Andasibe, Hlaváč, Peter & Baňař, Petr, 2012

Hlaváč, Peter & Baňař, Petr, 2012, The Pselaphinae (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) of Madagascar. I. Andasibe sahondrae, a new, peculiar genus and species of Clavigeritae (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae), Zootaxa 3394, pp. 59-63 : 60-61

Andasibe gen. nov.

( Figs. 1–5 )

Type species. Andasibe sahondrae sp. nov. Present designation.

Diagnosis. Medium-sized and stout clavigerine of subtribe Mastigerina with apparently two segmented antennae, scape very small, completely hidden in antennal cavity, terminal antennomere stout and short, about half length of head, pedunculate, broadening apically, considerably longer than pedicel, with truncate, setose apex; head short, with well-defined occipital constriction, elytra and first visible paratergite with two pairs of trichomes; pronotum with lateral foveae, elytra with four basal foveae.

Description. Body ( Fig. 1 ) uniformly dark reddish, entirely glabrous. Head ( Fig. 4 ) elongate, with short and oval rostrum and very prominent clypeus, disc of frons very finely punctured, vertex and margins of frontal rostrum with regular punctation, neck with isodiametric structure, eyes well-developed, each located in large lateral cavity that extends along entire head, clearly visible in dorsal and in ventral side. Antennae with three antennomeres, only two distal visible in intact specimen, scape completely hidden in antennal cavity, terminal antennomere more than five times as long as pedicel, pedunculate, broadening apically and curved, truncate at apex with dense, short setation. Venter with large, deep median gular fovea, gular carina absent.

Pronotum ( Figs. 1 , 3 ) subquadrate, with regular puncturation, longer and wider than head, shorter than elytra, pronotal base with prominent media triangular projection, with well-defined lateral foveae; scutellum not visible.

Venter ( Fig. 5 ) entirely glabrous, proventrite with sharp keel narrowly separating procoxae, mesoventrite and metaventrite confluent, shiny, with regular puncturation, mesoventrite in middle clearly shorter than metaventrite, with median keel, basal mesoventral and apical metaventral processes adjacent, mesocoxae separated, metacoxae broadly separated by very large, truncate and short basal metaventral process; first visible sternite (III) about five times shorter than second (IV), second visible sternite about as long as sternites V–VIII combined, with two welldefined lateral foveae.

Elytra large, at suture shorter than abdomen and longer than pronotum, with fine puncturation, humeri sharp, prominent; posterior elytral corners with two projections; inner one with narrow, elongate trichomes; each elytron with four basal foveae, sutural and discal stria well-defined.

Legs short, tibiae pedunculate, femora clavate.

Abdomen shiny, with fine puncturation, composite tergite (IV–VI), clearly longer than elytra, with deep and large basal impression bearing two lateral foveae and two lateral patches, lacking trichomes; tergite VII and VIII very short, but still visible in dorsal view; paratergites IV–VI well-defined, paratergite IV large, with dense trichomes.

Sexual dimorphism. Male unknown.

Differential diagnosis: Andasibe is very similar to Tasmiger and Mastiger sharing with them the truncate and setose apex of the terminal antennomere. Andasibe can be readily separated from both genera on the basis of four basal foveae on each elytron and two lateral pronotal foveae; in addition, Andasibe differs from Mastiger by the presence of trichomes on the elytral apex (absent in Mastiger ) and from Tasmiger by a different structure of the composite tergite which has a large, but simple, basal impression (impression divided into three semi-equal compartments in Tasmiger), as well as by the much smaller and thinner elytral trichomes and absence of trichomes on the composite tergite (present in Tasmiger).

Etymology. The new genus is named after the type locality, Andasibe-Mantadia National Park. Gender is masculine.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 2. 1, Andasibe sahondrae gen. & sp. nov., female holotype, dorsal habitus; 2, microhabitat of the type locality of the Andasibe sahondrae gen. & sp. nov.

FIGURES 3 – 5. Andasibe sahondrae gen. & sp. nov., female holotype: 3, habitus, dorsal view; 4, head, dorsal view; 5, sternum, ventral view, schematic.