Aferos (s. str.) silvestris

Kazantsev, Sergey V., 2005, Review of Aferos Kazantsev (Coleoptera, Lycidae), with a note on Staepteron cyanoxanthum (Bourgeois), Zootaxa 830, pp. 1-23 : 12-14

Aferos (s. str.) silvestris sp. n. ( Figs. 24–25 )

Description

Male. Dark brown. Pronotum rufous.

Head with shallow roundish impression and inconspicuous longitudinal median groove behind antennal prominence. Antennal sockets separated by approximately half their longitudinal diameter. Eyes small (interocular distance 4.7 times as long as the radius). Labrum transverse, conspicuously convex anteriorly. Labial and maxillary palpi slender, with ultimate joints almost parallel­sided and flattened distally. Antennae extending to elytral mid­point, with antennomeres 3–11 slightly flattened and parallel­sided; antennomere 3 three times longer than antennomere 2 and 1.3 times shorter than antennomere 4; antennal pubescence sparse and decumbent.

Pronotum almost square, with prominent median areola and inconspicuous transverse carinae, more developed near lateral margins; anterior margin convex; lateral margins almost parallel­sided, very slightly incised posteriorly, with hind angles nearly right. Scutellum elongate, narrowing distally, rounded at apex.

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

Legs slender, with conspicuously curved tibiae; metacoxae produced posteriorly into acute spines; tarsomeres 1–4 with plantar pads.

Aedeagus with broad parameres; distal process of median lobe with aculeate ventral surface ( Figs. 24–25 ).

Length: 6.1 mm. Width (humerally): 1.6 mm.

Female. Unknown.

Type material

Holotype male: S. Afr., Tvl, Uitsoek , Grootkloof ind. for. 25 º 15 ' S – 30 º 33 ' E, for. litter, bef. rain, 16.XII. 1986, Endrödy­Younga leg. ( TMNH) .

Diagnosis

A. silvestris sp. n. differs from other Aferos species with uniformly black elytra by the aculeate ventral surface of the distal process of median lobe of its aedeagus ( Figs. 24–25 ).

Etymology

The name is derived from the Latin for "of woods" alluding to the fact that the new species was collected in the floor litter of an indigenous forest.

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.