Entomological Problems, 34(1–2): 107–111, October 2004

Description of two new Asian species of Histeridae(Insecta: Coleoptera)
Tomáš LACKNER
Zoolögisch Museum Amsterdam, Plantage Middenlaan 64, 1018 DH Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
E-mail: saprinus@yahoo.com

LACKNER, T. 2004. Description of two new Asian species of Histeridae (Insecta: Coleoptera). Entomol. Probl. 34(1):107–111. – Asiaster hlavaci sp.nov. from Southern China is described and figured.The new species is compared with the existing
representatives of the genus Asiaster COOMAN. Platysoma inexpectatum sp.nov. from Syria is described and figured. It is as wellcompared with the related species P.deplanatum GYLLENHAL.
Key words: taxonomy, new species, Coleoptera, Histeridae, Southern China, Syria.

Introduction

CHINA: Fujian prov./, /Wuyi Shan Nat. Res./ 2 km NW Tongmu
vill/, / 30 V 01 in rotting bamboo/, / Hlavac & Cooter//.
Holotype and three paratypes are preserved in the collection of ZICAS Beijing; one paratype is deposited in the collection of Mr. Piet Kanaar, Oegstgeest, The Netherlands, anotherparatype is deposited in the collection of ZMAN Amsterdam,and finally three paratypes are deposited in author´s own collection.

The genus Asiaster was erected by COOMAN (1948)
based on morphological characters, clearly distinguishingit from related genera (mainly from Atholus C. THOMSON)
within the tribe Histerini. COOMAN pointed out setae on theventral side of the body and characteristic brush of shortspines mainly on the ventral side of protibiae. ÔHARA (1999)
redescribed the Taiwanese species A. calacator COOMAN.
Recently KAPLER (1999) described three new oriental species of the genus raising thus the number of existing representatives to six. In this paper a new species of this genus
is described and compared with the other known representatives of the genus Asiaster: A. vestitus (Lewis) fromBurma, A. calcator COOMAN from Taiwan, A. pilisternus
COOMAN from Vietnam, A. cooteri KAPLER from Southern
China, A. olexai KAPLER from Indonesia and A. duostriatus
KAPLER from Philippines.
The genera complex Platysoma s. l. is currently undergoing major revision. Subcortically living Histerid beetles of subgenus Platysoma s.str. are in the western palearctic
represented by five species (MAZUR, 1997). A new westpalearctic representative is hereby described and figured.

Description
Length (without head and propygidium and pygidium): 3,3 mm; Width: 3,0 mm; Height: 1,8 mm
Broadly oval, slightly convex, feebly depressed near
the elytral suture, black and lustrous. Entire surface sparsely
and finely punctate. Antennae, tibiae, mouth parts, tarsi
and elytral apical margin reddish-brown.
Head. Frons flat, evenly covered with sparse finepunctation. Frontal stria deeply impressed, complete, connected with supraorbital striae. Antennal club densely covered with yellowish setae.
Pronotum. Slightly convex, strongly narrowed
anteriorly. Marginal pronotal stria interrupted behind head,complete laterally, not visible in dorsal view, hidden under
pronotal margin. Inner lateral pronotal stria almost complete, posteriorly slightly abbreviated and approachingpronotal margin. Pronotal disc evenly and sparsely covered with fine punctuation. Along pronotal base a row ofcoarser punctuation present. Pronotal epipleuron smooth,
only with fine punctures along its margin, asetose.
Elytra. Broad, humeral region prominent. External
subhumeral stria distinct, shortened posteriorly. Internal
subhumeral stria represented by some points and fragments.
Oblique humeral stria very fine, anteriorly connected withthe first dorsal stria and posteriorly reaching fragmented
internal subhumeral stria. Dorsal striae 1–4 deeply impressed, complete and crenate. Fifth and sutural striae
present on apical half; sutural a bit longer than fifth, ending just short before elytral half. Whole surface of elytra

Abbreviations
ZICAS – Zoological Institute of Chinese Academy of Science
ZMAN – Zoölogisch Museum Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Asiaster hlavaci sp.nov.
(Figs 1–3)
Material studied: Holotype (male, glued on its side; withextracted genitalia), with printed label: //CHINA: Fujian prov./, /Wuyi Shan Nat. Res./, / 4 VI 01, Tongmu vill./, /Hlavac & Cooter//; another label printed-written // Asiaster sp. nov./ , / det. S.Mazur,
02// , and another red printed label is present: //Asiaster/, /hlavaci,
sp.nov./, / HOLOTYPUS/, / Det. T. Lackner 2002//. Paratypes:
5 ex; the same data as Holotype and 3 ex with printed label: //

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3

1

2
Figs.1-3 Asiaster hlavaci, sp.nov.: 1) Body, in part, dorsal view (scale: 1 mm); 2) Propygidium and Pygidium; 3. Aedeagus, dorsal view
(scale: 0.2 mm).

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extracted aegeadus) with printed label: // SYRIA occ., 30 IV 00/, / 15 km SE of/ , /Ayn as Sharquiah/ , /Latakia distr., 1000m/ , /PETR KRESL leg. //, with consecutive labels: [printed-written] /Platysoma n .sp!, S.Mazur det 01/; [printed-written] / Platysoma
inexpectatum n.sp. T.Lackner det. 2002/, [red label written] /HOLOTYPUS, det. T.Lackner, 02/.
Holotype is deposited in ZMAN, The Netherlands.

evenly covered with fine sparse punctuation. Elytral epipleuron with two fine marginal striae.
Propygidium. Covered with irregular ocelloid punctures, becoming somewhat denser and smaller along its
apex; interstices with strigose ground microsculpture,
mixed with very small secondary punctures.
Pygidium. Strigose ground microsculpture of discmore prominent; punctures finer than those on propygydium, interspaces between punctures sparsely intermingledwith smaller punctures.
Prosternum. Prosternal lobe anteriorly rounded, laterally covered with coarse punctures which become sparser
and finer medially, asetose. Marginal stria of prosternallobe present only as short rudiment at suture; inner stria
deeply impressed, complete. Prosternal keel covered withfine punctures, flat, only slightly concave in lateral view,asetose. Lateral prosternal stria complete, strongly carinate, carinal striae absent.
Mesosternum. Disc covered with very fine sparsepunctures, shining, asetose. Marginal mesosternal stria
complete. Anterior marginal mesosternal stria present laterally, anteriorly interrupted. Anterior margin of mesosternum outwardly arcuate. Meso-metasternal suture complete.
First visible abdominal sternite.Smooth, completely
striate, laterally, with a band of fine punctures along its
base and along lateral striae.
Tibiae. All tibiae moderately expanded apically,
ventrally with apical brush of shorter and robust spines.
Protibia moderately expanded, with 5–6 small spines onouter margin. Apical row of spines perceptible in dorsal
view, extending beyond the margin of protibia, with 4–5
moderately robust spines in anterolateral corner. Meso andmeta tibia with about 10 robust spines on outer margin,
more spines present in apical corners.
Aedeagus. Very robust and broad, rather short.
Variation. Sutural elytral stria reaching or sometimes
even passing elytral half.
Remarks. Collected together with A. cooteri KAPLER.
Differential diagnosis. Asiaster hlavaci, sp.nov. differs from A. calcator COOMAN, 1948, A. vestitus (LEWIS,
1891), and A. pilisternus COOMAN, 1948 chiefly by theunderside of the body being asetose, structure of prosternum, and other minor characteristics.
From A. cooteri KAPLER, 1999 it differs by having four
complete dorsal striae developed instead of three, by having strigose ground microsculpture of propygidium andpygidium, by the punctuation of propygidium andpygidium, and by the aedeagus being more short and robust. From A. olexai KAPLER, 1999 and A. duostriatus
KAPLER, 1999 it differs especially by having four dorsal
striae completely developed instead of three or two respectively and other characteristics.
Etymology. Named after one of its collectors, mycolleague and friend Peter Hlaváč (Košice, Slovakia).

Description
Length (without head and propygidium and pygidium): 3.5 mm; width: 2.4 mm; height: 1.5 mm.
Rectangularly-oval, feebly convex, almost flat, blackand shining; tibiae, tarsi, mandibles and antennae darkbrown.
Head. Surface microscopically and sparsely punctated,
frons and clypeus with common deep excavation; frontal
stria bisinuate, well impressed and carinate, weakened in
middle. Mandible stout, well developed and with denticle
on inner margin.
Pronotum. Pronotal sides slightly convergent forward,
apical with deep excavation, acute. Marginal pronotal stria
complete laterally, lateral pronotal stria complete, carinate
at the sides. Disc of pronotum covered with very fine sparsepunctuation. Along pronotal sides a broad band of coarseand deep punctures present, punctures separated by 2–4
times their diameter. Antescutellar area with longitudinalpuncture which is slightly impressed.
Elytra. Epipleura of elytra shining and scattered withmicroscopic punctures. Marginal epipleural stria well impressed and complete. Marginal elytral stria slightly impressed, complete. Subhumeral stria absent. Oblique humeral stria faintly impressed on basal two-thirds. Elytral
stria 1–4 complete, deeply impressed. Fifth dorsal stria wellimpressed, in front not quite reaching elytral half; a little
shortened apically. Sutural stria absent. Elytral apex with
undulate apical stria, indinstinctly continuous with elytral
marginal stria; with some additional points before it.
Propygidium and pygidium. Propygidium densely
covered with irregular large and shallow ocellate punctures,
which are absent along apical margin. Pygidium (Fig. 2)
covered with scattered deep punctures. Punctuation is somewhat finer than that of propygidium; pygidial apex almost
smooth, only microscopically punctate.
Prosternum. Anterior margin of prosternal lobe
broadly truncate. Marginal stria of prosternal lobe wellimpressed, weakened in middle; its posterior end slightly
bent inwardly, not attaining the lobal base; another obliquestria runs from the lobal base, ending in front in the anterolateral curvature near the anterior marginal stria. Disc of
prosternal lobe irregularly and finely punctated, its posterior angles with deep ocelloid punctures that disappear
medially. Prosternal keel broad, without carinal stria; covered with sparse microscopic punctures. Lateral and lateral marginal striae deeply impressed and carinate.
Mesosternum and metasternum. Anterior margin ofmesosternum deeply emarginate; marginal stria complete
and carinate at the sides, broadly interrupted anteriorly;
disc almost smooth with only scattered microscopic

Platysoma (s.str.) inexpectatum sp.nov.
(Figs 4–6)
Material studied: Holotype (male, glued on its side, with109

punctures. Meso-metasternal suture very fine, almost obsolete. Punctuation of intercoxal disc of metasternum similar to that of mesosternum. Lateral metasternal stria deeply
impressed, complete and carinate, extended posteriorly andobliquely; its apical end reaching near metacoxal cavity.
Post-mesocoxal stria present outside lateral metasternal,
parallel to it. Lateral disc densely covered with large andshallow punctures, that become finer apically. First visible
abdominal sternite almost smooth, with only microscopic
punctuation. Two lateral striae present, the outer stria abbreviated on basal half.
Legs. Protibia with 4 denticles on outer margin, mesoand-metatibiae besides of bifid apical tooth with 2 denticles
on outer margin.
Aedeagus. Short, but slender, typical for the representative of the genus.

Etymology. Name of this new species is derived from
Latin: inexpectatum meaning unexpected, since it is very
surprising to discover a new species of Platysoma in thewestern palearctic.

Discussion
With four dorsal elytral striae complete, this new species can be linked to Platysoma (s.str.) deplanatum(GYLLENHAL, 1808), the only other west-palearctic species
with this feature (KRYZHANOVSKIJ & REICHARDT, 1976). It
can be, however, easily distinguished from the latter by thefollowing characteristics: body size being much greater,
fifth elytral stria being shorter (with P. deplanatum extending more anteriorly), first abdominal sternite being
impunctate. Also the shape of the pronotum is more rec-5

6

4
Figs. 4-6 Platysoma inexpectatum, sp.nov.: 4) Body, in part, dorsal view (scale: 1 mm); 5) Pygidium; 6) Aedeagus, dorsal view
(scale: 0.2 mm).

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Referencestangular, in P. deplanatum the pronotum is more convergent apically, etc. Furthermore, P. deplanatum is a boreal
species, occurring in the west palearctic, mainly in easternand northern Europe, and in central Europe only in higher
elevations. The area of distribution of P. deplanatum
stretches through the whole of northern Asia as far as Japan (MAZUR, 1997). New species is known from north Syria.

COOMAN, A. 1948. Coléopteres Histeridae d’Extrème-Orient. Not.
Entomol. Chin. 12: 132–141.
KAPLER, O. 1999. Three new species of Asiaster (Coleoptera:
Histeridae) from the Oriental region. Folia Heyroskiana,
7(5): 283–286.
KRYZHANOVSKIJ, O.L., REICHARDT, A.N., 1976. Zhuki nadsemeystva
Histeroidea (semeystva Sphaeritidae, Histeridae, Synteliidae). In: Fauna SSSR, Zhestkokrylye, V, vyp. 4. Leningrad, 434 pp.
MAZUR, S., 1997. A world catalogue of the Histeridae. (Coleoptera:
Histeroidea). Genus, International Journal of Invertebrate
Taxonomy (Supplement), Wroclaw, Poland, 373 pp.
ÔHARA, M. 1999. A revision of the Tribe Histerini (Coleoptera:
Histeridae) in Taiwan. Insecta matsumarana, new series,
56: 3–50.

Acknowledgements
I am indebted to Mr. Momćilo Popović (Belgrade, Yugoslavia) for the present drawings and to Mr. Piet Kanaar (Oegstgeest,
The Netherlands) and Mr. Tomàs Yélamos for their help with thismanuscript. My deep thanks are due as well to the collectors of
the present new species, Mr. Peter Hlaváč (Slovakia) and Mr.
Petr Kresl (Czech republic), respectively.

Manuscript received: 4. 12. 2003.

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Entomological Problems, 34(1–2): 112, October 2004

Faunistic records from Slovakia
Miloš ČERNÝ 1 & Jan FARKAČ 2
1)
2)

763 63 Halenkovice 1, Czech Republic; E-mail: cerny.milos@centrum.cz
Czech University of Agriculture, Faculty of Forestry, Department of Forest Protection, 165 21 Praha 6 – Suchdol,
Czech Republic; E-mail: farkac@lf.czu.cz

Diptera: Agromyzidae

Phytomyza varipes MACQUART, 1835

Chromatomyia gentii (HENDEL, 1920)

Slovakia, Nízké Tatry Mts. [7083], alpine zone between
Dereše mt. – Ďumbier mt., 1700-2000 m a.s.l., 5.viii. 2002, 1 ?,trapped in yellow dish, lgt. Jan Farkač, Klára Farkačová &Vlastimil Zedek, det. and coll. M. Černý; Research of Faculty ofForestry, Czech Agricultural University, Prague, Jan Farkač,Květoš Resl, Vlastimil Zedek, Martin Linhart & Ivan Mareček,
2002.

Slovakia, Nízké Tatry Mts. [7083], alpine zone between
Dereše mt. – Ďumbier mt., 1700-2000 m a.s.l., 5.viii. 2002,
2 ??, trapped in yellow dish, lgt. Jan Farkač, Klára Farkačová& Vlastimil Zedek, det. and coll. M. Černý; Research of Facultyof Forestry, Czech Agricultural University, Prague, Jan Farkač,Květoš Resl, Vlastimil Zedek, Martin Linhart & Ivan Mareček,
2002.

Species described from northern France is widespreadtroughout Europe, locally abundant in Alpes (HENDEL 19316, SPENCER 1976) and recorded also in Nova Scotia, Canada(SPENCER 1969). First record from Slovakia.

Species is originally described by HENDEL (1920) as
Napomyza gentii, from La Lautaret situated in the central
part of French Alpes. This boreo-alpine species is also
known from Italy, Austria (HENDEL 1931-6) and Poland(NOWAKOWSKI 1991). First record from Slovakia.

References
GRIFFITHS G.C.D., 1980. Studies on boreal Agromyzidae (Diptera).
XIV. Chromatomyia miners on Monocotyledones. Entomol.
Scand., Suppl. 13: 1–61.
HENDEL F., 1931–6. Agromyzidae. 59. In LINDNER E., Ed., Die
Fliegen der Palaearktische Region VI, Stutgart: 1–570.
NOWAKOWSKI T. J., 1991. Agromyzidae. In: RAZOWSKI, J. (ed.)
Checklist of Animals of Poland. Vol. II, Part 32/25–29, Insecta: Trichoptera – Siphonaptera; Part 33–43, Chaetognatha– Mammalia. Wroclaw – Warszawa Krakow, Zaklad Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, Wydawnictwo Polskiej AkademiiNauk, 1991: 192-208.
SPENCER K.A., 1969. The Agromyzidae of Canada and Alaska.
Entomological Society of Canada 64: 1–311.
SPENCER K.A., 1976. The Agromyzidae (Diptera) of Fennoscandia
and Denmark. Fauna Entomol. Scand. 5 Part 1 (1–304),
Part 2 (305–606).

Chromatomyia tschirnhausi GRIFFITHS, 1980
Slovakia, Nízké Tatry Mts. [7083], alpine zone between
Dereše mt. – Ďumbier mt., 1700-2000 m a.s.l., 5.viii. 2002, 1 ?,trapped in yellow dish, lgt. Jan Farkač, Klára Farkačová &Vlastimil Zedek, det. and coll. M. Černý; Research of Faculty ofForestry, Czech Agricultural University, Prague, Jan Farkač,Květoš Resl, Vlastimil Zedek, Martin Linhart & Ivan Mareček,
2002.

Species described after the type series placed in thecollection of M. von Tschirnhaus. These individuals werecollected in the regions of Central Hardangervidda (12602050 m a.s.l.) in Norway and Lechtaler Alpen (1700-2200
m a.s.l.) in Austria (GRIFFITHS 1980). The species is also
known from Poland (NOWAKOWSKI 1991). Next record ofthis boreo-alpine species from alpine zone of Central Europe. First record from Slovakia.

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