Platystethus nitens C. Sahlberg 1832
Creators: name: Lü, Liang
name: Zhou, Hong-Zhang
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Platystethus
Platystethus nitens

description: 8. Platystethus nitens (C. Sahlberg, 1832)
(Figs. 19 & 20)
C. Sahlberg, 1832: 413 (Oxytelus; Type locality: Fennia australis; Helsingforsiae); Erichson, 1839: 587 (Platystethus; synonym of nodifrons); Baudi di Selve, 1870: 399 (Stenus); Bernhauer & Schubert, 1911: 123 (Platystethus); Scheerpeltz, 1933: 1108 (Platystethus); Herman, 1970: 402 (Platystethus); Hammond, 1971: 95, 101 (Platystethus; Britain; Azores to eastern Siberia and northeast China); Gusarov, 1992: 776 (Platystethus; synonymic notes); Zheng, 1998: 254 (Platystethus; China); Herman, 2001a: 1482 (Platystethus); Smetana, 2004: 518 (Platystethus, subgenus Craetopycrus); Yan, Li & Zheng, 2012: 342 (Platystethus; China).
Synonymy.
Platystethus splendens Heer, 1839: 208 (Type locality: Genf); Kraatz, 1857: 845 (synonym of nitens).
Platystethus striatulus Heer, 1839: 208 (Type locality: Lägerenberg); Kraatz, 1857: 845 (synonym of nitens).
Platystethus longicornis Lucas, 1846: 126 (Type locality: Algeria: environs d’Alger; environs de Philippeville par l’Ouad- Safsaf); Fauvel, 1869: 492 (synonym of nodifrons); Fauvel, 1872: 184 [= 1873: 26] (synonym of nitens).
Platystethus fossor Wollaston, 1854: 603 (Type locality: Madeira: Santa Anna); Wollaston, 1865: 515 (synonym of spinosus); Fauvel, 1902: 68 (synonym of nitens); Herman, 2001a: 1489 (synonym of spinosus); Schülke, 2004: 401 (synonym of nitens); Smetana, 2004: 518 (subgenus Craetopycrus; synonym of nitens).
Platystethus aegyptiacus Motschulsky, 1857: 506 (Type locality: Egypt sur les bords du Nil); Fauvel, 1872: 184 [= 1873: 26] (synonym of nitens).
Platystethus angustipennis Scriba, 1868: 158 (Type locality: Florenz); Fauvel, 1872: 184 [= 1873: 26] (synonym of nitens).
Platystethus debilis Hochhuth, 1872: 161 (Type locality: Not cited, presumably from Gouvernements Kiew and/or Volhynien (Herman, 2001a: 1484)); Gusarov, 1992: 776 (synonym of nitens; lectotype designation).
Platystethus punctatus Fiori, 1915: 7 (Type locality: Carlentini, Catania); Scheerpeltz, 1933: 1108 (aberration of nitens); Herman, 2001a: 1484 (synonym of nitens).
Platystethus laevigatus Fiori, 1915: 8 (Type locality: Carlentini); Scheerpeltz, 1933: 1108 (aberration of nitens); Herman, 2001a: 1484 (synonym of nitens).
Material examined. 48 specimens, 25♂♂, 23♀♀. CHINA: 2♀♀, 1914. VI.18, E. Licent leg. [with “AE.24” or “AE.27” on the downside of each label]; 1♀, 1927. VI.29, E. Licent leg. (IZ-CAS). Beijing: 2♂♂, 1♀♀, Chaoyang Dt., Datun Township [40.00ºN 116.41ºE], 1996. IV.21, H.-Z. Zhou leg. (IZ-CAS). Yunnan: 4♂♂, 4♀♀, Yuanmo Co., Laocheng Township, Maochang Village, 2005. VII.23, Q. Li leg. (IZ-CAS). Hebei: 16♂♂, 7♀♀, Prov. Hopeh [=Hebei], Sienhsien [=Xianxian or Xian Co., 38.19ºN 116.12ºE], Platystethus nitens (Sahlb.) det. P.M.Hammond 1980; 4♀♀, 1936. IV.8–VII.2, Platystethus nitens (Sahlb.) det. P.M.Hammond 1981; 2♂♂, 2♀♀, “Liou-Sinn” (IZ- CAS). Liaoning: 1♀, Xinmin Winery [42.00ºN 122.83º2], 1959. VI.23, in vinasse, “7052”[?], Platystethus nitens (Sahlb.) det. P.M.Hammond 1980 (IZ-CAS). EGYPTE [EGYPT]: 1♂, Ismalia, Avril [April], F. Lotte leg. (IZ- CAS); 1♀, “Awriah” [?], 1936. VI.13, F. Lotte leg., Platystethus nitens Sahlb. det. anonym (IZ-CAS).
Redescription. Body shiny and brown; mandibles, maxillary palpi, antennae, elytra and legs lighter; forebody dorsal surface delicate, abdomens scarcely coriaceous. Small in size, length [average]: ♂, 2.8 mm; ♀, 2.6 mm.
Male. Head (Figs. 19 A; 20A) broadest at eyes or temples. Disc coriaceous, nearly glabrous, with punctures dense and coarse. Clypeus transverse and scarcely punctate, protruding beyond anterior border of supra-antennal ridges, with anterior margin shallowly emarginate in middle, furnished a pair of sharp and slender spines. Epistomal suture with middle portion absent, lateral portions posteromedially directed. Supra-antennal ridges moderately elevated. Vertex depressed in anterior part, slightly convex in center; mid-longitudinal suture fine, posteriorly reaching occipital suture. Eyes slightly convex, shorter than temples, with fine facets; orbital sulcus almost invisible. Long and deep longitudinal groove sculptured throughout mesial side of eye and temple; two other short grooves paralleled mesially. Temple not dilated laterally. Neck not constricted. Occipital suture slightly curved, present only in middle, with large setal fovea at each end. Mandible (Fig. 20 C) short, incurved at apex; bearing 3 prominent teeth on inner edge.
Pronotum (Figs. 19 A; 20A) slightly narrower than head or equal, widest at near anterior 1/4, with midlongitudinal sulcus present whole length, with punctures as large as but sparser than in head, with micro-striae absent; anterior margin bi-emarginate, anterior lateral angles prominent, no posterior angles; lateral and posterior margins integrated and evenly rounded, weakly crenulate in front half. Scutellar impression (Fig. 20 A) bi-reniform in anterior part. Elytra (Fig. 20 A) with posterior margin truncate, elytral suture dehiscent or partly overlapping.
Abdominal sternite VII (Figs. 19 C; 20E) with posterior margin nearly straight without modification. Sternite VIII (Figs. 19 D; 20F) tri-partitioned by 2 curved narrow sutures, middle part truncate on posterior margin, without mid-longitudinal internal ridge, lateral parts separated by middle part but touched at anterior margin, each with two teeth at mesial side of posterior margin: one sharp, one dull; basal ridge interrupted in middle and subbasal ridge with middle portion absent.
Aedeagus (Figs. 19 G–I; 20I –M) with median lobe inflated at base and gradually narrowed apically; apical orifice fissured to middle of ventral surface, edges of ventral fissure sharply protruding into a pair of long spines (not as sharp as in P. cornutus); internal sac membranous and rolling into watch-spring-shape at base. Paramere arm-like, basal arm with furrow on ventral surface; apical arm slightly explanate and furnished with one seta at apex and one smaller seta at near apical 1/3, and with pits scattered.
Female. Head and pronotum (Figs. 19 B; 20B) smaller; clypeus more protruding, anterior margin truncate with two reduced denticles; mid-longitudinal suture nearly reduced; eyes more convex; only one long groove at mesial side of eye and temple. Mandibles (Fig. 20 D) similar to male, with teeth more prominent. Pronotal anterior margin (Figs. 19 B; 20B) slightly bi-emarginate. Sternite VIII (Figs. 19 E; 20G) not partitioned, without teeth, with posterior margin gradually narrowed to middle.
Spermatheca (Figs. 19 F; 20H) comma-formed, basal part inflated into globoid, apical part thin and sharp, shorter and a little curved.
Remarks. Similar to P. rugifrons Bernhauer, but the latter without spines on the anterior margin of male clypeus, just with tiny teeth (cf. Fig. 34 F–J).
Distribution. China (Beijing, Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Ningxia, Shanghai, Yunnan); Afghanistan, Algeria, Azores, Canary Islands, Cyprus, Egypt, Europe, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Madeira, Mongolia, Morocco, Pakistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan.
description: Published as part of Lü, Liang & Zhou, Hong-Zhang, 2015, Review of the Genus Platystethus Mannerheim (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Oxytelinae) in China, pp. 151-205 in Zootaxa 3915 (2) on pages 182-185, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3915.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/245614