae: Medonina)
Author
Assing, Volker
text
Linzer biologische Beiträge
2015
2015-12-30
47
2
1133
1178
journal article
68941
10.5281/zenodo.5184182
dcb37aba-9f9f-402a-91db-c1c6e310d61c
0253-116X
5184182
7F05EEC9-77C2-4592-A593-EE0139FE94FE
Lithocharis sordidula
HERMAN
,
2003
(
Figs 60-66
)
Lithocharis sordida
CAMERON, 1928: 245
; preoccupied.
Lithocharis sordidula
HERMAN, 2003: 6
; replacement name.
Type material examined:
Lectotype
♂, present designation: "Bentong,
Pahang
, F.M.S., Dr. Cameron / Dung /
L. sordida Cam
, Type / M. Cameron. Bequest. B.M. 1955-147. / Type / Lectotypus ♂
Lithocharis sordida
Cameron
, desig. V.
Assing 2015
/
Lithocharis sordidula Herman
, det. V.
Assing 2015
" (BMNH).
Comment: The original description of
L. sordida
is based on an unspecified number of
syntypes
from "Malay Peninsula,
Pahang
" (
CAMERON 1928
). One slightly damaged male
syntype
(left elytron missing; male sternite VIII incomplete) was located in the Cameron collection at the BMNH; it is designated as the
lectotype
. The preoccupied name
Lithocharis sordida
was recently replaced with the nomen novum
L. sordidula
by
HERMAN (2003)
.
Additional material examined:
Thailand
: 1♂,
Chumphon prov.
,
Pha To
env.
9°48'N
,
98°47'E
,
1.-21.III.1996
, leg.
Majer
(
NHMB
)
;
1♂
,
1♀
, same data, but
27.III.-14.IV.1996
(
NHMB
,
cAss
)
.
Redescription: Body length
3.4-3.8 mm
; length of forebody
1.85-2.1 mm
. Habitus as in
Fig. 60
. Coloration: head blackish; pronotum and elytra pale reddishbrown; abdomen brown, with the apex and the posterior margins of the segments paler; legs yellowish; antennae brown with antennomeres I-II yellowish.
Head (
Fig. 61
) as long as broad or weakly oblong; punctation dense and very fine; interstices with shallow microsculpture. Eyes large, distinctly longer than postocular portion in dorsal view. Antennae approximately
1.2 mm
long; preapical antennomeres approximately as long as broad.
Pronotum (
Fig. 61
) approximately as long as broad and as broad as head; posterior angles rounded, weakly marked; punctation similar to that of head; midline with distinct impunctate band; interstices without microsculpture.
Elytra (
Fig. 61
) as long as pronotum or slightly longer; punctation very dense and fine; interstices without microsculpture. Hind wings present. Protarsomeres I-IV moderately dilated, slightly more so in male than in female. Metatarsomere I nearly as long as the combined length of II and III.
Abdomen narrower than elytra; punctation fine and very dense; interstices with distinct microreticulation; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.
♂: sternite VII (
Fig. 62
) moderately transverse, posterior margin nearly truncate and with comb of approximately 20 moderately long palisade setae; sternite VIII (
Fig. 63
) approximately as long as broad and with posterior excision of somewhat variable shape (sometimes more broadly V-shaped); aedeagus (
Figs 64-66
) approximately
0.7 mm
long; ventral process with pair of ventral teeth in the middle (best visible in lateral view); dorso-lateral apophyses very long, nearly reaching apex of ventral process; internal structures of distinctive shapes.
Comparative notes: This species is characterized particularly by the slender head and pronotum, by rather small body size, by the shapes and chaetotaxy of the male sternites VII and VIII, and by the morphology of the aedeagus (ventral process with pair of teeth, dorso-lateral apophyses very long, shapes of internal structures). For characters distinguishing it from the similarly small and syntopic
L. inermis
see the comparative notes in the section on that species.
Distribution and natural history: Confirmed records are known only from two localities, one in
Pahang province
in Peninsular
Malaysia
and one in
Chumphon province
in southern
Thailand
. The
lectotype
was collected from dung.