Acylophorus collarti Cameron

Abstract

Acylophorus collarti Cameron (Figs 11, 41, 61, 87, 119) Acylophorus collarti Cameron, 1935: 375; Herman, 2001: 3027. Redescription. Length 6.5– 7mm. Body generally black, sometimes with dark brown abdomen or more generally dark brown. Leg colour very variable from all pale to black with red tarsi. Maxillary palpi pale with last segment darker. Antennae pale with middle segments slightly darkened to all dark. Head large (pronotum 1.6x wider than head), 1.1x longer than wide with evident temples (Fig. 11). Pigmented area of head produced in front of antennal insertion. Forehead somewhat arched. Eyes relatively small. Covered with dense micro-punctures. Dense pale pubescence behind eyes. Two pairs of interocular setae arising from foveate punctures much closer to eyes than each other. Four postocular setae visible on each side, additional seta on hind margin of eye absent. Underside of head strongly depressed at base. Mandibles with one well developed medial tooth in front of a vestigial tooth on the right and just a flange on the left (Fig. 41). Maxillary palpi with terminal segment pubescent, more rounded on outer margin than inner margin and asymmetric, sometimes slightly attenuated at apex, longer than glabrous penultimate segment which is triangular (Fig. 61). First segment of antenna as long as next five. Segments I to IV elongate, IX and X transverse (Fig. 87). Pronotum relatively narrow with sides less rounded, almost quadrate (1.05x wider than long) and widest toward basal half, covered with dense micro-punctures. One pair of dorsal setae and one pair of lateral setae. Marginal setae short. Elytra only slightly transverse (1.4x wider than long) with close, bright yellow pubescence. Asperate punctures strong as in A. orientalis. Fringe of apical bristles slightly longer than the pubescence on the rest of the elytra. Abdominal tergites with similar pubescence. Punctation on abdominal tergites finer than on elytra and becoming sparser on apical segments. Sternite IX of male with apex entire. Paramere of aedeagus bilobed, lobes slightly divergent, pegs confusedly arranged in apical inner half of each lobe, base lipped as in A. densipennis (Fig. 119). Median lobe not longer than paramere, barely expanded at apex, which is truncate. Type material. Cameron described the species from specimens collected by A. Collart on 26 th January 1929 at Blukwa (Nizi) in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Two specimens from the type series have been located and one of these is here designated as the lectotype in order to fix the identity of the species. Lectotype 3: “ Paratype / Nizi: Blukwa; 26 -I- 29; A. COLLART / TYPE / Acylophorus Collarti Cam. TYPE / LECTOTYPE Acylophorus collarti Cameron 3 det. DA Lott, 2009 ” (IRSNB); Paralectotype 1 Ƥ: “ Paratype / Nizi: Blukwa; 26 -I- 29; A. COLLART / M. Cameron Bequest B.M. 1955 - 147 / Acyl. Collarti Cam. COTYPE / PARALECTOTYPE Acylophorus collarti Cameron 3 det. DA Lott, 2009 ” (BMNH). Further material examined. CAMEROON: Northwest Province: 3km SW of Bamenda, 1300m, RL Aalbu, 5. ii. 1980, 13 (FMNH). R.D. CONGO: Nizi: Blukwa, A Collart, 10.xii. 1928 & 25.i. 1929, 132Ƥ (IRSNB). Distribution and bionomics. Only recorded from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon (Fig. 144). In Cameroon it was recorded in a stream-side thicket in afromontane forest. Comparative notes. Similar to A. densipennis by virtue of the bright yellow pubescence on the elytra, but generally larger and with smaller eyes. The apical bristles on the elytra are longer and the aedeagus is completely different. Much more similar to A. antennalis, from which it is best distinguished by the aedeagus. There may also be differences in the form of the mandibles and the maxillary palpi are narrower, but the extent of intraspecific variation in these characters is not yet understood.Published as part of Lott, Derek A., 2010, The species of Acylophorus Nordmann (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylininae) in continental sub-Saharan Africa, pp. 1-51 in Zootaxa 2402 on pages 18-19, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.27590