Microedus brevitarsis ( Champion, 1925 ) Shavrin, 2024

Shavrin, Alexey V., 2024, Microedus LeConte, 1874 (Coleoptera: Staphylindae: Omaliinae: Anthophagini), a new genus for the Palaearctic Region, Zootaxa 5443 (2), pp. 205-223 : 211-213

Microedus brevitarsis ( Champion, 1925) comb. n.

( Figs 2 , 16–17 )

Geodromicus brevitarsis Champion, 1925: 104 ; Cameron 1930: 162

Type material examined. Holotype of Geodromicus brevitarsus Champion, 1925 ♂ ( Fig. 2 ; dissected): ‘ ♂ ’ <printed>, ‘Shelshel, | N Kumaon, India | 15750ft. H.G.C.’ <printed>, ‘Type | H. T.’ <round label with red margin, printed>, ‘ Geodromicus | brevitarsis, | Champ.’ <printed>, ‘E.M.M. 1925. | det. G.C.C.’ <printed>, ‘ G.C.Champion | Brit.Mus. | 1925-42.’ <printed>, ‘ Microedus | brevitarsis Cam. [handwritten] | Shavrin A.V. det. 2016’ <printed> ( BMNH).

Redescription. Measurements: HW: 0.55; HL: 0.35; OL: 0.12; LT: 0.07; AL: 1.83; PL: 0.50; PWMax: 0.62; PWMin: 0.42; ESL: 0.87; EW: 0.95; MTbL: 0.72; MTrL: 0.25 (MTrL 1–4: 0.15; MTrL 5: 0.10); AW: 1.00; AedL: 0.67; BL: 3.00.

Habitus as in Fig. 2 . Body reddish-brown, with slightly paler elytra; mouthparts, antennae and legs yellow (femora slightly darker). Head with dense microreticulation, isodiametric in middle and transverse on infraorbital portions, finer in portions between antennal bases and anterior margin of eyes; neck with large isodiametric meshes; pronotum with very dense and fine isodiametric sculpture, finer in mediobasal portion; scutellum with wide transverse meshes; abdominal tergites with dense, transverse microreticulation, finer on abdominal tergites VI–VIII.

Head 1.5 times as broad as long, with slightly elevated infraorbital portions and widely U-shaped depression between eyes; medioapical depression relatively deep and wide; portion between ocelli and neck distinctly depressed; anteocellar foveae distinct, narrow and long, diagonally stretching posteriad toward level of anterior margins of eyes; temples distinctly shorter than longitudinal length of eyes. Eyes moderately small, slightly convex. Ocelli moderately large, located slightly behind level of posterior margins of eyes, distance between ocelli about one and half times as long as distance between ocellus and posterior margin of eye. Punctation very fine and dense, slightly deeper on infraorbital portions. Preapical segment of maxillary palpi significantly widened apicad, about as long as preceding segment; apical palpomere very narrow, about twice as long as preapical segment. Antennae reaching about middle length of elytra when reclined; basal antennomere moderately wide, about three times as long as broad, antennomere 2 slightly shorter and narrower than basal antennomere, 3 slightly longer and narrower than 2, 4–6 slightly shorter and wider than 3, 7–8 slightly wider than 6, 9–10 slightly shorter than 8, apical antennomere about 1.7 times as long as 10, from apical third gradually narrowed toward subacute apex.

Pronotum slightly convex, 1.2 times as broad as long, 1.1 times as broad as head, widest in anterior portion, gradually rounded toward widely rounded anterior angles and sharply narrowed posteriad toward rounded posterior angles; anterior margin widely rounded, slightly longer than indistinctly concaved posterior margin; laterobasal portions distinctly depressed. Punctation very fine and dense, indistinct in middle.

Elytra somewhat flattened, slightly broader than long, 1.7 times as long as pronotum, slightly broadened posteriad. Punctation dense, moderately deep and regular, denser around scutellum, finer and sparser along suture.

Abdomen slightly broader than elytra, with two large and transverse tomentose spots in the middle of abdominal tergite IV.

Male. Apical margins of abdominal tergite VIII and sternite VIII slightly sinuate. Aedeagus elongate, narrow, from widest point at basal bulb gradually narrowed toward preapical part of median lobe, with rounded apex; parameres slightly exceeding apex of median lobe, with four moderately short apical setae; internal sac without any visible structures ( Fig. 16 ). Lateral aspect of the aedeagus as in Fig. 17 .

Female unknown.

Comparative notes. Microedus brevitarsis can be distinguished from all Palaearctic species of the genus by the distinctly smaller pronotum slightly broader than the head, and the morphology of the narrow aedeagus without sclerotized structures of the internal sac. Based on the slightly elongate antennomeres 4–10, it is somewhat similar to the Middle Asian M. kastcheevi sp. n. and M. schilenkovi , from which it can be distinguished by the presence of distinct interocellar foveae, narrower pronotum, and the morphology of the aedeagus.

Distribution. Microedus brevitarsis is known only from the type locality in Kumaon, Uttarakhand, India.

Bionomics. The type specimen was collected at an elevation of about 4800 m a.s.l. Detailed bionomical data are unknown

Figures

FIGURES 1–5. Habitus of Microedus: 1—M. austinianus (USA: New Hampshire), 2—M. brevitarsis (holotype), 3—M. kastcheevi (paratype, Kazakhstan: Dzhungar Mts.), 4—A. schilenkovi (Russia: Altai, Korgon Mts.), 5—M. sp. (Kashmir). Scale bar: 1.0 mm.

FIGURES 14–17. Aedeagus of Microedus austinianus (Figs 14–15: Canada, Quebec, Riviere-a-Claude) and M. brevitarsis (Figs. 16–17: holotype): 14, 16—parameral view, 15, 17—lateral view. Scale bar: 0.1 mm.