Achilia blanchardi Raffray 1904
Creators: name: Kurbatov, Sergey A.
name: Cuccodoro, Giulio
name: Sabella, Giorgio
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Achilia
Achilia blanchardi

description: Achilia blanchardi Raffray, 1904
Figs 3, 17, 27, 38, 40, 42, 63
Bryaxis valdiviensis Reitter, 1883: 50, pl. 1 fig. 8 (head and antenna) (nec valdiviensis Blanchard, 1851). – Reitter, 1885: 326; 330, pl. 2 fig. 14 (head and antenna).
Achilia clavata Raffray, 1904: 137, fig. 53 (head and antenna) (synonymized by Jeannel, 1962: 429).
Achilia blanchardi Raffray, 1904: 138 (new name for Bryaxis valdiviensis Reitter, 1883). – Jeannel, 1962: 426, 430, figs 195 (head and antenna of male), 196 (head and antenna of female), 197 (aedeagus).
Type material (12 ex.): MNHN; 1 ♀ (Holotype of A. clavata); labels verbatim “Museum de Paris; 1917; coll. Raffray / Chili / Type / clavata; det. A. Raffray / clavata (handwritten by Jeannel)”. – SOUTHERN CHILE: Región Los Ríos: Valdivia Prov.: MNHN; 1 ♂ (lectotype of A. blanchardi here designated); labels verbatim “Lectotype / Type / 1880; Chili; Valdivia; leg. Kindermann/ Bryaxis; valdiviensis; m. Valdivia / Museum de Paris; 1917; coll. Raffray / A. blanchardi; A. Raffray det.”. – MNHN; 1 ♂ and 9 ♀ (Paralectotypes of A. blanchardi here designated); labels verbatim “Paralectotype / Chili / Museum de Paris; 1917; coll. Raffray / A. blanchardi; A. Raffray det.”.
Additional material examined (5 ex.): FMNH; 1 ♀; Field Mus. Nat. Hist.; Orlando Park; Pselaphidae Colln.; F. C. Fletcher Collection. – MNHN; 1 ♀; Chile; P. Germain. – HNHM; 1 ♂; “ Chili ”. – MNHN; 2 ♀; “ Chili ”; Gay; 1849.
Description: Body 1.35-1.40 mm long, dark brown with reddish elytra; antennae and legs reddish; palpi yellowish.
Male: Head as in Figs 38, 40 & 42, very wide, surface with some very scattered punctures; occipital region raised, frons flattened and separated by large transverse sulcus from large frontal lobe; anterior margin of frontal sulcus slightly raised and pointed at middle. Antennae (Fig. 17) with scape and pedicel longer than wide; antennomere III distinctly longer than wide; antennomere IV about as long as wide; antennomeres V-VII slightly longer than wide; antennomere VIII as long as wide; antennomere IX wider than VIII and wider than long; antennomere X distinctly wider than long, shorter and wider than IX; antennomere XI elongate, longer than VII-X combined. Metaventrite with deep and wide transverse sulcus on apical twothirds, sulcus with deflected and posteriorly prominent margins forming sort of tubercles. First abdominal sternite slightly raised and flattened at middle; remaining abdominal sternites slightly flattened at middle. Protibiae with distal half slightly swollen; mesotibiae (Fig. 27) with distal half swollen and densely pubescent. Aedeagus (Fig. 3) 0.23 mm long, with dorsal plate subrectangular; dorsal longitudinal struts divergent. Parameres relatively wide with very large and long recurved seta on welldeveloped outer lobe, this seta bifid and very swollen on basal third; apical portion of parameres slightly recurved anteriorly and prolonged laterally at tip; apex of parameres bearing one long ventral medial seta associated with wider and shorter seta. Copulatory pieces consisting of two subequal short sclerites slightly enlarged apically, recurved and more robust basally.
Female: Similar to male except head not modified; antennae shorter with antennomere XI shorter; metaventrite, abdominal sternites, and legs unmodified.
Collecting data: The data in our possession do not allow us to make statements in this regard.
Distribution: Achilia blanchardi is only known from Valdivia (Región Los Ríos: Valdivia Prov.) (Fig. 63: green diamonds).
Comments: Raffray (1904: 138) proposed the new name Achilia blanchardi for Bryaxis valdiviensis Reitter, 1883, described on an unspecified number of specimens from Valdivia, because this name was preoccupied by Pselaphus valdiviensis Blanchard, 1851 [now Achilia valdiviensis (Blanchard, 1851)] (see Sabella et al., 2020: 140, 144-145).
Jeannel (1962: 430) listed Achilia clavata Raffray, 1904 as a junior synonym of A. blanchardi, but without justifying this action. We have examined the holotype of A. clavata, which is a female resembling in all features those of A. blanchardi, and therefore we confirm the synonymy proposed by Jeannel.
Jeannel (1962: 430) stated that the type of Achilia blanchardi Raffray, 1904 was housed in the MNHN collections. In the MNHN we found in Raffray’s collection a series of 11 specimens identified by Raffray as Achilia blanchardi; the first specimen of the series is a male labeled “Type / 1880; Chili; Valdivia; leg. Kindermann/ Bryaxis; valdiviensis; m. Valdivia / Museum de Paris; 1917; coll. Raffray / A. blanchardi; A. Raffray det.” which we designate here as the lectotype of A. blanchardi Raffray, 1904 (Blanchard, 1851), and the remaining 10 specimens (1 male and 9 females) labeled “ Chili ” without further label data are designated as paralectotypes.
Within the A. cosmoptera group the males of A. blanchardi are easily distinguished from other species by the shape of the head (Figs 38, 40, 42), antennae (Fig. 17) and aedeagus (Fig. 3). The females of this species are very similar to those of A. elfridae, from which they can be distinguished by their wider head with a wider frontal sulcus, and their slightly longer antennomere XI (0.16 mm for A. blanchard i vs 0.14-0.15 mm for A. elfridae).
description: Published as part of Kurbatov, Sergey A., Cuccodoro, Giulio & Sabella, Giorgio, 2021, A revision of the Chilean Brachyglutini - Part 7. Revision of Achilia Reitter, 1890: A. cosmoptera species group (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae), pp. 135-156 in Revue suisse de Zoologie 128 (1) on pages 139-140, DOI: 10.35929/RSZ.0041, http://zenodo.org/record/5639841