Kieneriella novaecaledoniae Yin & Hlavac

Yin, Zi-Wei & Hlavac, Peter, 2016, The Pselaphinae (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) of New Caledonia and Loyalty Islands. III. Kieneriella, a new genus of the tribe Brachyglutini, Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 63 (1), pp. 149-154 : 150-153

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Staphylinidae

Kieneriella novaecaledoniae Yin & Hlavac sp. n. Figs 1, 2, 3

Type material.

Holotype ♂ (head and pronotum lost after photography and measurement, other body parts completely disarticulated and preserved in Euparal slides): 'Nouvelle Calédonie, Touaourou côte sud, 16-18.xi.1986, leg. S. Kiener (hand written) / HOLOTYPE (red) ♂, Kieneriella novaecaledoniae sp. n., det. Yin & Hlaváč, 2016 (hand written) / MHNG ENTO 00008971 (accession number, printed)' (MHNG). According to Kiener’s 1986 unpublished locality list preserved in MHNG, this specimen was collected from 'Regenwald Bodenstreu (= Rainforest floor litter)' (Cuccodoro pers. comm.).

Diagnosis.

Same as that of the genus, plus the protibia with an acute denticle at the middle of the mesal margin, aedeagus with the median lobe being strongly curved toward left at the apex, and flattened parameres.

Description.

Male (Fig. 1A). Length 2.72 mm. Head (Fig. 1B) distinctly longer than wide, HL 0.60 mm, HW 0.51 mm; dorsal surface finely punctate, sparsely covered with relatively long suberect setae; vertex moderately raised at middle, with distinct nude vertexal foveae (Fig. 1B, vf) situated at level of middle of eyes; frons distinctly extended, with small frontal fovea (Fig. 1B, ff) between moderately prominent antennal tubercles; clypeus short, with round anterior margin; eyes prominent, each composed of about 25 facets; ocular-mandibular carinae (Fig. 3B, omc) extending from anterior margins of eyes to clypeal apex; lateral areas of ventral part of head sparsely covered with short setae; gular area (Fig. 1C) with two small tentorial pits in shared oval opening, edges of gular ridge extending from anterior margin of tentorial pits opening toward mouthparts, with single macroseta at end of each edge. Maxillary palpus (Fig. 3C) greatly elongate, length of palpomeres II–IV: 0.48 mm, 0.20 mm, 0.41 mm, respectively; palpomere I small, II briefly narrowed at base and slightly broadened at apex, III briefly pedunculate at base, with broadened apical half, IV with narrowed base, evenly curved laterally throughout entire length, with long palpal cone. Antenna (Fig. 3A) with enlarged scape and antennomere XI, antennal club weakly formed by two apical antennomeres. Pronotum transversely globular, PL 0.60 mm, PW 0.65 mm, disc finely punctate and sparsely setose. Elytra (Fig. 3F) with broad posterior margin and strongly constricted base, much wider than long, EL 0.77 mm, EW 1.0 mm; lacking metathoracic wings. Thorax (Fig. 2A) short and transverse; metaventral process emarginate at middle, with two distinct obtuse projections. Legs simple, except protibia (Fig. 3E) with one acute spine at middle of mesal margin. Abdomen (Fig. 2 B–D) with long pubescence on dorsal surface, slightly wider than long, AL 0.75 mm, AW 0.79 mm; tergites IV–VI of similar length, VII slightly shorter; sternite IV with pair of submedian projections. Length of aedeagus (Fig. 3 G–H) 0.66 mm, median lobe almost symmetric, dextrally oriented apical hook sharp, acute, with one preapical macroseta; pair of parameres (Fig. 3I, detached from median lobe) broad and flattened, nearly symmetric; endophallus composed of single thin, elongate sclerite.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution.

New Caledonia: southern Grande Terre.

Etymology.

The specific epithet is derived from the type locality of the new species, i.e., New Caledonia.