Atheta (Microdota) hastata, Assing, 2006

Assing, V., 2006, Six new species of micropterous Atheta and Apimela from northern Yunnan, China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 38 (2), pp. 1143-1156 : 1143-1156

Atheta (Microdota) hastata nov.sp. ( Figs 49-58 )

Holotype Ƌ: CHINA: N-Yunnan [C2005-09], Diqing Tibet. Aut. Pref., Deqin Co., Meili Xue Shan , E-side, 14 km E Deqin, 2580 m / 28°27.47'N, 98°46.35'E, creek valley below glacier, mixed forest, leaf litter, moss, dead wood, sifted, 11.VI.2005, M. Schülke [C2005-09] / Holotypus Ƌ Atheta hastata sp. n. det. V. Assing 2006 (cAss).

D e s c r i p t i o n: 2.3 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 49 . Coloration: head dark brown, darker

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than pronotum; pronotum and elytra brown; abdomen blackish, with the posterior half of segment VII and segments VIII-X yellowish brown; legs yellowish; antennae reddish brown, with the basal 3 antennomeres only indistinctly paler.

Head indistinctly wedge-shaped, weakly transverse ( Fig. 50 ); eyes rather small ( Fig. 51 ), approximately half the length of postocular region and weakly protruding from lateral

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outline of head in dorsal view; integument with shallow microreticulation; puncturation moderately dense, extremely fine, barely noticeable. Antenna distinctly incrassate apically ( Fig. 52 ); antennomere III somewhat shorter than II; IV weakly transverse; V-X of increasing width and increasingly transverse; X almost twice as wide as long.

Pronotum about 1.25 times as wide as long and approximately 1.2 times as wide as head ( Fig. 50 ); maximal width in anterior half; pubescence of midline of uncertain condition (rubbed off in holotype); microsculpture and puncturation similar to those of head.

Elytra slightly wider than and at suture approximately 0.75 times as long as pronotum ( Fig. 50 ); each elytron with shallow diagonal impression extending from humeral angle almost to sutural angle; microreticulation less distinct than that of head and pronotum; puncturation fine, but more distinct and denser than that of head and pronotum. Hind wings reduced.

Abdomen slightly wider than elytra, maximal width at segment V ( Fig. 49 ); puncturation very fine, moderately sparse on anterior and very sparse on posterior tergites; microreticulation distinct, but shallow; posterior margin of tergite VII with narrow palisade fringe.

Ƌ: posterior margin of tergite VIII weakly concave in the middle ( Fig. 53 ); sternite VIII much longer than tergite VIII, posteriorly almost pointed ( Fig. 54 ); median lobe of aedeagus of distinctive shape ( Figs 55-56 ), internal sac apically with long hook-shaped structures; paramere with apical lobe of distinctive shape ( Figs 57-58 ).

♀: unknown.

E t y m o l o g y: The name (Lat., adj.: armed with a spear) alludes to the spear-shaped apical lobe of the paramere.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: The species is separated from other micropterous Microdota species occurring in China especially by the morphology of the median lobe of the aedeagus and by the spear-shaped apical lobe of the paramere. From A. detruncata , whose male sexual characters are unknown, it is distinguished by the paler (apically not infuscate) and longer antennae, the distinctly smaller eyes, the less distinctly wedge-shaped head, the larger pronotum, and the apically more extensively yellowish tergite VII.

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d b i o n o m i c s: Thespeciesis known from one locality in the Meili Xue Shan, northern Yunnan, where the holotype was sifted from the forest floor of a mixed forest at an altitude of almost 2600 m. The type locality is illustrated by ASSING (in press: Fig. 52 ).

Figures

Figs 49-58: Atheta hastata: (49) Ƌ habitus; (50) Ƌ forebody; (51) head in lateral view; (52) antenna; (53) Ƌ tergite VIII; (54) Ƌ sternite VIII; (55-56) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view; 57 – paramere; (58) apical lobe of paramere. Scale bars: 49: 1.0 mm; 50: 0.5 mm; 51- 54: 0.2 mm; 55-58: 0.1 mm.