Domene alesiana, Assing & Feldmann, 2014

Assing, V. & Feldmann, B., 2014, On Domene scabripennis ROUGEMONT and its close relatives (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 46 (1), pp. 499-514 : 505

Domene alesiana nov.sp.

( Figs 9-17 , Map 1 )

Type material: Holotype: " TAIW. Kaohsiung Hs., Rd. abv. Tona For. Sta. , [Fork] 1850 m, 29.IV.98, A. Smetana [T191] / Holotypus Domene alesiana sp. n., det. V. Assing 2013" ( cSme). Paratypes: 1: same data as holotype (cAss); 1 [damaged: two legs missing; abdomen partly eaten by Anthrenus sp.]: "TAIW. Kaohsiung Hs., Rd. abv. Tona For. Sta., km 16-17, 1700- 1800 m, 28.IV.98, A. Smetana [ T190 ]" ( cAss) .

Etymology: This species is dedicated to Aleš Smetana (Ottawa), who collected the type material and who, through numerous field trips and publications, significantly contributed to our current knowledge of the staphylinid fauna of Taiwan.

Description: Body length 9.2-10.3 mm; length of forebody 5.4-5.9 mm. Antenna 3.5-3.7 mm long. Habitus as in Fig. 9 . Coloration: body blackish; legs blackishbrown with paler tarsi; antennae dark-brown to blackish-brown, with antennomere I blackish. Other external characters ( Figs 10-13 ) as in D. scabripennis .

: sternite VII ( Fig. 14 ) strongly transverse, with short unmodified pubescence, posterior margin broadly concave; sternite VIII ( Fig. 15 ) transverse, with shallow median depression, this depression with unmodified pubescence, posterior excision not very deep and rather broad, on either side of this excision with cluster of short black setae; aedeagus ( Figs 16-17 ) approximately 1.1 mm long; ventral process very slender and nearly straight in lateral view; dorsal plate lamellate and moderately sclerotized, with long apical and very short, weakly sclerotized basal portion.

Comparative notes: Based on the similar external characters, the similar modifications of the male sternites VII and VIII, as well as on the similar morphology of the aedeagus, D. alesiana is undoubtedly most closely related to D. scabripennis , from which it differs particularly by the distinctly darker coloration of the legs, the shallower and broader posterior excision of the male sternite VIII, as well as by the slightly different shape of the ventral process of the aedeagus.

Distribution: The known distribution is confined to the environs of Tona Forest Station, Kaohsiung Hsien, southern Taiwan ( Map 1 ). The type specimens were sifted from debris and mouldy leaf litter at bases of rock walls and along a large rotting tree in remnants of primary broadleaved forest (SMETANA pers. comm.) at altitudes between approximately 1750 and 1850 m.

Figures

Map 1: Distributions of the species of the Domene scabripennis group: D. immarginata (white circles), D. sagittata (black diamond), D. scabripennis (black triangle), D. alesiana (white triangle), and D. firmicornis (black circle).

Figs 9-17: Domene alesiana nov.sp.: (9) habitus; (10) forebody; (11) median dorsal portion of head; (12) median portion of pronotum; (13) disc of right elytron; (14) male sternite VII; (15) male sternite VIII; (16-17) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view. Scale bars: 9-10: 1.0 mm; 14-17: 0.5 mm; 11-13: 0.2 mm.