Philothis (Atavinus) atavus
Creators: name: Lackner, Tomáš
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Histeridae
Philothis
Philothis atavus

description: Philothis (Atavinus) atavus (Reichardt, 1931)
(Figs. 6, 33, 40, 64, 98, 129, 543–558)
Philothis atavus Reichardt, 1931: 308, Figs. 1–4.
Philothis atavus: REICHARDT (1941): 338, 340, 409, Figs. 176 A,B; KRYZHANOVSKIJ & REICHARDT (1976): 248, Fig. 484; MAZUR (1984): 109.
Philothis (Atavinus) atavus: OLEXA (1990): 148, Figs. 2, 32–33; MAZUR (1997): 269; MAZUR (2004): 96.
Type locality. Uzbekistan, Termez.
Type material examined. HOLOTYPE: spec., ‘Termes, Buchara / 31.v.1926 / Shestoperov [written] // Termez / 31.v.[19]26 [written] // Philothis / atavus / sp. n. / Monotypus / A. Reichardt det [printed-written] // Holotypus [red label, printed] // golden round label’ (ZIN).
Additional material examined. TURKMENISTAN: Ashgabat, 16.iv.1980, 1 spec., A.Olexa lgt. UZBEKISTAN: Buchara, Kyzylkum, 28.iv.1978, 2 ♁♁, A. Olexa lgt.; Chiva [= Khiva], Karakum, 1.–5.v.1979, 1 spec., A. Olexa lgt. (TLAN).
Redescription. Body length: PEL: 1.875–2.25 mm; APW: 0.75–1.0 mm; PPW: 1.7–1.875 mm; EL: 1.375–1.5 mm; EW: 1.875 –2.075 mm.
Body (Figs. 543–544) roundly oval, moderately convex from above, underside very convex, cuticle dark brown with conspicuous greenish-bronze metallic luster; legs, mouthparts rufous, antennal club yellow.
Antennal scape (Fig. 546), with numerous long setae; 8 th segment (Figs. 6, 545) cupuliform, surrounding basal half of the club; club (Fig. 545) comparatively small, without visible articulation, apical third (roughly) imbricate with dense curved short sensilla intermingled with somewhat sparser straight thicker sensilla, concealing two round apical sensory areas; basal two-thirds (roughly) glabrous; sensory structures of antennal club (Fig. 33) in form of one apical sensory area and one stipe-shaped vesicle situated under it, supplemented by another vague sensory area under apical surface of club.
Mouthparts. Mandibles (Fig. 98) with straight outer margin strongly curved inwards; mandibular apex acute; sub-apical tooth on left mandible moderately large, almost perpendicular; disc of labrum (Fig. 64) slightly emarginate medially, almost smooth; epipharynx almost completely hidden under labral fold (Fig. 40); terminal labial palpomere elongated, its width about one-third its length; mentum (Fig. 548) sub-trapezoid, finely imbricate with tiny median notch (Fig. 129); anterior margin with dense brush of long ramose setae, lateral margins with a row of slightly shorter setae, disc of mentum with several ramose setae, approximately as long as those of anterior margin; cardo of maxilla (Fig. 548) on lateral margin with numerous short ramose setae; stipes (Fig. 548) triangular, with numerous much longer ramose setae; terminal maxillary palpomere elongated, its width about one-third its length, approximately twice as long as penultimate.
Clypeus (Fig. 546) rectangular, rounded laterally, smooth; frontal stria complete, slightly weakened medially, continued as complete and carinate supraorbital stria; frontal disc (Fig. 546) almost smooth, only with scattered microscopic punctation; eyes very flattened, invisible from above.
Pronotal sides (Fig. 543) strongly convergent anteriorly, apical angles acute, anterior pronotal margin with a shallow incision for head, straight almost medially; marginal pronotal stria well impressed, carinate laterally, broadly interrupted behind head; pronotal disc moderately convex, with irregular wrinkles and curved lines becoming coarser laterally, wrinkles intermingled with shallow scattered punctures; lateral and anterior margins of pronotum with narrow smooth band; pronotal base with a row of dense elongate punctures; pronotal hypomeron with long yellow setae; scutellum small, but visible.
Elytral humeri weakly developed, glabrous, elytral epipleura with sparse fine punctures, almost smooth; marginal epipleural stria complete, thin; marginal elytral stria well impressed, slightly carinate on outer side, continued as complete apical elytral stria. Humeral elytral stria finely impressed on basal third, occasionally doubled; inner subhumeral stria short, present medially, sometimes basally joining humeral elytral stria; elytral base without bulge; disc with five developed dorsal elytral striae 1–5, striae (except for the 5 th stria) in shallow round punctures; first dorsal elytral stria the longest, reaching about three-fourths of elytral length apically, striae 2–5 about the same length, reaching about elytral half apically; fourth dorsal elytral stria basally connected with complete sutural elytral stria, which is apically connected with the apical elytral stria and on basal half somewhat distanced from elytral suture. Elytral disc with dense round, shallow punctation, punctures separated by about their own to twice their diameter, becoming confluent apically, punctation becomes sparser anteriorly and laterally, elytral flanks almost smooth; interspace between sutural elytral stria and elytral suture impunctate; a complementary thin stria runs along elytral suture, reaching about half of elytral length apically.
Propygidium completely exposed, about half as long as broad, with dense, large, confluent shallow punctures becoming sparser and smaller laterally; pygidium slightly convex, about as long as broad, medially with confluent shallow punctation, similar to that of propygidium, punctures become much sparser and smaller laterally.
Anterior margin of prosternum (Fig. 549) obtuse-angulate; marginal prosternal stria anteriorly absent; prosternal process substrigulate, densely setose, gradually sloping down anteriorly; both sets of prosternal striae absent.
Anterior marginal stria of mesoventrite slightly emarginate medially, discal marginal mesoventral stria complete, carinate, slightly weakened medially; disc of mesoventrite with scattered shallow punctures; meso-metaventral sutural stria well impressed, carinate, undulate; intercoxal disc of metaventrite convex, with scattered microscopic punctures, along posterior margin a band of coarser and denser punctation appears; lateral metaventral stria (Fig. 550) shortened, carinate, almost straight; lateral disc of metaventrite concave, with dense round moderately deep punctures, fringed with long setae; metepisternum + fused metepimeron (Fig. 550) very setose, punctation almost unrecognizable beneath the setae.
Intercoxal disc of first abdominal sternite completely striate laterally; disc smooth; lateral disc of all visible abdominal sternites setose laterally.
Protibia (Fig. 551) moderately dilated, anterior margin truncate, formed by anterior margin of distal-most large triangular tooth; outer margin of protibia apart from this tooth with another, somewhat shorter triangular tooth, both teeth topped with short rounded blunt denticle; setae of outer row confined to basal third, thick, sparse and moderately long; setae of median row much shorter than those of outer row but more regular; protarsal groove inconspicuous; apical margin of protibia posteriorly without denticles; outer part of posterior surface of protibia with carinate rugae, distinctly separated from smooth median part of posterior surface by costiform stria; posterior protibial stria shortened apically; inner margin of protibia with long lamelliform dense setae; protibial spur rudimentary, almost invisible, entombed in apical margin of protibia; protarsus absent.
Mesotibia somewhat dilated, not particularly thickened, outer margin with one double row of sparse, morphologically different short denticles significantly growing in size and density near tarsal insertion, denticles continuous ventrally along apical margin; setae of outer row moderately long, dense, thickened; setae of median row dense and long, covering almost entire posterior mesotibial surface; posterior mesotibial stria shortened, present only on basal half; mesotibial spur conspicuously long and stout; outer part of median surface of mesotibia almost smooth, only with scattered microscopic punctation; anterior mesotibial stria carinate, almost complete; inner margin of mesotibia with moderately dense row of long lamelliform setae; mesotarsus telescope-like, diameter of tarsomeres diminishing apically, each tarsomere with two long lamelliform strongly sclerotized setae, one posteriorly and one anteriorly; claws of apical mesotarsomeres thin, hair-like, several times as long as mesotarsomeres itself. Metatibia conspicuously triangularly dilated, outer margin with double row (short, blunt, dense and sparser, much longer denticles) of morphologically different denticles, another row of short sparser round denticles markedly shifted from it, present on anterior surface of metatibia and only observable from ventral view. Posterior surface of metatibia with dense rows of short setae, distinction between outer and median row unclear; posterior metatibial stria inconspicuous (absent?); metatibia otherwise similar to mesotibia.
Male genitalia. Eighth sternite (Figs. 552–553) conspicuously narrowing apically, longitudinally fused medially, apically with tiny inflatable membrane (velum); fringed with few short setae; eighth tergite and eighth sternite fused laterally (Fig. 546). Morphology of 9 th tergite (Figs. 555–556) typical for the subfamily; spiculum gastrale (Fig. 555) expanded on both ends; tenth tergite conspicuously small. Basal piece of aedeagus (Figs. 557–558) rather short, ratio of its length: length of parameres ca 1: 5; aedeagus slender along its entire length; parameres fused along their basal four-fifths; aedeagus gently sinuate from lateral view (Fig. 558).
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 172-176, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4272127