Geodromicus championi Cameron 1924
Creators: name: Shavrin, Alexey V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Geodromicus
Geodromicus championi

description: Geodromicus (s.str.) championi Cameron, 1924
(Figs. 2, 13–15, 27)
Geodromicus championi Cameron, 1924: 171, 174; Cameron 1930: 163, Puthz 1973: 518
Geodromicus nepalicus Coiffait, 1977: 267 syn.n.
Type material examined. Lectotype (here designated) of Geodromicus championi Cameron, 1924, ♀ (Fig. 2): ‘SYN- | TYPE’ <printed label with blue margins>, ‘Type | H.T.’ <round label with red margin>, ‘Chakrata Dist. | Sanj Khud 6500`’ <printed>, ‘Dr. Cameron. | 27. V. [19]22.’ <printed>, ‘ Geodromicus | championi | Cam.’ <handwritten>, ‘M. Cameron | Bequest. | B.M. 1955-147.’ <printed>, ‘ LECTOTYPE | Geodromicus | championi | Cameron, 1924 | Shavrin A.V. des. 2016’ <red, printed> (BMNH). Paralectotypes: 2 ♂♂ (one male dissected, other male damaged), 4 ♀♀ (one female without antennomeres 3–6): ‘Chakrata Dist. | Sainj Khud 6500`’ <printed>, ‘SYN- | TYPE’ <printed label with blue frame>, ‘Dr. Cameron | 27. V. [19]22. <printed>, ‘ G. championi Cam. ’ <handwritten>, ‘M. Cameron | Bequest. | B.M. 1955-147.’ <printed> (BMNH). Paralectotype, ♀: ‘Chakrata Dist. Sanj Khud 6500’, ‘Dr. Cameron 27.V.[19]22.’, ‘ Geodromicus championi Cam. ’ (NMPC).
Holotype of Geodromicus nepalicus Coiffait, 1977, ♂ (dissected): ‘Ufer des Tila Khola | b.Jumla, 26.9.-4.10.72’ <printed>, ‘Gebiet von Jumla | Westnepal, lg. H. Franz’ <printed>, ‘ Geodromicus | spec. | det. H. Franz [printed]’ <handwritten>, ‘TYPE’ <red, printed>, ‘ Geodromicus | nepalicus | H. COIFFAIT [printed] det. 19[printed]76’ <handwritten> (NMW). Paratype, 1 ♀: ‘Sinja Khola zw. Chauta u. Neurigad’ <printed>, ‘Paratype’ <red>, ‘ Geodromicus nepalicus H.Coiffait 1976 ’ <handwritten> (MHNH).
Additional material examined. PAKISTAN: 1 ♂: Chitral Bumburet. 2200–2350 m a.s.l. 24.05.1983. C. Besuchet & I. Löbl (MHNG); NEPAL: KARNALI: 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀: Gothichaur, 29°12′10′N 82°18′56′′E. 2800 m a.s.l., river bank. 08.06.1997. H.F. Grill leg. (NME); 1 ♂: Jumla, 12 km E Jumla, Jharjwala. 2500 m a.s.l. 01.05.1995. A. Weigel leg. (cSh); 2 ♀♀: Jumla, Tila River, NN. 2300 m a.s.l. 29.04.1995. M. Hartmann & A. Weigel leg. (cSh, NME); 1 ♂: same data. J. Weipert leg. (NME); GANDAKI: 1 ♂, 1 ♀: SW Dhaulagiri, E Dhorpatan, 28°30′08′′N 83°07′45′′E. 3000 m a.s.l. 22.09.2012. J. Schmidt leg. (NME).
Redescription. Measurements (n=15): HW: 1.06–1.20; HL: 0.64–0.80; OL: 0.32–0.40; TL: 0.10–0.12; AL (averaged): 3.54; PL: 1.04–1.40; PWmax: 1.43–1.80; PWmin: 0.96–1.25; ESL: 1.91–2.35; EW: 2.14–2.55; MTbL (averaged): 0.68; MTrL (averaged): 0.32 (MTrL 1–4: 0.17; MTrL 5: 0.15); AW: 1.95–2.45; AedL: 0.82–1.00; BL: 5.80–7.20 (lectotype of G. championi: 7.20; holotype of G. nepalicus: 6.20).
Habitus as in Fig. 2. Body reddish-brown to black (some specimens with paler elytra); antennae brown (some specimens with paler antennomeres 1–2); mouthparts and legs yellow-brown to black. Forebody without microsculpture except some specimens with traces of indistinct transverse microreticulation in apical portion of head, pronotum with indistinct transverse meshes (some specimens) and abdominal tergites with very dense transverse microsculpture.
Head 1.5–1.6 times as broad as long, frontal portion with strongly convex supra-antennal elevations, with deep and wide median depression, gradually narrowed and extended basad; temples moderately short, distinctly concaved between posterior margin of eye and smooth postocular ridge (indistinct in some specimens); interocellar depression very deep, moderately narrow or wide; anteocellar foveae deep, reaching level of middle or apical third of eyes. Distance between ocelli 1.2–1.4 times as long as distance between ocellus and posterior margin of eye. Punctation moderately large and dense, sometimes finer and sparser in middle, and larger and deeper on infraorbital portions. Antenna very long, usually exceeding middle of elytra when reclined; antennomere 2 1.3 times as long as basal antennomere, 3 distinctly longer than 2, 4–9 slightly shorter than 3, 10 slightly shorter than 9, apical antennomere 1.2–1.3 times as long as 10.
Pronotum slightly transverse, 1.4–1.5 times as broad as long, from widest anterior third strongly narrowed apicad toward subparallel and moderately long laterobasal margins; middle portion without or with indistinct longitudinal and transverse, moderately deep mediobasal depressions. Punctation very dense, distinctly larger and deeper than that in middle of head, sparser in middle and mediobasal portions; mediobasal portion of some specimens sometimes without punctation.
Elytra slightly or strongly broadened posteriad, 1.6–1.8 times as long as pronotum. Punctation very dense, about as that on pronotum or distinctly denser, with interspaces between punctures as long as diameter of one–two nearest punctures, sometimes denser and coarser in parascutellar portion and along suture.
Metatibia twice as long as metatarsus.
Abdomen slightly narrower than elytra, with two moderately small transverse tomentose spots in middle of abdominal tergite IV.
Male. Protarsomeres 1–4 wide. Apical margin of abdominal tergite VIII straight or slightly concave. Apical margin of abdominal sternite VIII widely concave. Aedeagus with small basal part, gradually narrowed apicad and broadened in about middle of wide median lobe; apical third of median lobe strongly narrowed toward apical portion and from apical portion gradually narrowed toward subacute apex; parameres broadened in apical portion, with four moderately long apical setae; median lobe with two very long sclerotized structures in middle; internal sac with narrow, with very long flagellum, from basal portion stretching apicad between parallel median structures (Figs. 13, 15). Lateral aspect of the aedeagus as in Fig. 14.
Female. Protarsomeres 1–4 narrow. Apical margin of abdominal tergite VIII straight or rounded. Apical margin of abdominal sternite VIII rounded.
Comparative notes. Geodromicus (s.str.) championi can be distinguished from other species of the bodemeyeri group by the darker coloration of the body, more transverse pronotum, the shape of the apical portion of the aedeagus and longer flagellum.
Distribution. Geodromicus (s.str.) championi is widely distributed in the Himalayan Region and known from Pakistan, India (Uttarakhand), and Nepal (Fig. 27).
Bionomics. Specimens were collected at elevations from 1980 to 3000 m a.s.l. and were taken from under stones and gravel along river banks.
Remarks. Based on the unspecified number of syntypes, G. (s.str.) championi was originally described from “Chakrata District; Sanj Khud and Bina, Gad, 6500 to 8000 feet above the sea” (India, Uttarakhand). The specimen with the best preservation and additional label “Type H.T.” was designated as the lectotype in order to fix the identity of the name.
Geodromicus (s.str.) nepalicus was described based on the holotype from “Rive du Tila Khola, près Jumla, Népal occidental…”. During the study of the holotype, I have not found sufficient external and internal morphological differences between it and other studied specimens of G. championi. Thus, it was synonymized with the latter species.
Geodromicus (s.str.) championi is here recorded from Pakistan for the first time.
description: Published as part of Shavrin, Alexey V., 2022, The bodemeyeri and the convexicollis species groups of the genus Geodromicus Redtenbacher, 1857, and additional taxonomic and faunistic data for some species of the Eastern Palaearctic Region (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Omaliinae), pp. 451-496 in Zootaxa 5213 (5) on pages 457-460, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5213.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7381607