Veraphis qinghaiensis, Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2012

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2012, Two new species of Veraphis Casey (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae) from China, Zootaxa 3322, pp. 63-68 : 64-67

Veraphis qinghaiensis sp. n.

( Figs. 1 , 3 , 5, 6 )

Type material. Holotype: CHINA (Qinghai Prov.): ɗ, two labels: " CHINA: Qinghai Prov. [ CH 11-08a] \ Daban Shan, 60 km NW Honggu \ 36°49'10.7''N, 102°31'22.8''E, 2366- \ 2400 m, mixed forest (Betula, Populus, \ Picea ), dead wood, litter, sifted \ 11.VII.2011, leg. M. Schülke" [white, printed]; " VERAPHIS \ qinghaiensis m. \ det. P. Jałoszyński, '12 \ HOLOTYPUS " [red, printed] (cMS). Paratypes (24 exx.: 13 ɗɗ, 11 &&): 6 ɗɗ, 3 &&, same data as holotype; 2 ɗɗ, sama data except for 25.VI.2011; 3 ɗɗ, 2 &&, " CHINA: Qinhai Prov. [ CH 11-22] \ Daban Shan, 25 km ESE Menyuan \ 37°16'21.6''N, 101°52'37.4''E \ 2795 m, loamy field edges, \ 6.VII.2011, leg. M. Schülke" [white, printed]; 1 ɗ, 6 &&, " CHINA: Qinghai Prov. [ CH 11-19] \ road 301, km 180, 43 km ESE Men \ Yuan, 37°09'32.6''N, 102°02'06.0''E, \ 2704 m, creek valley with Picea, Salix , \ Populus, Betula, litter and moss sifted \ 5.VII.2011, leg. M. Schülke' [white, printed]; 1 ɗ, " CHINA: Qinghai Prov. [ CH 11-09] \ Daban Shan, 62 km NNW Honggu, \ creek valley, Picea, Populus, Betula \ forest, 36°51'15.-28''N, 102°36'34- \ 37'07''E, 2236-2350 m, litter, dead wood \ & moss sifted, 26.VI.2011, leg. M. Schülke" [white, printed]. All paratypes additionally with yellow printed label " VERAPHIS \ qinghaiensis m. \ det. P. Jałoszyński, '12 \ PARATYPUS "; deposited in cMS and cPJ.

Diagnosis. Male protrochanter with subrectangular apex; aedeagus in ventral view with slightly asymmetrical, shallowly emarginate apex and distinct, strongly asymmetrical internal armature located subapically, in lateral view median lobe distinctly curved in basal half and straight, parallel-sided in distal half. Females unremarkable, on the basis of morphological characters can be identified only by direct comparison to males, preferably when collected together.

Description. BL 1.40–1.48 mm (mean 1.44 mm). Body of male ( Fig. 1 ) weakly convex, slender, light brown, covered with yellowish vestiture, legs and antennae slightly lighter.

Head broadest at large, strongly convex eyes, HL 0.16–0.18 mm (mean 0.17 mm), HW 0.24–0.25 mm (mean 0.24 mm); vertex with distinct pair of median pits, each prolonged by shallow longitudinal groove running anterad and becoming gradually shallower and broader to disappear at posterior margins of barely marked supraantennal tubercles; frons flattened, clypeus steeply lowering anteriorly, flattened; sides of vertex and frons confluent and distinctly more convex than median area. Punctures on head dorsum fine and indistinct; setae short, sparse and suberect. Antennae slender, AnL 0.53–0.58 mm (mean 0.55 mm), antennomere I 2.2 × as long as broad; II much shorter but about as broad as I, 1.5 × as long as broad; III distinctly narrower and much shorter than II, slightly transverse; IV as broad as III but slightly longer, 1.1 × as long as broad; V slightly broader and longer than IV, 1.2 × as long as broad; VI as broad as V but slightly shorter, 1.1 × as long as broad; VII slightly broader and longer than VI, about as long as broad; VIII as broad as VII but slightly shorter, slightly transverse; IX much longer and broader than VIII, slightly transverse; X as broad as IX but distinctly shorter, strongly transverse; XI as broad as X and distinctly longer, 1.2 × as long as broad.

Pronotum subtrapezoidal, broadest near anterior fourth; PL 0.31–0.33 mm (mean 0.32 mm), PW 0.33 mm, anterior margin broadly and evenly rounded; lateral margins strongly rounded in anterior third, in posterior half nearly straight and strongly convergent towards obtuse and acute hind angles; posterior margin shallowly bisinuate; base of pronotum with indistinct transverse groove connecting small but distinct and nearly circular median antebasal pit with lateral pair of distinct, large and strongly elongate pits. Punctures on pronotal disc distinct and moderately large but shallow and with diffused margins, in middle separated by spaces comparable to puncture diameters; setae sparse, short, recumbent.

Elytra more convex than pronotum, oval, broadest in middle; EL 0.68–0.73 mm (mean 0.70 mm), EW 0.45–0.50 mm (mean 0.47 mm), EI 1.42–1.56; base of each elytron with distinct but short impression and small basal fovea located much closer to scutellum than to humerus; humeral callus well-marked, elongate. Punctures on elytra much finer than those on pronotal disc; setae slightly thicker and longer than those on pronotum, sparse and suberect. Hind wings well developed.

Legs moderately long and slender; fore legs modified as in Fig. 3 .

Aedeagus ( Figs. 5, 6 ) slender; AeL 0.38 mm; in ventral view apical part of median lobe barely broadened and distinctly asymmetrical, with emarginate apical margin; endophallus asymmetrical, composed of distinct sclerites located in subapical region.

Female. Similar to male, except for non-modified fore legs, slightly smaller body and slightly broader pronotum. BL 1.29–1.39 mm (mean 1.33 mm); HL 0.15–0.16 mm (mean 0.16 mm), HW 0.23–0.24 mm (mean 0.24 mm), AnL 0.50 mm; PL 0.30–0.33 mm (mean (0.31 mm), PW 0.35 mm; EL 0.63–0.70 mm (mean 0.67 mm), EW 0.43–0.48 mm (mean 0.46 mm), EI 1.42–1.47.

Distribution. Chinese Tibet, Qinghai Prov.

Etymology. After the name of the Chinese province Qinghai.

Remarks. Veraphis qinghaiensis is similar to V. hisamatsui Jałoszyński & Hoshina, 2005 from Hokkaido in only slightly modified protrochanters with a subrectangular apex. However, the aedeagi of these species are clearly different. Veraphis qinghaiensis shows a number of similarities to the japonicus group of species ( Jałoszyński & Hoshina 2005), to which also V. h i s a m a t s u i belongs. However, differences in the aedeagus (very slender and with asymmetrical apex) are too large to include this new species in the japonicus group, which is characterized by a symmetrical and distinctly broadened apical part of the median lobe.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 2. Habitus of males. 1 ― Veraphis qinghaiensis sp. n.; 2 ― Veraphis calcarifer sp. n. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.

FIGURES 3 – 4. Right fore leg of male in posterior view. 3 ― Veraphis qinghaiensis sp. n.; 4 ― Veraphis calcarifer sp. n. Scale bars: 0.1 mm.

FIGURES 5 – 8. Aedeagus in ventral (5, 7) and lateral (6, 8) views. 5, 6 ― Veraphis qinghaiensis sp. n.; 7, 8 ― Veraphis calcarifer sp. n. Scale bars: 0.1