Two new sympatric species of Songius from Mount Fanjing, Southwest China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae)
Yin Zi-Wei, Hu Zheng-Kun
Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 63(2): 297-304, 2023
Published online: 5th November 2023
Views: 1232
Abstract: The ant-loving beetle genus Songius Yin & Li, 2010 (Coleoptera:
Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae: Batrisini) is rarely collected due to a cryptic
myrmecophilous lifestyle, and its diversity remains insufficiently explored.
Here we describe two new sympatrically distributed species from Mount Fanjing,
Guizhou Province, Southwest China. Songius brevisetus sp. nov. is characterized
by the relatively parallel-sided body with a densely setose integument, and
different forms of the spines/projections of the legs and the aedeagus. Songius
hubenqii sp. nov. differs in the shiny, almost asetose body segments and
antennomeres 1–6, the mesofemora lacking tubercles and bearing long bristles
on the ventral margins, and a different form of the aedeagus. A re-examination
of the types and additional material supported the conclusion that S. hlavaci
Zhao, Yin & Li, 2010 is a widely distributed species in eastern, central
and southwestern China, leading to the placement of S. pseudohlavaci Yin &
Li 2015, syn. nov. from Hunan as its junior synonym; and the species is newly
recorded from Fujian and Chongqing. An updated key and a distribution map for
the genus are provided.
Key words: Ant-loving beetles, distribution map, identification key, myrmecophily, new record, new synonym, taxonomy, Guizhou, China