Masuria smetanai PACE 1989

Assing, V., 2012, On the taxonomy of Masuria. IV. Four new species from China and Nepal, and additional records (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 44 (2), pp. 1017-1034 : 1021

Masuria smetanai PACE 1989 and M. ancoriformis ASSING 2004

C o m m e n t: A revision of all the material previously identified as A. smetanai and M. ancoriformis in the author´s collection revealed that these two species are in fact representatives of a complex of at least four species with highly similar male sexual characters. Only material from Sankhuvasabha District (previously reported as Khandbari District or Kosi) proved to be true M. smetanai , suggesting that even the paratypes of this species from Bagmati Province belong to a different species. Similarly, only specimens from Rasuwa District proved to be true M. ancoriformis . More material will have to be revised to clarify the identity of the material from other regions.

Masuria smetanai is best distinguished from the closely related described and undescribed species by the conspicuously dense punctation of the abdomen (including tergite VII), by the absence of hind wings, by the shorter elytra, and by the larger crista apicalis. Moreover, most specimens lack a palisade fringe at the posterior margin of tergite VII; in the remainder, only a rudiment of a palisade fringe is present. Masuria ancoriformis is characterised particularly by the broader pronotum with somewhat flattened, posteriorly sinuate lateral margins and sharper posterior angles, by the shorter lateral setae on the pronotum and the abdomen, as well as by the longer and more conspicuous pubescence on the abdomen.