Philonthus caffer Boheman 1848
Creators: name: Hromádka, Lubomír
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Philonthus
Philonthus caffer

description: Key to the species of the Philonthus caffer group   
1 Each dorsal row of pronotum with 4 punctures.......................................................... 2  
– Each dorsal row of pronotum with 5 punctures.......................................................... 3  
 2 Each elytron with red patch (Fig. 7), femora yellow-brown, tibiae and tarsi blackbrown................................................................................................  P. aonyx sp. nov.    
 – Elytra uniformly black, legs uniformly black-brown.... P. iridicollis Bernhauer, 1932   
3 Elytra uniformly black................................................................................................. 4  
– Elytra uniformly red, or black with red patches posteriorly (sometimes only posterior margin red).................................................................................................................. 5  
 4 Eyes longer than temples (ratio 10: 8.5)........................ P. aminius Tottenham, 1955   
 – Eyes shorter than temples (ratio 10: 15)..................... P. leptophilus Hromádka, 2006   
5 Elytra uniformly red.................................................................................................... 6  
– Elytra bicoloured......................................................................................................... 7  
 6 Larger species (body length 7.5 mm), pronotum hardly longer than wide (ratio 28: 25), apex of paramere wide (Fig. 24)....................................... P. cliens Eppelsheim, 1890   
 – Smaller species (body length 6.2–6.4 mm), pronotum as long as wide, apex of paramere narrower (Fig. 45)......................................................... P. kenyanus Bernhauer, 1939   
7 All antennomeres longer than wide............................................................................ 8  
– Most antennomeres as long as wide........................................................................... 9  
 8 Antennae long, reaching posterior margin of pronotum when reclined. Elytra pale, each elytron with dark triangular spot anteriorly................ P. maridadus Tottenham, 1962   
 – Antennae shorter, reaching posterior fourth of pronotum when reclined. Elytra pale, only shoulders and area around scutellum narrowly black..........  P. bucorvus sp. nov.    
 9 Head and pronotum black, with blue metallic reflex.Abdomen black with blue-greenish reflection..................................................................... P. gabonensis Levasseur, 1966   
– Body without metallic reflex..................................................................................... 10  
10 Apex of median lobe very wide, paramere very short.............................................. 11  
– Apex of median lobe narrow, bluntly or sharply pointed, paramere long................ 12  
 11 Elytra black anteriorly, with posterior fourth red. Legs yellow-brown..................................................................................................................... P. biguttulus Fauvel, 1907   
 – Elytra black, each elytron with red patch in posterior half. Femora yellow-brown, tibiae and first tarsomere of all tarsi brown-black..................... P. tomicus Tottenham, 1962   
 12 Femora and tibiae brown, medial face of all tibiae vaguely darker, tarsi yellow-brown, elytra black-brown, epipleura and posterior margin of elytra narrowly yellow-brown, head and pronotum with slight purple iridescence. Median lobe narrowed subapically (Fig. 54)........................................................................... P. limbipennis Fauvel, 1905   
– Legs yellow-brown with darker tibiae...................................................................... 13  
13 Eyes as long as temples or longer............................................................................. 14  
– Eyes shorter than temples......................................................................................... 15  
 14 Pronotum longer than wide, femora and tarsi yellow-brown, tibiae darker. Paramere not reaching apex of median lobe (Fig. 59)........ P. sequens Bernhauer & Schubert, 1914   
 – Pronotum as long as wide, legs yellow-brown. Paramere almost reaching apex of median lobe (Fig. 25)..................................................................... P. combustus Fauvel, 1907   
 15 Antennae reaching posterior margin of pronotum when reclined, elytra black, narrowly red-orange around suture and posterior margin, legs yellow-brown...........................................................................................................................................  P. falco sp. nov.    
 – Antennae reaching posterior sixth of pronotum when reclined, almost entire elytra red, femora and tarsi yellow-brown, tibiae darker....................... P. caffer Boheman, 1848
description: Published as part of Hromádka, Lubomír, 2009, Revision of the Afrotropical species of the Philonthus caffer species group (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Philonthina), pp. 161-190 in Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 49 (1) on pages 188-189, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5404276