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Notaferrum natalensis (Pic, 1906) n. comb. (Figs 1-4) Ptinus elegans P��ringuey, 1904: 225. Ptinus natalensis Pic, 1906: 227. MATERIAL EXAMINED. ��� Holotype. South Africa ��� 1 ♀; [Natal] Isipingo beach; I.1899; SAM type Acc. No.1261. ADDITIONAL LABEL DATA. ��� ���Type��� (red label); ���natalensis���; ��� Lectotypus, Ptinus elegans, P��ringuey, des J. Borowski ���98 (SAMC)���. Abdominal ventrites on a separate card. OTHER MATERIAL. ��� South Africa ��� 1 ♂; Kwazulu-Natal, iSimangaliso Wetland Park [Previously known as Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park], Sodwana Bay campgrounds; 27.54��S, 32.67��E; c. 40 m; 21- 24.X.2014; R. Stals leg.; Vegetation type: FOz Northern Coastal Forest; SANC ��� 1 ♀; Natal, Charters Creek, St. Lucia; 28.12��S, 32.25��E; 14-16.I.1981; R. Oberprieler leg.; from nest of Oecophylla longinoda; AcP. 8497; SANC. DIAGNOSIS. ��� The generic diagnosis together with the white scale setal pattern on the elytra (Fig. 1) should distinguish this taxon, if other species within this genus are discovered in the future. SPECIES REDESCRIPTION Body Color dark brown to black on head, pronotum, and elytra. Body small and elongate. Length 3.4 �� 0.33 mm (n = 3). Head (Fig. 2) Head covered in punctures, large shallow irregular and contiguous mediolaterally, medially finer, longitudinally elongate; scattered, white small appressed scales; antennae dark brown, antennomeres 1-8 with moderately dense white appressed scales, first antennomere largest, second small as long as wide, remaining antennomeres longer than wide. Pronotum Pronotum mostly smooth with very fine alutaceous sculpture, glabrous except anterior �� with round and elongate scattered punctures; pair of medial vertical ridges approximately broadly rounded from anterior to posterior dorsal edge, then declivous to base just past middle, short thin yellow setae scattered on top of ridges; three tubercles on each lateral edge, anterior tubercle rounded, middle concave triangular, somewhat ear-shaped, posterior tubercle small, pointed, recumbent clumped orange trichome setae on lateral edge in between and around tubercles; a broadly rounded U-shaped smooth impression; posterior margin of pronotum narrow anterior of scutellum. Elytra Elytral surface covered in rows of round to elongate punctures separately longitudinally by half or less their length, puncture rows separated by about 1.5-2.0 times their diameters, 1 st and 2nd rows slightly obliquely oriented, 3rd and 4th less so; humeral angles raised; scutellum triangular, lateral edges below elytral surface; interpuncture rows of small recumbent dull pale orange setae; white scales forming an irregular transverse band at anterior 1/3, extending medially in an irregular longitudinal band from anterior transverse band to posterior 1/3, lateral clump of setae on each elytron at about posterior 1/3, transverse band of setae at apex and sometimes extending anteriorly along suture. Ventrites Ventral surface reddish to dark brown, covered in small white appressed scales mostly covering surface; proventrite smooth, mesoventrite with irregularly shaped, glabrous indentation at middle; lateral edge of fourth ventrite and apical edge of fifth ventrite with scattered fine yellowish setae. Legs Legs reddish to dark brown, covered in white scales as on ventral surface; 1 st tarsomere longer than wide, others short in length and width, internal surface of tarsomeres covered in fine gold recumbent setae. Sexual dimorphism Antennomeres 6-11 in the maledistinctly more elongate compared to those seen in the female. Male genitalia with elongate narrow parameres with a thick median lobe that is about the same length as the parameres. DISCUSSION There is little doubt that Notaferrum n. gen. shares close common ancestry especially with Silisoptinus Pic, 1917 (see Bell��s 1988, 2009) and more distantly with Eutaphrimorphus Pic, 1898 (see Bell��s 1992). All three genera are hypothesized to compose a single monophyletic lineage based on the possession of a very distinct and similarly shaped large medial smooth and flattened U-shaped shallow depression with a broadly rounded posterior border located medially at the base of the pronotum. Further similarity in these three genera is the anteriorly expanded prosternum that covers in part the ventral portion of the head, a feature that may have evolved to help protect mouthparts, most likely from ants. There are additional taxa from the Americas and southeast Asia (e.g. Prosternoptinus Bell��s, 1985, and Sundaptinus Bell��s, 1991) that also share this feature but based on other characteristics are not closely related (Mynhardt et al. unpublished). Another similarity between Notaferrum n. gen. and Silisoptinus is the greatly reduced fourth abdominal ventrite (c. �� the length of the third). Further is the strong declivity on the third ventrite that slopes dramatically down to the fourth. In contrast, Eutaphrimorphus has a more typical spider beetle abdomen with the fourth reduced (c. half the length of the third) and the ventrites are all in roughly the same plane. Notable differences of Notaferrum n. gen. with the other two genera is the lack of two short knobs near the pronotal base positioned laterally. They are very pronounced in Eutaphrimorphus while in Silisoptinus they are smaller and of various shapes depending upon the species. Eutaphrimorphus has two additional knobs positioned more centrally as well. These additional projections are also seen in at least one species of Silisoptinus but are much less pronounced and relatively gently rounded. Both Notaferrum n. gen. and Silisoptinus also exhibit depression(s) on the ventral surface that are lacking in Eutaphrimorphus; in Notaferrum n. gen., it is located only on the metaventrite near the middle and is similar to at least two other species of Silisoptinus (Bell��s 1988) including one undescribed (Philips unpublished). But the two described species of Silisoptinus also have a single depression on the abdomen while two undescribed (Philips unpublished) have either only a single depression on the metaventrite or both very weakly developed depressions on both the metaventrite and abdomen. Silisoptinus species are known from the eastern side of the African continent (Zanzibar and Socotra Islands) as well as Ghana (Philips unpublished) while Eutaphrimorphus is known only from South Africa. Also possibly related to Notaferrum n. gen. is Dignomus Wollaston, 1862, and the flightless Pseudomezium Pic, 1897, with the latter representing a flightless Dignomus (Philips unpublished and see Smiley & Philips 2011). These genera together with Silisoptinus and Eutaphrimorphus may form a monophyletic clade or at least with some close common ancestry. Dignomus as currently defined has a diverse set of pronotal modifications (Bell��s 1996; Smith & Philips unpublished) and may not form a monophyletic clade. But the overall similarity of the pronotum having an anterior and posterior lobe laterally and without much lateral projection in both Notaferrum n. gen. and Dignomus (plus Pseudomezium) is notable. One other characteristic feature of the new genus is the presence of a transverse posterior pronotal groove of various degrees and shapes. Many other spider beetle taxa also possess a basal groove of various shapes including the African genera Eutaphrimorphus Pic, 1898, Silisoptinus Pic, 1917, Eutaphroptinus Borowski, 2009, Dignomus Wollaston, 1862, Pseudomezium Pic, 1897, Dignomorphus Borowksi, 2009, as well as some species of the non-African Ptinus (e.g. P. espanyoli Bell��s, 1997), Tropicoptinus Bell��s, 1998, and members of Trymolophus Bell��s, 1990. DISTRIBUTION Notaferrum natalensis n. gen., n. comb. is known only from KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa (Fig. 4). The current range is a little over 300 km in length, and all records are within 30 km of the coast.This distribution is within the Maputuland-Pondoland-Albany hotspot, one of three biodiversity hotspots in South Africa. Maputuland-Pondoland-Albany is notable in particular for its high plant endemism and is the second richest floristic region in South Africa (Myers et al. 2000). As the distribution of the weaver ant Oecophylla longinoda extends from Southern Africa through Eastern and Western Africa (Bolton 1995), one might expect the distribution of Notaferrum natalensis n. gen., n. comb. to be much larger. BIOLOGY Notaferrum natalensis n. gen., n. comb. is hypothesized to be a myrmecophile, as one individual was collected in a weaver ant nest (Oecophylla longinoda, Fig. 3B). There are no other spider beetles known to be associated with Oecophylla ants anywhere in the world. Only one other southern African genus appears to be a true symphile; Diplocotidus P��ringuey, 1899 includes three species currently known from South Africa and Namibia (Bell & Philips 2008). Unlike this new genus, species are wingless and found in arid or semiarid regions and are associated with ground nesting ants. The food type of Notaferrum natalensis n. gen., n. comb. is unclear, but it may feed on nest detritus, as most species of spider beetles feed on accumulated organic matter, particularly dung and detritus., Published as part of Gearner, Olivia M. & Philips, T. Keith, 2021, Notaferrum n. gen. (Coleoptera: Ptinidae): the first known spider beetle associated with weaver ants, pp. 29-36 in Zoosystema 43 (2) on pages 31-34, DOI: 10.5252/zoosystema2021v43a2, http://zenodo.org/record/4464304, {"references":["PIC M. 1906. - Sur divers Ptinides et Anobiides [Col.]. Bulletin de la Societe entomologique de France 11: 227 - 228.","PERINGUEY L. 1904. - Sixth contribution to the South African coleopterous fauna. Annals of the South African Museum 3: 167 - 300.","BELLES X. 1988. - El genero Silisoptinus Pic, 1917 (Coleoptera, Ptinidae). Miscellania Zoologica 12: 371 - 374.","BELLES X. 2009. - Spider beetles (Coleoptera, Ptinidae) from the Socotra Archipelago. Fauna of Arabia 24: 145 - 154.","BELLES X. 1992. - El genere Eutaphrimorphus Pic (Coleoptera: Ptinidae) de l'Africa austral. Butlleti de la Institucio Catalana d'Historia Natural 60: 129 - 132.","SMILEY M. E. & PHILIPS T. K. 2011. - Review of the South African spider beetle genus, Pseudomezium Pic, 1897 (Coleoptera: Ptinidae: Ptininae). African Entomology 19: 572 - 596.","BELLES X. 1996. - El genero Dignomus Wollaston (Coleoptera, Ptinidae). Bolleti de la Societat d'Historia Natural de Balears 39: 209 - 228.","BOROWSKI J. 2009 a. - The spider beetles of the continental Africa (Coleoptera: Ptinidae). Part I-Genus Mezium Curtis. Studies and Reports of the District Museum Prague-East Taxonomical Series 5: 1 - 10.","MYERS N., MITTERMEIER R., MITTERMEIER C., DA FONSECA G. A. B & KENT J. 2000. - Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature 403: 853 - 858. https: // doi. org / 10.1038 / 35002501","BOLTON B. 1995. - A New General Catalogue of the Ants of the World. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 504 p.","BELL K. L. & PHILIPS T. K. 2008. - A revision of the South African myrmecophile Diplocotidus (Coleoptera: Ptinidae). African Entomology 16: 33 - 40. https: // doi. org / 10.4001 / 1021 - 3589 - 16.1.33"]}

Genus Notaferrum n. gen. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: A9D794F8-7079-4544-A08D-FCE368A035B5 TYPE SPECIES. ��� Ptinus natalensis Pic, 1906 by original designation. ETYMOLOGY. ��� Notaferrum n. gen. is derived from the Greek nota for back and the Latin ferrum for blade in reference to the longitudinal blade-like ridges on the pronotum. DIAGNOSIS. ��� This genus can be recognized by the pair of longitudinal blade-like ridges located medially on the pronotum as well as a transverse, flattened, and U-shape depression with sides diverging anteriorly at the basal 2/5 of the pronotum. GENERIC DESCRIPTION Body Small, length approximately 3.4 mm, elongate. Head Eyes convex, ovoid, slightly projecting, visible dorsally; vertex flat at middle; antennal fossae deep and distinct medially and ventrally, antennae long, filiform, 11 antennomeres; interantennal space between antennal insertions narrow, with a longitudinal groove; clypeus triangular, concave; labrum appearing truncate, maxillary and labial palpomeres fusiform. Pronotum Two thin longitudinal ridges positioned on either side of midline; two lateral tubercles on either side of the pronotum, flanking a transverse groove, basally forming a large posterior flat U-shaped depression with sides diverging anteriorly; anterior margin with deep irregular punctures. Elytra With longitudinal rows of punctures; interpuncture rows of small setae; scattered scale-like setae. Thoracic ventrites Proventrite small, about as long as wide; anteriorly, ventrally expanded to partially cover mouthparts, proventral process extending beyond procoxae, expanded anteriorly, tip truncate; mesoventrite U-shaped, surrounding proventral process apex, much wider than long, metaventrite large, wider than mesoventrite. Abdominal ventrites First three ventrites large, each as long or longer than 4th and 5th combined, fourth very short, fifth smaller than first three but much longer than fourth. Sutures visible between all ventrites; fifth ventrite distinctly transversely concave. Legs Femora expanded apically, tibia similar in length to femora; first tarsomere largest; metacoxae with posterior extension lateral to the trochanter; pro-, mesocoxae conical shaped, moderately projecting, metacoxae transverse, extending laterally to elytral margin. Sexual dimorphism Male antennomeres 6-11 distinctly more elongate than those of the female. Eye size in both sexes approximately equal., Published as part of Gearner, Olivia M. & Philips, T. Keith, 2021, Notaferrum n. gen. (Coleoptera: Ptinidae): the first known spider beetle associated with weaver ants, pp. 29-36 in Zoosystema 43 (2) on pages 30-31, DOI: 10.5252/zoosystema2021v43a2, http://zenodo.org/record/4464304, {"references":["PIC M. 1906. - Sur divers Ptinides et Anobiides [Col.]. Bulletin de la Societe entomologique de France 11: 227 - 228."]}