Zeanichnus aupourianus, Jałoszyński, Paweł & Kołodziejczyk, Natalia, 2015

Jałoszyński, Paweł & Kołodziejczyk, Natalia, 2015, A new species of Zeanichnus Jałoszyński in New Zealand (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 3931 (3), pp. 443-447 : 444

Zeanichnus aupourianus sp. n.

( Figs. 1–4 )

Type material. Holotype ( NEW ZEALAND): ♂: four labels: " NEW ZEALAND ND / Te Paki / Radar Bush / 12.i.–12.ii.2007 / O. Ball" [white, printed], "Native bush. / Pitfall trap" [white, printed], "N.Z. Arthropod / Collection, NZAC / Private Bag 92170 / AUCKLAND / New Zealand " [yellow, printed]; " ZEANICHNUS / aupourianus Jałoszyński & Kołodziejczyk / HOLOTYPUS / det. P. Jałoszyński, '15" [red, printed] ( NZAC).

Diagnosis. Antennae gradually thickening distally; aedeagus slender with long lateral groups of needle-like sclerites and strongly elongated ventral apical projection.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 1 ) strongly convex, elongate and slender, with long appendages, BL 1.28 mm; cuticle glossy, uniformly yellowish-brown with slightly lighter maxillary palps; vestiture yellowish.

Head approximately subtriangular, broadest at eyes, HL 0.25 mm, HW 0.25 mm; tempora only slightly shorter than eyes; vertex distinctly transverse and weakly, evenly convex, anteriorly confluent with frons; frons convex; supraantennal tubercles barely marked; eyes large and strongly convex, slightly oval and oblique in relation to the long axis of head. Punctures on dorsum of head inconspicuous under magnification 80×; setae short, very sparse, suberect. Antennae slender, gradually thickened distally, AnL 0.60 mm; antennomeres I–III strongly elongate, IV slightly elongate, V–VIII each about as long as broad; IX and X distinctly transverse, XI 1.5× as long as broad.

Pronotum in dorsal view with large and oval anterior part broadest near anterior third of PL and short posterior collar sharply demarcated by distinct constriction, PL 0.33 mm, PW 0.28 mm; anterior margin weakly arcuate, lateral margins strongly rounded in anterior third, posterior constriction with margins distinctly divergent posteriorly; posterior margin arcuate; hind pronotal corners indistinctly marked, blunt and obtuse-angled; posterior collar dorsally distinctly demarcated by shallow, narrow and arcuate transverse groove connecting one pair of shallow and indistinct lateral antebasal pits, groove extends laterally beyond pits onto pronotal sides. Punctures on pronotal disc as inconspicuous as those on frons and vertex; setae long, sparse and suberect to erect.

Elytra oval and about as convex as pronotum, broadest between middle and anterior third, EL 0.70 mm, EW 0.48 mm, EI 1.47; humeral calli distinct, developed as elongate protuberances; elytral apices separately rounded. Punctures on elytral disc fine but distinctly larger and denser than those on head and pronotum, shallow and with diffused margins; setae about as long as those on pronotum but denser, suberect. Hind wings well-developed, twice as long as elytra.

Legs long and slender; all tibiae straight or nearly straight.

Aedeagus ( Figs. 2–3 ) elongate, slender, AeL 0.28 mm, median lobe in ventral view broadest near base and narrowing distally, with abruptly narrowed apical part; ventral apical projection narrow and long, curved ventrally; endophallus with two subapical lateral groups of dense slender sclerites and complicated median and sub-basal armature; parameres slender, each with one long apical seta.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. North-west tip of North Island, New Zealand ( Fig. 4 ).

Etymology. After the Aupouri Peninsula.

Remarks. Zeanichnus aupourianus has the smallest adults of three species known to occur in New Zealand (BL 1.28 mm vs. 1.53 mm in Z. insignis and 1.80 mm in Z. kuschelianus ). Besides the unique aedeagus, Z. aupourianus can readily be distinguished from its two congeners on the basis of the strongly elongate pronotum, much longer than that of Z. insignis and Z. kuschelianus , and the brown pigmentation without a reddish hue.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Distribution of Zeanichnus species in New Zealand.

FIGURES 1 – 3. Zeanichnus aupourianus, holotype male. Dorsal habitus (1), aedeagus in ventral (2) and lateral (3) views.