Amaurodera spinans, Assing, 2016

Assing, Volker, 2016, On some Lomechusini of the Palaearctic and Oriental regions (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 66 (1), pp. 13-111 : 91

Amaurodera spinans spec. nov.

( Figs 142 , 148 , 430–431 )

Type material: Holotype ♂: “ Sumatra: Jambi, km 15 Sungaipenuh to Tapan, 1450 m, 9.XI.1989, Agosti, Löbl, Burckh. #10 / Holotypus ♂ Amaurodera spinans sp. n., det. V. Assing 2015” ( MHNG).

Etymology: The specific epithet is the present participle of the Latin verb spinare (to sting) and alludes to the long, slender, and apically very acute ventral process of the aedeagus.

Description: Body length 5.2 mm; length of forebody 2.5 mm. Coloration: body dark-brown; legs yellowish, with the profemora and the apical portions of the mesoand metafemora brown; antennae pale-brown with the basal and the apical antennomeres reddish-yellow; maxillary palpi yellowish-brown with the terminal palpomere yellowish.

Head ( Fig. 148 ) oblong, approximately 1.09 times as long as broad, broadest across eyes, without sexual dimorphism; punctation sparse and extremely fine; interstices with nearly obsolete microreticulation visible only at high magnification (100 x). Eyes of moderate size, approximately 0.7 times as long as distance from posterior margin of eye to posterior constriction of head. Antenna ( Fig. 142 ) 3.1 mm long; antennomere IX nearly twice as long as broad.

Pronotum ( Fig. 148 ) 0.95 mm long, 1.34 times as long as broad, and 1.04 times as broad as head, without sexual dimorphism; dorsal and lateral surface not meeting at an angle posteriorly; antero-lateral portions with two longer and numerous shorter, more or less erect setae; antero-median portion with slightly less pronounced microreticulation and slightly less matt than remainder of dorsal surface; microreticulation reaching sublateral carina neither anteriorly nor posteriorly; narrow median furrow anteriorly terminating at some distance from anterior margin of pronotum.

Elytra ( Fig. 148 ) 0.51 times as long as pronotum; punctation extremely fine and moderately sparse; interstices with nearly obsolete microreticulation visible only at high magnification (100 x); pubescence moderately long and semi-erect. Hind wings present. Metatarsomere I approximately as long as the combined length of II and III.

Abdomen narrower than elytra; punctation fine and very sparse on all tergites; tergites III–V with shallow microsculpture composed of transverse meshes, tergites VI–VIII with nearly obsolete microreticulation visible only at high magnification; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe; posterior margin of tergite VIII distinctly serrate.

♂: median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 430–431 ) slender, 0.7 mm long; ventral process very long, slender, and apically acute; paramere 0.58 mm long, with rather short, broad, and flattened apical lobe.

♀: unknown.

Comparative notes: Amaurodera spinans is distinguished from the syntopic A. disparicollis by somewhat smaller size, a shorter pronotum, relatively shorter elytra, the unmodified male head and pronotum, the more pronounced microreticulation of the antero-median portion of the pronotum, and the completely different morphology of the aedeagus.

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is identical to that of A. disparicollis (see above).

Figures

Figs 119–143. Drusilla bifida (119–122), Rabdotodrusilla pectinata (123–125), Amaurodera arunica (126–127, 132), A. gilvios (128, 133), A. reticulata (129, 134), A. dentata (130, 135), A. parvoculata (131, 136), A. thailandensis (137–138), A. fasciata (139), A. meorum(140),A. disparicollis (141), A. spinans (142),andA. varicollis(143):forebody (119, 123, 126, 128–131); head and pronotum (120); antenna (121, 124, 132–143); abdomen (122, 125, 127). Scale bars: 1.0 mm.

Figs 144–159. Amaurodera thailandensis (144–145), A. fasciata (146), A. meorum (147), A. spinans (148), A. varicollis (149), A. disparicollis, male (150), A. disparicollis, female (151), Tetrabothrus nilgiricus (152–153), T. pubescens, syntype (154–156), T. collucatus (157–158), and T. neoguineensis, holotype (159): forebody (144–152, 154, 157, 159); abdomen (153, 156); antenna (155, 158). Scale bars: 144–154, 156–157, 159: 1.0 mm; 155, 158: 0.5 mm.

Figs 420–441. Amaurodera meorum (420–422), A. disparicollis (423–429), A. spinans (430–431), A. varicollis (432–434), Tetrabothrus nilgiricus (435–436), T. indicus (437–439; 439: lectotype), andT. inflexus fromLaos (440–441): spermatheca (420–422, 429, 434); male pronotum (423–424); female pronotum (425–426); median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (427–428, 430–433, 435–437, 440); ventral process of aedeagus (438–439, 441). Scale bars: 423–426: 1.0 mm; 420–422, 427–441: 0.2 mm.