Achilia elfridae 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 elfridae

description: Achilia elfridae Raffray, 1904
Figs 4, 23, 28, 49-51, 53, 55, 64
Achilia elfridae Raffray, 1904: 139, fig. 54 (head and antenna of male). – Jeannel, 1962: 426, figs 190 (head), 191 (aedeagus).
Achilia picea Raffray, 1904: 139. – Jeannel, 1962: 426-427 (syn. nov.).
Type material (7 ex.): SOUTHERN CHILE: Región Los Ríos: Valdivia Prov.: MNHN; 1 ♂ (lectotype of A. elfridae, here designated); labels verbatim “Lectotype / Type / Bryaxis elfridae m.; Valdivia / Museum Paris; 1917; coll. Raffray / A. elfridae; A. Raffray det.”. – MNHN; 3 ♂ and 2 ♀ (Paralectotypes of A. elfridae, here designated); labels verbatim “Paralectotype / Chili ”. – MNHN; 1 ♀ (holotype of Achilia picea); labels verbatim “Type/ Valdivia, var. valdiviensis; / Museum Paris; 1917; coll. Raffray / A. picea; A. Raffray det. / picea Raff. (handwritten by Jeannel)”.
Additional material examined (67 ex.): SOUTHERN ARGENTINA: Rio Negro Prov.: MHNG; 1 ♂; El Bolsón, Topal, n. 51; 06.II.1961. – SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL CHILE: Región Los Lagos: Llanquihue Prov.: MHNG; 28 ♂; Frutillar Bajo, Universidad Chile Forest Reserve; 100 m; 22.XII.1984 / 02.II.1985; FIT, ravine mixed forest; S. & J. Peck. – Chiloé Prov.: MSNG; 1 ♂; Piruquina; 22.II.1991; site TC- 280; T. Cekalovic. – Región Los Ríos: Valdivia Prov.: PCTS; 1 ♂; Corral, 39° 95”S 73° 20”W; 06.XII.2013; car net. – PCVB; 1 ♂ and 1 ♀; Panguipulli. – FMNH (FMHD #97-18); 2 ♂; Rincón de La Piedra, turnoff, 14.8 km SE Valdivia; 39° 55’ 32’’S 73° 06’ 27’’W; 50 m; 11.I-01.II.1997; disturbed Valdivian rainforest, with Nothofagus dombeyi and Podocarpus saligna, flight intercept (windows) trap; A. Newton & M. Thayer 990. – Región Araucanía: Cautín Prov.: UNHC; 1 ♂; Volcàn Villarica; 1120 m; site 654; 15-29.XII.1982; Nothofagus dombeyi and Saxegothea forest with Drimys, flight intercept (windows) trap; A. Newton & M. Thayer. – Malleco Prov.: MHNG; 1 ♂; Purén, Contulmo Natural Monument; station 17; 350 m; 11.XII.1984; S. & J. Peck. – MHNG; 2 ♂; same locality; 11.XII.1984 - 13. II.1985; S. & J. Peck 85-16. – MHNG; 3 ♂; same locality; 13.II.1985; mixed forest litter; S. & J. Peck. – MHNG; 1 ♂; 40 km W CuraCautín; 1500 m, 12.XII.1984 / 16.II.1985; Notophagus and Araucaria forest, malaise trap; S. & J. Peck. – FMNH (FMHD #85-905, #85-19); 1 ♂; Curaracautín (40 km E); 1500 m; 12.XII.1984 / 16.II.1985; Nothofagus-Araucaria forest, malaise trap; S. & J. Peck #85-19. – MHNG; 1 ♂; E Malalcahuello, 38° 26,0’S 71° 30,2’W; 1200 m; 11.II.2018; litter near stream; S. Kurbatov. – FMNH (FMHD #2002-041); 2 ♂; Nahuelbuta National Park, E of Guarderia Pichinahuel; 37° 48.20’S 73° 01.41’W; 1290 m; 05-24.XII.2002; Araucaria- Nothofagus dombeyi with Chusquea bamboo, flight intercept trap; A. Newton, M. Thayer, A. Solodovnikov; D. J. Clarke & M. Chani 1054. – Región Bío Bío: Ñuble Prov.: MNHN; 3 ♂ and 7 ♀; Chillàn. – MNHS; 4 ♂ and 5 ♀; Chillàn; P. Germain. – Región Maule: Curicó Prov.: MHNG; 1 ♂; 30 km SE Curicó; 35° 13.3’S 70° 59.3’W; 200 m; 08.II.2018; litter near stream; S. Kurbatov.
Description: Body 1.25-1.35 mm long, brown with reddish elytra, generally with darker head and sometimes also darker pronotum, some specimens brown with darker abdomen; antennae and legs reddish; palpi reddish or yellowish.
Male: Head as in Figs 51, 53, 55, wide, with occipital region slightly raised; frons flattened with enlarged and carinate sides on anterior half, and shallow triangular impression at middle; frons separated from enlarged frontal lobe by wide transverse sulcus. Antennae with scape and pedicel longer than wide; antennomere III longer than wide; remaining funicular articles slightly varying from antennomeres IV-VII slightly longer than wide to distinctly longer than wide and thinner, and from antennomere VIII wider than long to as long as wide; antennomere IX slightly wider than VIII and wider than long; antennomere X wider than long, and slightly wider than IX; antennomere XI elongate, about as long as VII-X combined. Metaventrite with deep and wide transverse sulcus on apical two-thirds, sulcus with prominent margins. First abdominal sternite slightly raised and flattened at middle (Fig. 50); remaining abdominal sternites distinctly flattened at middle. Protibiae (Fig. 23) with distal half swollen, distal third densely pubescent; mesotibiae (Fig. 28) with distal half swollen and densely pubescent. Aedeagus (Fig. 4) 0.24-0.26 mm long, with suboval dorsal plate narrowed and frayed at apex; dorsal longitudinal struts divergent. Parameres relatively wide with long recurved seta on well-developed outer lobe; apical portion of parameres prolonged laterally as long tip; apex bearing ventral medial seta. Copulatory pieces consisting of pair of subequal sclerites curved at both ends 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: Collected from November to February in different type of forests (mixed forest, disturbed Valdivian rainforest, Nothofagus dombeyi and Saxegothea forest with Drimys, Nothophagus and Araucaria forest, Araucaria-Nothofagus dombeyi with Chusquea bamboo), at elevations ranging from 50 m to 1290 m. Some specimens come from sifted samples of leaf and log litter, but most males have been collected by flight intercept traps, window traps, car netting, and malaise traps.
Distribution: Achilia elfridae is distributed in Southern Argentina (Rio Negro Province) and Southern and Central Chile (from Llanquihue to Curicó Provinces) (Fig. 64: red circles).
Comments: Raffray (1904: 139) described A. elfridae based on an unspecified number of specimens from Chile, without further indication of locality, claiming to use the unpublished name attributed by Reitter to the specimens in his collection (now in Raffray’s collection). Jeannel (1962: 426-427) affirmed that the type of Achilia elfridae Raffray, 1904 collected in Valdivia was housed in the MNHN collections. In the MNHN we found in the Raffray collection a series of 6 specimens identified by Raffray as Achilia elfridae; the first specimen is a male labeled “Type / Bryaxis elfridae m.; Valdivia / Museum Paris; 1917; coll. Raffray / A. elfridae; A. Raffray det.” that we designate here as the lectotype of Achilia elfridae Raffray, 1904, and the remaining 5 specimens (4 males and 1 female) labeled “ Chili ” without further label data are designated as paralectotypes.
Raffray (1904: 136) described Achilia picea on the basis of one female that Reitter had in his collection (now in Raffray’s collection) and placed it as a variety of Bryaxis valdiviensis Reitter, 1883 (= Achilia blanchardi Raffray, 1904). According to Raffray (1904: 136) A. picea differs from A. blanchardi by having a longer head, thinner antennae, longer elytrae with denser punctures, and a darker body color. According to Jeannel (1962: 427) A. picea strongly resembles the females of A. elfridae, from which it differs only by the darker coloration, the more transverse pronotum, and the narrower lateral bulges of the frontal lobe. We examined the holotype and only known specimen of A. picea; it is a female which indeed has a darker body color, but is otherwise similar in all other aspects to the females of A. elfridae, and therefore we here place A. picea Raffray, 1904 as a junior synonym of A. elfridae Raffray, 1904 (syn. nov.).
The males of A. elfridae are easily distinguished from other species of the A. cosmoptera group by the shape of the head (Figs 51, 53, 55), and aedeagus (Fig. 4). For characters to distinguish the females of A. elfridae from those of A. cosmoptera and A. blanchardi see the “Comments” section for the two latter species.
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 143-146, DOI: 10.35929/RSZ.0041, http://zenodo.org/record/5639841