Platydracus paragracilis, Zhou & Zhao & Tang, 2024

Zhou, Cheng-Lin, Zhao, Qing-Hao & Tang, Liang, 2024, A taxonomic study of the Platydracus brachycerus group with descriptions of three new species from China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae, Staphylininae), Zootaxa 5399 (5), pp. 505-516 : 514-515

Platydracus paragracilis sp. n.

( Figs. 9, 10 , 21, 22 )

Type material. Holotype. China: Yunnan: ♁, glued on a card with labels as follows: “ China: Yunnan Province, Gongshan county, Maku Village , 27°40′57″N, 95°18′08″E, alt. 1250m; 24.IV.2015; Bi leg.” “ Holotype / Platydracus paragracilis / Zhou, Zhao & Tang” [red handwritten label] ( SHNU).

Description. Measurements of male: BL: 13.6 mm, FL: 7.2 mm. HL: 1.70 mm, HW: 2.10 mm, EYL: 0.55 mm, TL: 0.70 mm, PL: 2.20 mm, PW: 2.15 mm, EL: 2.60 mm, EW: 2.39 mm. HW/HL: 1.24, TL/EYL: 1.27, PL/PW: 1.02, EL/EW: 1.09.

The new species is similar to Platydracus gracilis sp. n. in most aspects, except for the following characters: body coloration darker, mandibles with inner teeth blunt and indistinct, pronotum with lateral sides indistinctly curved inward in apical half, elytra with more distinct golden setae along posterior margin, male abdominal sternite VII with very long golden setae, median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs. 21, 22 ) shorter in apical portion, paramere broader without apical setae.

Distribution. Known only from the type locality in Maku Village (1250 m) in Yunnan province, south-west China.

Diagnosis. The new species is most similar to P. gracilis , and can be distinguished by the characters mentioned above. Additionally, it is also similar to P. juang and P. brachycerus in appearance, but it can be distinguished from them by the shorter head, antennomeres 5 to 11 covered with dense pubescence (4 to 11 covered with dense pubescence in P. juang and P. brachycerus ), by elytra with more distinct golden setae along the posterior margins, by the apical part of the median lobe of aedeagus shorter, and paramere broader, without apical seta.

Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the similarity of the new species to Platydracus gracilis .

Figures

FIGURES 7–12. Habitus. Habitus. 7, 8—Platydracus gracilis; 9, 10—P. paragracilis; 11, 12—P. donnyi. Scale bars: 2 mm.

FIGURES 19–24. Aedeagal characters. 19, 20—Platydracus gracilis; 21, 22—P. paragracilis; 23, 24—P. donnyi; 19, 21, 23— aedeagus in ventral view; 20, 22, 24—aedeagus in lateral view. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.