Xenophilothis choumovitchi : KRYZHANOVSKIJ 1987
Creators: name: Lackner, Tomáš
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Histeridae
Xenophilothis
Xenophilothis choumovitchi

description: Xenophilothis choumovitchi (Thérond, 1965)
(Figs. 29, 73, 107, 140, 143, 145, 730–746)
Philothis choumovitchi Thérond, 1965 in THÉROND & HOLLANDE (1965): 858, Fig. 1.
Philothis choumovitchi: MAZUR (1984): 109.
Xenophilothis choumovitchi: KRYZHANOVSKIJ (1987): 26; OLEXA (1990): 142, figs.1, 7, 14, 23, 28, 29; MAZUR (1997): 267; MAZUR (2004): 101.
Type locality. Algeria, Béni Abbès.
Type material. PARATYPE: ♁, ‘Béni-Abbès / Saouza / iv.1960 / J. Thérond [written] // Philothis / choumovitchi / nov. sp. [written] // Paratype (red label, written) // 06-040 (blue label, written) // D07-034 [pink label, written]’ (TLAN).
Additional material examined. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: SSW of Ad Dhaid, 25º09'N 55º48'E, at light, 23.iv.2005, 1 spec., A. van Harten & K. Szpila lgt. (TLAN).
Redescription. Body length: PEL: 2.25–2.65 mm; APW: 0.60–0.65 mm; PPW: 1.70–1.825 mm; EL: 1.375 –1.625 mm; EW: 1.825 –2.125 mm.
Body (Figs. 730–731) ovoid, dorsally convex, ventrally somewhat flattened, cuticle brown; legs and mouthparts rufopiceous, antennal scape yellow.
Antennal scape (Fig. 733) strongly thickened, with numerous long lamelliform setae inserted in deep round punctures; club (Fig. 734) comparatively small, flattened dorso-ventraly, without visible articulation, almost entirely glabrous apart from apical elongate sensory area densely covered with short sensilla intermingled with much sparser, erect sensilla; sensory structures of antennal club (Fig. 29) in form of stipe-shaped vesicle situated under large apical sensory area.
Mouthparts. Mandibles (Fig. 107) with rounded lateral margins, short and stout; mandibular apex obtuse, concealing a tiny acute tooth situated between dorsal and ventral mandibular surface; sub-apical tooth inconspicuous; labrum (Fig. 73) conspicuously large, larger than clypeus, microscopically punctate, almost smooth; setae of lateral fringe growing out from ventral side of labrum; labral pits and setae absent; terminal labial palpomere strongly thickened, its width approximately equals its length; mentum (Figs. 143, 732) large, broadening anteriorly, anterior margin (Fig. 143) with numerous long lamelliform setae, lateral margins and disc of mentum glabrous; cardo of maxilla with single rather long lamelliform seta; stipes (Fig. 145) triangular, with three long lamelliform setae; terminal maxillary palpomere (Fig. 145) gradually narrowing anteriorly, its width approximately half its length, several times as long as penultimate; remaining mouthparts not examined.
Clypeus (Fig. 733) comparatively large, broadening anteriorly, anterior half smooth, posterior half with fine granularity; frontal stria well-impressed, carinate, acutely angularly elevated behind eyes; supraorbital stria vague; frontal disc (Fig. 733) shallowly ruguloselacunose; eyes convex, visible from above.
Pronotal sides (Fig. 730) strongly convergent anteriorly; apical angles very acute, anteri- or pronotal margin with a deep semicircular incision for head; marginal pronotal stria well impressed, carinate on lateral margins, weakened behind head; pronotal disc moderately convex, with deep irregular dense confluent punctures, laterally and anteriorly turning into coarse longitudinal wrinkles; pronotal hypomeron with long yellow setae; scutellum small, well-visible.
Elytral humeri prominent, epipleura setose, densely and coarsely punctate; marginal epipleural stria thin, complete, shortly continued along elytral apex; marginal elytral stria well impressed, carinate and bisinuate, almost reaching elytral apex; apical elytral stria obliterated; surface between marginal elytral and inner subhumeral striae with sparse setae. Humeral elytral stria vaguely impressed on basal fifth; inner subhumeral stria complete, carinate, originating almost from elytral base, parallel to marginal elytral stria; first dorsal elytral stria present on basal half, next evanescent; second dorsal elytral stria reaching about three-fourths of elytral length apically; third dorsal elytral stria obliterated on basal half, reaching nine-tenths of elytral length apically; fourth dorsal elytral stria basally slightly shorter than third; fifth dorsal elytral stria absent; sutural elytral stria well impressed, on basal half slightly distanced from elytral suture, on apical tenth obliterated; interspace between sutural elytral stria and elytral suture on basal third with additional thin short stria, sutural stria shortly continuous along elytral base as basal elytral stria, in several deep punctures; elytral base somewhat elevated, without bulge. Elytral disc with dense round and deep punctation, punctures becoming sparser laterally, elytral humeri and flanks almost smooth; medio-apical area of elytral disc finely rugulose, matt.
Propygidium completely exposed, transverse, about half as long as broad, with dense large shallow punctures of various shapes and sizes, space inside punctures with micro-punctures; pygidium about as long as broad, convex, with dense confluent punctation, similar to that of propygidium, but sparser.
Anterior margin of median portion of prosternum (Fig. 736) evenly rounded; marginal prosternal stria present as vague lateral fragment; pre-apical foveae absent; prosternal process compressed, surface between and anterad of lateral prosternal striae substrigulate, with deep large punctures fringed with short setae; surface laterad to lateral prosternal striae substrigu- late, finely punctate but punctures without setae; carinal prosternal striae vaguely impressed on prosternal apophysis, next erased; lateral prosternal striae straight, carinate, parallel, on apical third of prosternum evanescent.
Anterior margin of mesoventrite (Fig. 737) almost straight; discal marginal mesoventral stria well impressed, laterally carinate, slightly weakened anteriorly; disc of mesoventrite with deep round punctures of various sizes, some of the punctures with microscopic setae; meso-metaventral sutural stria absent; meso-metaventral suture well visible, almost straight; intercoxal disc of metaventrite (Fig. 737) flattened, with scattered deep irregular-sized punctures finer than those of mesoventrite, with longitudinal suture in male; lateral metaventral stria (Fig. 738) well impressed, straight, carinate on outer margin, stopping short of hind coxa. Lateral disc of metaventrite (Fig. 738) concave, with irregular shallow punctures, fringed with long setae; metepisternum (Fig. 738) with similar punctures and setae, punctation almost unrecognizable; on fused metepimeron punctures slightly weaker.
Intercoxal disc of the first abdominal sternite with carinate striae laterally, with scattered deep punctation, similar to that of metaventrite; lateral discs of all visible abdominal sternites setose.
Protibia (Fig. 739) slightly dilated, with two large triangular distal teeth topped by tiny rounded denticle, second tooth conspicuously larger than first, followed by a much shorter tooth topped by conspicuous denticle, followed by two microscopic denticles; setae of outer row long, confined to basal half of protibia; setae of median row regular, shorter than those of outer row, but present along entire protibial length; protarsal groove shallow; anterior protibial stria complete; tarsal denticles absent; protibial spur large, stout, bent, growing out from near tarsal insertion (as in Alienocacculus); apical margin of protibia ventrally without denticles; outer part of posterior surface of protibia (Fig. 739) smooth, distinction between median part of posterior surface inconspicuous; posterior protibial stria vaguely impressed on basal two-thirds, next obliterated; inner margin with single row of dense long strongly sclerotized setae.
Mesotibia (Fig. 735) slender, outer margin with two dense rows of thin long denticles abutting each other; setae of outer row moderately dense, strongly sclerotized, rather long, longer than denticles themselves; setae of median row inconspicuous; posterior mesotibial stria inconspicuous; anterior surface of mesotibia glabrous; anterior mesotibial stria complete; mesotibial spur double, thin, rather long; apical margin with single short denticle; mesotarsomeres telescope-like, their diameter diminishes apically; each mesotarsomeres with one long sclerotized seta dorsally and one ventrally; claws of apical tarsomere thin, straight, twice as long as apical tarsomere itself; metatibia somewhat more dilated than mesotibia, outer margin with three teeth: basal-most tooth low, situated at approximately basal third of outer margin of metatibia, topped with moderately long stout denticle, median tooth large, triangular, supporting two close-set long stout denticles, third tooth shorter than second, situated near tarsal insertion, topped with single stout denticle; apart from these three teeth outer margin with another dense row of much shorter denticles, similar to that of mesotibia; metatibia otherwise similar to mesotibia, but setae of posterior metatibial surface dense, entirely covering it.
Male genitalia. Eighth sternite (Figs. 740–741) longitudinally separated medially, apically with large inflatable membrane (velum) fringed with dense brush of close-set moderately long setae; apex of eighth sternite laterally with short setae; eighth tergite and eighth sternite fused laterally (Fig. 742). Morphology of 9 th tergite (Figs. 743–744) typical for the subfamily; spiculum gastrale expanded (Fig. 743) on both ends. Basal piece of aedeagus (Figs. 745–746) rather short, ratio of its length: length of parameres 1: 4.75; parameres fused along their basal half; aedeagus only slightly curved ventrad apically (Fig. 746)
Remarks. This redescription is based on a paratype, a male from Algeria. The second available specimen of this species, originating from United Arab Emirates differs from the paratype in several aspects: inner subhumeral stria present only on basal half, next obliterated; first and second dorsal elytral striae reaching nine-tenths of the elytral length apically; fifth dorsal elytral stria present as a short fragment on the apical fifth. Furthermore, the teeth on outer protibial margin are more articulated in this specimen (more obtuse with the paratype); the outer part of the ventral surface of protibia is transversely carinate (glabrous with the paratype), clearly separated from the median part of median surface by a clear-cut carinate stria; ventral tibial stria is complete and the teeth of metatibia are more articulated than those of the paratype. However, the structure of prosternum and the male genitalia are almost identical between the two specimens. The identity of the two specimens must be confirmed by study of larger series of specimens, preferably originating from the regions between the two very distant (more than 5000 km) localities.
description: Published as part of Lackner, Tomáš, 2010, Review of the Palaearctic genera of Saprininae (Coleoptera: Histeridae), pp. 1-254 in Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae (suppl.) (suppl.) 50 on pages 231-235, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4272127