Euconnus (Tetramelus) andasyi Franz, 2024

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2024, The ‘ curse of Horaeomorphus’ (almost) lifted. Revision of misplaced species from Madagascar, Comoros and Mascarenes (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 5505 (1), pp. 1-96 : 61-62

Euconnus (Tetramelus) andasyi Franz , stat rev.

( Figs 220–227 )

Euconnus (Anthicimorphus) andasyi Franz, 1986b: 257 .

Horaeomorphus andasyi (Franz) ; Jałoszyński (2014b): 12 (result of placing Anthicimorphus as junior synonym of Horaeomorphus ).

Type material studied. Holotype ( Madagascar): ♂, three labels: “Madagascar-E / dct. Sambava / Andasy II, 1550 m / V.59, lg. P. Saga ” [white, printed], “ Euconnus / Anthicimorphus / andasyi m. / det. H.Franz ” [white, handwritten and printed], “Typus” [red, handwritten] ( NHMW).

Revised diagnosis. Body ( Fig. 220 ) slender, sides of vertex and pronotal disc with sparse bristles, elytra with short and sparse setae; head ( Figs 221–222 ) pentagonal, with vertex posteriorly truncate; pronotum bell-shaped, broadest between middle and anterior third, with one pair of transverse antebasal pits narrowly separated at middle; antenna ( Fig. 223 ) slender but short, with antennomeres 1–8 each elongate (pedicel conspicuously so, 3.5 times as long as broad) and 9–10 each as long as broad; aedeagus ( Figs 224–227 ) in ventral view bottle-shaped and broadest near middle, ventral apical wall broadly subtriangular, dorsal apical wall forming short process with weakly converging distally lateral margins and truncate apex, each paramere slender, not broadened, with three long apical setae.

Redescription. Body of male ( Fig. 220 ) strongly elongate and flattened, light brown with indistinctly lighter elytra; legs (especially tarsi), antennae and palps slightly lighter than body; setae yellowish; BL 1.23 mm.

Head ( Figs 221–222 ) in anterodorsal view pentagonal, about as long as broad, broadest at eyes, HL 0.23 mm, HW 0.25 mm; temple in lateral view ( Fig. 222 ) about twice as long as eye; vertex and frons confluent, together weakly convex and weakly elongate; vertex posteriorly truncate; each eye small and weakly convex, not emarginate posteriorly, weakly projecting from head silhouette. Frons and vertex impunctate, sparsely covered with short suberect setae, lateral regions of vertex and genae with thick bristles. Antenna ( Fig. 223 ) slender but short, as long as half BL, with distinctly delimited tetramerous club, AnL 0.63 mm, antennomeres 1–8 each elongate (pedicel conspicuously so, 3.5 times as long as broad) and 9–10 each as long as broad, 11 much longer than 10 and similar in width, about twice as long as broad.

Pronotum bell-shaped, broadest between middle and anterior third; PL 0.30 mm, PW 0.28 mm. Anterior margin strongly rounded, lateral margins strongly rounded in anterior half, weakly sinuate in posterior half; posterior corners blunt; posterior margin almost straight. Base with one pair of transverse pits narrowly separated at middle. Disc impunctate and covered with sparse short suberect setae, bristles present on lateral areas and hypomera.

Elytra together rhomboidal, broadest near middle where sides are slightly angulate; EL 0.70 mm, EW 0.48 mm, EI 1.47; humeral calli angulate and weakly elevated, basal elytral foveae vestigial but discernible. Elytra impunctate and sparsely covered with short recumbent setae.

Legs long and slender, unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Figs 224–227 ) relatively slender, AeL 0.28 mm; in ventral view bottle-shaped, broadest near middle, distally gradually narrowing and in subapical region rapidly narrowing; ventral apical wall broadly subtriangular and short, dorsal apical wall longer and forming narrow process with weakly distally converging lateral margins and with truncate distal margin, endophallic sclerites complex and asymmetrical, with conspicuous elongate and pointed dark distomedian sclerite with its distal portion strongly oblique in relation to long axis of aedeagus; each paramere slender, with three long apical setae

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. Northern Madagascar (Sava Region).

Remarks. Euconnus andasyi is one of the smallest Malagasy species of Tetramelus , reaching only 1.23 mm in length. It differs from similar species in a pentagonal head with a posteriorly truncate vertex, small eyes, antennae with conspicuously long pedicels and with distinctly delimited tetramerous clubs, a weakly elongate pronotum with one pair of transverse and narrowly separated at middle antebasal pits, elytra covered with short and recumbent setae, and unique aedeagal structures.

Figures

FIGURES 220–227. Euconnus (Tetramelus) andasyi Franz, holotype. Habitus in dorsal view (220); head in anterodorsal view (221); head and prothorax in lateral view (only bristles on head are shown) (222); antenna (223); aedeagus in ventral (224, 226) and lateral (225, 227) views.