Apatetica curtipennis, Assing, 2018

Assing, Volker, 2018, On some species of Apatetica WESTWOOD (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Apateticinae), Beiträge zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 68 (2), pp. 347-359 : 358-359

Apatetica curtipennis spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:B7194436-4CE7-4826-BBE6-C23559533C3E

( Figs 39–43 )

Type material: Holotype ♂: “ CHINA: Yunnan, Baoshan Pref., Gao-ligong [sic] Shan, 78 km N Tengchong, 2000 m, 25°44'49"N, 98°33'29"E, cleft with creek and forest remnant, litter & dead wood sifted, 1.IX.2009, leg. M. Schülke [ CH 09-21] / Holotypus ♂ Apatetica curtipennis sp. n. det. V. Assing 2018” ( MNB).

Etymology: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective: with short wings) alludes to the remarkably short elytra.

Description: Body length 8.9 mm; length of forebody 6.7 mm. Other measurements: headwidth 1.5 mm; length of antenna 3.2 mm; width of pronotum: 3.2 mm; length of pronotum 1.9 mm; length of elytra 2.5 mm; length of metatibia 1.9 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 39 . Coloration: body black; legs black with tarsomeres Iblackish brown and tarsomeres II-V yellowish-brown to yellowish; antennae black.

Head ( Fig. 40 ) strongly transverse; dorsal surface rather flat, with coarse, dense, and partly confluent punctation; interstices with distinct microsculpture; vertex delimited fromposteriorportionofhead (neck) byadeeptransverse sulcus. Antenna moderately long; antennomeres IV twice as long as broad, Vnearly twice as long as broad, VI– VII weakly oblong, and VIII–X approximately as long as broad.

Pronotum ( Fig. 40 ) approximately 1.7 times as broad as longand 2.1 times as broad as head, of distinctive shape, broadest at posterior fourth, strongly tapering anteriad; disc strongly convex in cross-section, near posterior angles flattened; posterior angles sharply marked and directed posteriad; lateral margins narrowly separated in anterior half, gradually becoming broader in posterior half; punctation conspicuously coarse, very dense in antero-median portion, slightly less dense in lateral portions, and somewhat irregularly distributed (with impunctate patches) in posterior portion; interstices with distinct microsculpture.

Elytra conspicuously short, 1.3 times as long as pronotum and leaving tergitesV-VIII and most of tergite IV unconcealed; posterior margins strongly obliquely convex; each elytron with eight distinctly punctate striae; intervals moderately flat, without microsculpture, with few scattered macropunctures and with extremely fine micropunctation visible only at high magnification. Scutellum weakly transverse and with transverse microsculpture. Legs rather short and stout; protarsomeres I–IV moderately dilated.

Abdomen ( Fig. 41 ) withdistinct microsculpture and with ratherdense andmoderately coarse punctation; tergite IV with a pair of large tomentose patches.

♂: tergite VIII strongly convex posteriorly; aedeagus ( Figs 42–43 ) 1.75 mm long; median lobe very slender, gradually tapering apicad, and apically acute in ventral view; apical portion of ventral process straight in lateral view; parameres long and slender, extending beyond apex of medianlobe and strongly curved ventrad apically, slightly asymmetric: left paramere apically obliquely truncate, right paramere apically convex, slightly longer than left paramere.

Comparative notes: Thishighly distinctive species differs from all its congeners by the short elytra, the punctation of the pronotum, and by the morphology of the aedeagus, particularly the asymmetric apices of the parameres. Regarding the shape of the pronotum, A. curtipennis resembles A. birmanica JANSSON, 1947 ( Myanmar) and A. sikkimi FAUVEL, 1895 (North India: Darjeeling). Aside from its much shorter elytra, the new species differs from them as follows:

from A. birmanica by much denser punctation of the pronotum, theshapeof theposteriormarginof thepronotum ( A. birmanica : posterior margin near the posterior angles with a distinct tooth-like process on either side) and by a smaller aedeagus ( A. birmanica : length of aedeagus 1.85 mm);

from A. sikkimi by the coloration ( A. sikkimi : apical antennomeres yellowish; lateral margins, elytra, and legs dark-brown) and by the shape of the pronotum in cross-section ( A. sikkimi : disc not smoothly convex, but strongly elevated and in the middle nearly flat).

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated in the Gaoligong Shan in Northwest Yunnan. The holotype was sifted from litter and dead wood in a forest remnant at an altitude of 2000 m.

Figures

Figs 34–43: Apatetica gibba (34–38) and A. curtipennis (39–43): habitus (34, 39); head and pronotum (35, 40); posterior portion of elytra and abdomen (36, 41); aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (37–38, 42–43). Scale bars: 34, 39: 5.0 mm; 35–38, 40–43: 1.0 mm.