Baeocera secreta Löbl, 2021

Löbl, Ivan & Smetana, Aleš, 2021, On the Baeocera Erichson (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scaphidiinae) of Sabah, Malaysia, and a tale on mystified biodiversity, J. Insect Biodiversity 23 (2), pp. 23-42 : 32-34

Baeocera secreta Löbl , sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C83A78C2-1EB6-427E-9BDE-282A10D2AE91

( Figs 8–11 )

Material examined. Holotype ♂, SABAH Mt. Kinabalu 2600 m, 2.V.1987 Burckhardt – Löbl ( MHNG). Paratypes: 7 ♂, with the same data as the holotype, near Layang Layang ( MHNG) ; 2 ♂, with the same data but below Layang Layang, 2590 m, 1.V.87 ( MHNG) .

Description. Length 1.60–1.70 mm, width 1.05–1.08 mm. Body reddish-brown to blackish with lighter apex of elytra, apical abdominal segments yellowish. Femora and tibiae reddish-brown, tarsi and antennae yellowish. Head with interocular distance slightly larger than dorsoventral eye diameter. Lateral contours of pronotum and elytra nearly continuously arcuate. Pronotum not microsculptured, with punctation very fine, hardly visible at 40 times magnification, lateral margin carinae not visible in dorsal view. Scutellum with rounded margin, completely concealed. Elytra not microsculptured, with lateral margins oblique, lateral margin carinae visible in dorsal view only near bases, sutural striae starting near base, parallel, not curved, basal striae absent, adsutural areas flat, impunctate. Discal punctation irregular, very fine, punctures to part as minute as pronotal punctures, somewhat large punctures irregularly scattered. Hind wings reduced. Hypomera appearing impunctate. Mesoventrite with short mesal ridge and scattered, fine punctures. Mesepimera about two times as long as wide and two times as long as intervals to coxae. Centre of metaventrite flat, with scattered, fairly fine punctures. Lateral areas of metaventrite densely and coarsely punctate, punctures to part slightly elongate, larger than puncture intervals. Submesocoxal areas 0.01–0.02 mm long, margined by elongate punctures smaller than those on lateral areas of metaventrite. Metanepisterna concealed. Tibiae straight. Ventrite I lacking striae, with punctures margining base not elongate, about as large as those on sides of metaventrite, shortly interrupted at middle. Remaining abdominal punctation very fine and sparse, hardly visible at 40x magnification.

Male characters. Protarsomeres I to III hardly widened. Aedeagus ( Figs 8–11 ) 0.44–0.46 mm long. Median lobe in dorsal view gradually narrowed apically, with tip acute and not bent; apical process weakly inflexed, about as long as two-third of basal bulb, ventral contour of apical process in lateral view nearly straight. Articular process not prominent. Parameres narrow, slightly widened posterior of level of tip pf apical process, straight or hardly bent in dorsal view, sinuate in lateral view. Internal sac with narrow parallel-sides flagellar-guide sclerite joined basally with flagellum, overlapped by weakly sclerotized proximal subquadrate and suboval structures, and joined with triangular, to part strongly sclerotized apophysis. Membranes of internal sac lacking denticulate or squamous vesicles, ejaculatory duck not vesicular anterior entering flagellum.

Differential diagnosis. This member of the Baeocera lenta group is characterized by the body length (1.6–1.7 mm), the elytra lacking basal striae and bearing very fine discal punctures, the hind wings reduced, the entire lateral parts of the metaventrite densely punctate, the ventrite I smooth posterior of basal puncture row, the long and weakly inflexed apical process of the median lobe of the aedeagus, the parameres narrow, hardly sinuate in lateral view and hardly widened apically, the flagellar guide-sclerite narrow and straight, joined with triangular basal structure and the internal sac lacking vesicles. The aedeagal characters suggest relationships with B. obliqua (Löbl) .

Distribution. East Malaysia: Sabah, possibly endemic to Mt. Kinabalu.

Etymology. The species epithet is a Latin adjective meaning secret.

Figures

Figures 8–15. Baeocera spp., aedeagi; (8–9) B. secreta sp. nov.. in dorsal and lateral views, scale = 0.1 mm; (10) ditto, paramere in ventral view, scale = 0.05 mm; (11) ditto, internal sac in dorsal view, scale = 0.05 mm. (12, 13) B. segregata sp. nov., in dorsal and lateral views (left paramere missing), scale = 0.1 mm; (14) ditto, paramere in ventral view, scale = 0.05 mm; (15) ditto, internal sac in dorsal view, scale = 0.05 mm.