Scaphidium rhopaliparamerosum Li & Chen, 2020

Li, Xiao-Yan, Chen, Hai-Feng & Lü, Liang, 2020, Two new species of the genus Scaphidium Olivier (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae Scaphidiinae) from Southwest China, Zootaxa 4868 (3), pp. 435-440 : 436-437

Scaphidium rhopaliparamerosum Li & Chen , sp. nov. [ƘṀHƜƬƟP]

( Fig. 1 )

Type material. Holotype: CHINA: ♂, Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region, Muotuo county [ƗṚĦ]· Zhamuo Road [Zhamu to Muotuo, KƗÖ Ṉ], 62K, N 29.71º, E 95.58º, 2787 m, 30-VIII-2015 [night], leg. Hong-Bin Liang & Ming-Qiang Wang (IZ-CAS).

Measurements. BL: 7.18 mm, PEL: 5.28 mm, PW: 2.88 mm, EW: 3.62 mm, ED: 0.43 mm.

Description. Head black ( Fig. 1A ) with dense microsculpture. Punctation on head irregularly distributed, of different sizes, sparse and coarse, but denser around eyes. All punctures with black or blackish brown oblique setae of different lengths, middle of frons smooth and glabrous with short longitudinal groove.

Antenna with articles 1–6 slender, blackish brown yellow and slightly transparent; articles 7–10 black, broader than long, with apex broad and truncate ( Fig. 1D ).

Pronotum black, slightly convex, with lateral margin moderately sinuate. Surface without colour spots ( Fig. 1A ). Disk of pronotum with dense microsculpture and round and well delimited punctures, larger and denser than those on head, distance between punctures shorter than diameter. Antebasal puncture row impressed. Pronotal hypomeron and mesepisternum nearly impunctate.

Elytra black, each with two red, big and round fasciae on surface, on both basal and apical 1/3 ( Fig. 1A ). Punctures on surface larger and denser than those on pronotum, relatively thinner in apical portion. Basal stria row connected with sutural stria puncture row, with punctures finer than both those on surface and those of pronotal antebasal row.

Legs black ( Fig. 1E ). Profemur sinuate with inner side expanded, forming distinctly angle in middle then gradually narrowing to apex. Protibia straight and slender in basal 1/2, forming inward pointing triangular process in apical 1/3 ( Fig. 1E ).

Abdomen blackish brown. Tergites with fine and sparse punctures and very dense micropunctures. Sternite with rather sparse and fine punctures and dense micropunctures ( Fig. 1A, B ).

Sexual dimorphism. Male metaventrite broader than long, distinctly impressed, with pyriform area in middle, surface with dense and long semi-erect pubescence ( Fig. 1C ).

Aedeagus ( Fig 1 F–G) robust and symmetrical. Median lobe gradually narrowing apically, with ventral sclerites as shown in Fig. 1 F–H. Parameres parallel and thin at anterior 3/4 and apical portion clavate. Sclerotized internal sac ( Fig. 1H ) consisting of two rounded apical rods, one transverse and curved median sclerite, and two basal short and broad sclerites.

Distribution. China: Xizang.

Comments. Based on Löbl’s (1992) description of S. arrowi Achard (cf. Löbl, 1992: 493), the new species is similar to the former species but they can be easily distinguished by the following characteristics from each other: 1) in the former species, the sub-basal row of punctures is not interrupted in middle whereas the new species is interrupted in middle; 2) spot area is impunctate in Scaphidium arrowi but it is normal in the new species; 3) parameres has minute tubercles on apical portion of inner side in the former species and the parameres has not that kind of tubercle in the new species.

The new species can be easily distinguished from S. quadrimaculatum by the thickened anterior half of protibiae, poorly defined punctures of basal antebasal puncture row and elytral fasciae (Torrella-Allegue, L.P., 2013: 43: fig. 3). Based on the high-quality figures in Löbl and Ogawa (2016), the new species can also be separated from S. solukhumbu Löbl & Ogawa and S. nepalense Löbl not simply by the fasciae of elytra but also by the distinctly different structures of aedeagal internal sclerites ( Löbl & Ogawa 2016: 161, 163).

Etymology. The specific epithet is the Latinized adjective derived from two Greek words rhopal- (clavate) and paramerosum (having parameres). It refers to the characteristically clavate shape of the parameres of the aedeagus.

Figures

FIGURE 1 Scaphidium rhopaliparamerosum sp. nov. A‒B. Habitus, male. C. Metaventrite, male. D. Antenna. E. Front leg in ventral view male. F‒G. Aedeagus. H. Internal sac in detail. Scales: A‒C, E = 1 mm; D, F‒H = 0.2mm.