Acylophorus antennalis Cameron
Creators: name: Lott, Derek A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Acylophorus
Acylophorus antennalis

description: Acylophorus antennalis Cameron
(Figs 10, 39, 40, 60, 86, 118)
Acylophorus antennalis Cameron, 1932: 135; Scheerpeltz, 1933: 1466; Herman, 2001: 3026.
Acylophorus tenuiceps Bernhauer, 1932: 157; Scheerpeltz, 1933: 1467; Herman, 2001: 3037 (new synonym).
Redescription. Length 5.5– 7mm. Body dark brown to black. Abdomen sometimes iridescent. Legs dark brown or pale with darkened femora. Maxillary palpi pale, sometimes with last segment darker. Antennae pale with middle segments slightly darkened.
Head large (pronotum 1.6x wider than head), 1.1x longer than wide with evident temples and pigmented area produced well in front of antennal insertion (Fig. 10). Forehead somewhat arched. Eyes relatively small. Covered with dense micro-punctures. Dense pale pubescence behind eyes. Two pairs of interocular setae arising from foveate punctures much closer to eyes than each other. Four postocular setae visible from above on each side, no additional seta on hind margin of eye. Mandibles with one small medial tooth on the right and just a flange on the left (Figs 39 & 40). Maxillary palpi with terminal segment pubescent, more rounded on outer margin than inner margin and asymmetric, sometimes slightly attenuated at apex, longer than glabrous penultimate segment which is triangular (Fig. 60). First segment of antenna as long as next five. Segments I to VI elongate, X transverse (Fig. 86).
Pronotum relatively narrow with sides less rounded, slightly transverse (1.1x wider than long) and widest toward basal half, covered with dense micro-punctures. One pair of dorsal setae and one pair of lateral setae. Marginal setae short. Elytra only slightly transverse (1.4x to 1.5x wider than long) with close, bright yellow pubescence. Asperate punctures strong as in A. orientalis. Fringe of apical bristles slightly longer than the pubescence on the rest of the elytra. Abdominal tergites with similar pubescence. Punctation on abdominal tergites finer than on elytra and becoming sparser on apical segments.
Sternite IX of male with apex entire. Paramere of aedeagus bilobed, lobes parallel, pegs confusedly arranged in apical third of each lobe, base lipped as in A. densipennis (Fig. 118). Median lobe longer than paramere, expanded at spoon-shaped apex.
Type material. Cameron described the species from specimens collected by A. Collart on 17th April 1926 at Lolo Damvu (Mayumbe) in what is now the Republic of Congo. Note that the date of publication is given as 30th June 1932. Two specimens from the type series have been located, one of which is here designated as the lectotype in order to fix the identity of the species. Lectotype Ƥ: “ TYPE / Lolo Damvu; 17-IV-26; A. COLLART / A. antennalis Cam. TYPE / LECTOTYPE Acylophorus antennalis Cameron Ƥ det. DA Lott, 2009” (IRSNB); Paralectotype Ƥ: “Lolo Damvu; 17-IV-26; A. COLLART / M. Cameron Bequest B.M. 1955-147 / A. antennalis Cam. COTYPE / PARALECTOTYPE Acylophorus antennalis Cameron Ƥ det. DA Lott, 2009” (BMNH).
Acylophorus tenuiceps Bernhauer. The species was described from specimens collected by Burgeon at Yebo (in December 1925) and Moto in the Haut-Uelé area in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Note that the date of publication is given as 16th October 1932. Only one specimen collected from Moto can be unequivocally recognised as belonging to the type series. A further specimen collected from Yebo has a date that does not quite match the details in the original description. However, this is probably due to some kind of mix-up, as the date has been changed on the label and it has been labelled as a type by Bernhauer. Consequently, this Yebo specimen can be regarded as belonging to the type series. A lectotype is here designated in order to fix the identity of the species. Lectotype 3: “ MUSÉE DU CONGO; Haut-Uelé: Moto / 1920 L. Burgeon / tenuiceps Brnh. Acylophorus Cotypus. / Chicago NHMus M. Bernhauer Collection / LECTOTYPE Acylophorus tenuiceps Bernhauer 3 det DA Lott, 2009” (FMNH); Paralectotypes Ƥ: “ MUSÉE DU CONGO Haut-Uele:Yebo / - XII-1920 L. Burgeon / Acylophorus angusticeps Brnh. n. sp. / tenuiiceps Brnh. Acylophorus Typus / PARALECTOTYPE Acylophorus tenuiceps Bernhauer Ƥ det DA Lott, 2009” (FMNH). Bernhauer did not compare his species with A. antennalis, which was only described a few months earlier. The three types are a millimetre larger than the two types of A. antennalis and there are slight differences in the form of the mandibles (Figs 39 & 40) and the last segment of the maxillary palpi. However, there is considerable infra-specific variation in this last character, even in the small amount of material available for the present study and, notwithstanding the absence of males in the type series of A. antennalis, there can be little doubt that the two series are conspecific. A. tenuiceps is, therefore, here synonymised with A. antennalis.
Further material examined. R.D. CONGO: Stanleyville, L Burgeon, 13 (MRAC); Haut-Uele: Yebo, L Burgeon, i.1926, 13 (MRAC).
Distribution and bionomics. Only recorded from the Democratic Republic of and the Republic of Congo (Fig. 144). There are no data on habitat.
Comparative notes. Similar to A. densipennis by virtue of the bright yellow pubescence on the elytra, but generally larger and with smaller eyes. The apical bristles on the elytra are longer and the aedeagus is completely different. Much more similar to A. collarti, from which it is best distinguished by the form of the aedeagus.
description: Published as part of Lott, Derek A., 2010, The species of Acylophorus Nordmann (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylininae) in continental sub-Saharan Africa, pp. 1-51 in Zootaxa 2402 on pages 17-18, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.275907