Zyras (incertae sedis) coloratus CAMERON, 1939

Assing, Volker, 2017, On Zyras sensu strictu in the East Palaearctic and Oriental regions, with a focus on the faunas of the Himalaya, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Sulawesi (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Lomechusini), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 67 (1), pp. 117-192 : 168-169

Zyras (incertae sedis) coloratus CAMERON, 1939

Zyras (Pella?) coloratus CAMERON, 1939a: 545 f.

Type material examined: Syntypes: 1 ♀: “Dehra Dun, Dr. M. Cameron, 8-8-1921 / at light [overleaf] / Z. coloratus Cam Type / M. Cameron. Bequest. B.M. 1955-147 / Syntype / Syntype Zyras ( Pella ?) coloratus Cameron, 1939 , Det. Maruyama 2002 / 3-A” ( BMNH); 1 ♀: same data, but “9-9.1922” ( BMNH) .

Comment: The original description is based on an unspecified number of syntypes from “Dehra Dun” ( CAMERON 1939a). Two syntypes, both of them females, were found in the Cameron collection at the BMNH. While CAMERON (1939a) tentatively assigned the species to Pella STEPHENS, 1835, HLAVÁČ et al. (2011) list it as Zyras s. str. An examination of the type specimens revealed that they significantly differ in so many respects (habitus, morphology of antennae, punctation pattern, absence of non-setiferous punctation, short legs, etc.) from Zyras s. str. that they are treated as incertae sedis here.

Redescription: Body subparallel and somewhat depressed, in habitus and punctation somewhat resembling a species of Tomoglossa KRAATZ, 1856 . Body length 4.5–4.7 mm; length of forebody 1.7–2.0 mm. Coloration: head reddish-brown to brown; pronotum reddish-yellow; elytra pale-reddish, noticeably darker than pronotum; abdomen: tergites II–V uniformly palereddish or weakly infuscate in the middle, VI–VIII brown; legs pale-yellowish; antennae pale reddishbrown; maxillary palpi yellowish, with palpomere III slightly darker.

Head distinctly transverse; punctation coarse and dense, somewhat sparser in median portion. Eyes much longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna short and strongly incrassate apically, 1.2 mm long; antennomeres IV–X disc-shaped, approximately three times as broad as long, XI large and longer than the combined length of IX and X.

Pronotum approximately 1.3 times as broad as long and approximately 1.2 times as broad as head; punctation coarse and very dense.

Elytra approximately 0.9 times as long as pronotum; punctation similar to that of pronotum. Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I approximately as long as the combined length of II and III.

Abdomen approximately as broad as elytra, not distinctly tapering posteriad, segments III–VII of subequal width; non-setiferous punctation absent; tergites III–V with very shallow anterior impressions, very sparsely and finely punctate in anterior half and less finely and less sparsely punctate in posterior half; tergites VI–VII sparsely and very finely punctate anteriorly and less finely punctate and more densely punctate in posterior portion; tergite VIII with more distinct and denser punctation than tergites III–VII; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

♂: unknown.

Comparative notes: In body shape, Z. coloratus is somewhat similar to Z. angkoricola (see below), from which Z. coloratus is readily distinguished by much coarser and denser punctation of the forebody alone.

Distribution: This species is currently known only from its type locality in Himachal Pradesh, North India.