Aferos (s. str.) transvaalensis, Kazantsev, Sergey V., 2005

Kazantsev, Sergey V., 2005, Review of Aferos Kazantsev (Coleoptera, Lycidae), with a note on Staepteron cyanoxanthum (Bourgeois), Zootaxa 830, pp. 1-23 : 14-15

Aferos (s. str.) transvaalensis sp. n. ( Figs. 26–28 )

Description

Male. Dark brown to black. Pronotum rufous.

Head with shallow roundish impression and inconspicuous longitudinal median groove behind antennal prominence. Antennal sockets separated by approximately their longitudinal diameter. Eyes small (interocular distance nearly 6 times as long as the radius). Labrum transverse, slightly convex anteriorly. Labial and maxillary palpi slender, with ultimate joints almost parallel­sided and flattened distally. Antennae attaining to elytral third, with antennomeres 3–11 flattened and parallel­sided; antennomere 3 2.5 times wider and longer than antennomere 2 and about twice as short as antennomere 4; antennal pubescence sparse and decumbent.

Pronotum slightly (1.1 times) wider than long, with conspicuous median areola and relatively inconspicuous transverse carinae, more prominent near lateral margins; anterior margin slightly convex; lateral margins almost parallel­sided, slightly incised posteriorly, with hind angles nearly right. Scutellum elongate, narrowing distally, finely emarginate at apex.

Elytra long, 3.1 times longer than wide at humeri and 4 times longer than pronotum, slightly narrowing posteriorly, with 4 equally developed primary costae; interstices with double rows of relatively irregular subquadrate cells. Minute and sparse pubescence distributed along longitudinal costae.

Legs relatively robust, with conspicuously curved tibiae; tarsomeres 1–4 provided with plantar pads.

Aedeagus with outwardly hooked parameres ( Figs. 26–28 ).

Length: 5.2 –6.0 mm. Width (humerally): 1.5–1.6 mm.

Female. Similar to male, but antennae shorter.

Type material

Holotype male: Transvaal, Drakensberg Mts. , 8 mi W of Klaserie, 1000 m, 29.III. 19 (58), E. S. Ross & R. E. Leech coll. ( CAS); paratype female: Transvaal, Drakensberg Mts. , 12 mi W of Klaserie, 1275 m, 29.III. 19 (58), E. S. Ross & R. E. Leech coll. ( CAS).

Diagnosis

A. transvaalensis sp. n. differs from all other Aferos species with uniformly black elytra by the outwardly hooked parameres of its aedeagus ( Figs. 26–28 ).

Etymology

Named after the type locality.

Figures

FIGURES 22 – 28. Aedeagi of Aferos spp. 22 — A. (s. str.) rubellus sp. n., ventrally; 23 — same, laterally; 24 — A. (s. str.) silvestris sp. n., ventrally; 25 — same, laterally; 26 — A. (s. str.) transvaalensis sp. n., ventrally; 27 — same, laterally; 28 — same, dorsally.