Stilicoderus confusus, Assing, 2016

Assing, Volker, 2016, On Stilicoderus and Stiliderus V. Two new species, additional records, and a catalogue (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 48 (1), pp. 281-300 : 287-288

Stilicoderus confusus nov.sp. (Figs 2-5, 14-16, Map 1 )

Stiliderus granulifrons ROUGEMONT, 1985a: 224 ; partim (misidentification).

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype 3: " CHINA: Yunnan, Baoshan Pref., Gaoligong Shan , W pass, 32 km SE Tengchong, 1600 m, 24°51'11''N, 98°44'27''E, cleft with devast. primary forest, litter & mushr. sifted, 28.VIII.2009, leg. M. Schülke [CH09-14] / Holotypus 3 Stilicoderus confusus sp. n. det. V. Assing 2016" (cAss) . Paratypes: 233, 4♀♀ [partly teneral]: same data as holotype (cSch, cAss) ; 233, 1♀: " INDIA Meghalaya, Khasi Hills 27.X.78, Weloi 1700 m, Besuchet-Löbl / Stiliderus granulifrons Roug. , det. G. de Rougemont 1983 / Paratypus Stiliderus granulifrons Rougemont , rev. V. Assing 2016 / Paratypus Stilicoderus confusus sp. n., det. V. Assing 2016" (cRou, cAss) ; 13: " INDIA Meghalaya, Khasi Hills 26.X.78, ss/ Cherrapunjee 1200 m. Besuchet-Löbl / Stiliderus granulifrons Roug. , det. G. de Rougemont 1983 / Paratypus Stiliderus granulifrons Rougemont , rev. V. Assing 2016 / Paratypus Stilicoderus confusus sp. n., det. V. Assing 2016" (cRou) .

C o m m e n t: All the unexamined specimens in MHNG which were recorded from Meghalaya as S. granulifrons and unintentionally designated as paratypes (of S. granulifrons ) by ROUGEMONT (1985a) are also designated as paratypes of S. confusus .

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet is the past participle of the Latin verb confundere (to confuse, to confound). It reflects the previous taxonomic confusion with S. granulifrons .

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 7.0-8.3 mm; length of forebody 4.7-4.9 mm. Elytra approximately as long (or nearly so) and approximately 1.25 times as broad as pronotum (Fig. 2). Hind wings fully developed. External characters as in S. granulifrons , except for on average slightly larger body size and an on average slightly less oblong pronotum (1.06-1.11 times as long as broad; S. granulifrons : 1.10-1.15 times as long as broad).

3: sternite VII (Figs 3-4) with broad and deep posterior excision, anterior margin of this excision weakly sinuate; sternite VIII (Fig. 16) with smoothly and regularly concave posterior excision of nearly semi-circular shape; aedeagus (Figs 5, 14-15) 0.83 mm long (total length approximately 1.0 mm); ventral process stout, strongly sclerotized, and strongly curved in lateral view; apical internal structures of regularly spathuliform shape, the left structure (ventral view) slightly longer than the right one.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: This species is evidently closely related to S. granulifrons , with which it had been confounded, but differs by the distinctly deeper posterior excision of the male sternite VII, the shape of the posterior excision of the male sternite VIII, and by the morphology of the aedeagus. In S. granulifrons , the ventral process is less stout and less strongly curved, and the apical internal structures are of completely different shape: left structure much longer (total length of aedeagus> 1.1 mm), much longer than right structure, somewhat sinuate, basally thin, and apically noticeably dilated and asymmetric in lateral view.

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d n a t u r a l h i s t o r y: Stilicoderus confusus is currently known from West Yunnan (Southwest China) and from Meghalaya (Northeast India) ( Map 1 ). The partly teneral specimens from Yunnan were sifted from leaf litter in a degraded forest.

Figures

Map 1: Distributions of Stilicoderus granulifrons (circles; white circle: type locality), S. confusus