Leptusa (Chondrelytropisalia) procera, Assing, 2021

Assing, Volker, 2021, New species and additional records of Leptusa from the Palaearctic region, with a focus on the faunas of China and the Caucasus region (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 71 (1), pp. 103-126 : 120-121

Leptusa (Chondrelytropisalia) procera spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C3881039-6537-452F-974C-48BDAFD02762

Figs 8 , 65–68)

Type material. Holotype : “ CHINA [26] – N-Sichuan N Songpan , 33°15'26"N, 103°46'03"E, 2700 m, spruce forest with birch, 12.VIII.2012, V. Assing / Holotypus  Leptusa procera sp. n. det. V. Assing 2020” (cAss) . Paratypes: 2 , 8  [1  with additional label “ Laboulbeniales n. 3767, Walter Rossi”]: same data as holotype (cAss) ; 12 exs.: “ CHINA: N-Sichuan [CH12- 26.], 70 km N Songpan, road S 301, above Gan lake , 33°15'26"N, 103°46'03"E, 2700 m, spruce forest with birch, litter, mushrooms, moss, and dead wood sifted, 12.VIII.2012, M. Schülke ” ( MNB, cAss) ; 1 ex., same data, leg. Wrase ( MNB) .

Etymology: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective: slim, slender) alludes to the conspicuously slender habitus of this species.

Description: Body length 3.4–4.3 mm; length of forebody 1.5–1.9 mm. Habitus ( Fig. 8 ) very slender. Colouration: body reddish to reddish-brown with the head darkbrown to blackish-brown and with most of tergite VI and the anterior portion of tergite VII blackish; legs and antennae reddish.

Head approximately as long as broad or weakly oblong; punctation moderately coarse and dense; interstices without microsculpture. Eyes small, composed of approximately 30 ommatidia, less than half as long as postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna 1.1–1.3 mm long, weakly incrassate apically; antennomere IV weakly oblong; antennomere X slightly more than 1.5 times as broad as long.

Pronotum weakly transverse, 1.15–1.20 times as broad as long and 1.15–1.20 times as broad as head, broadest anteriorly and strongly tapering posteriad, strongly convex in cross-section; lateral margins weakly sinuate near posterior angles in dorsal view; punctation denser than that of head and somewhat granulose; interstices without microsculpture.

Elytra approximately 0.9 times as long as pronotum; punctation very coarse and distinctly granulose, much coarser than that of head and pronotum; interstices without microsculpture. Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen significantly broader than elytra, broadest at segment VI, without microsculpture; tergites III–VI with pronounced, deep anterior impressions; anterior impressions of tergites III–V in the middle with distinct, densely and coarsely punctate elevation, laterally nearly smooth; discs of tergites III–V with distinct and weakly granulose punctation; anterior impression of tergite VI with very coarse punctures; disc of tergite VI and all of tergites VII– VIII with moderately sparse and very fine punctation; posterior margin of tergite VII with narrow rudiment of a palisade fringe.

: tergite VII without keel; tergite VIII without keel or tubercle, posterior margin weakly concave in the middle; posterior margin of sternite VIII convex, with long thin marginal setae; median lobe of aedeagus approximately 0.55 mm long, shaped as in Figs 65–66, with pair of pronounced claw-shaped apical internal structures; paramere slightly longer than median lobe and shaped as in Fig. 67.

: posterior margin of tergite VIII of similar shape as in male or with truncate posterior margin; sternite VIII with convex posterior margin; spermatheca small, shaped as in Fig. 68.

Comparative notes: Leptusa procera is readily distinguished from L. tectusoides , the only other representative of the subgenus Chondrelytropisalia known from Sichuan, by numerous external characters alone: significantly larger body size ( L. tectusoides : body length 3.1 mm; length of forebody 1.2 mm), much longer and more massive antennae ( L. tectusoides : length of antennae 0.8 mm), much more coarsely and granulosely punctate and longer elytra, the medially elevated and differently punctate anterior impressions of the abdominal tergites III–V. Aside from these differences, L. procera is distinguished from L. tectusoides by a much larger aedeagus with internal structures of completely different shapes. For illustrations of L. tectusoides see ASSING (2002).

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated to the north of Songpan in North Sichuan, China. The specimens were sifted in a spruce forest with interspersed birch at an altitude of 2700 m. Two of the paratypes were infested with Monoicomyces sp. , Laboulbeniales (det. W. Rossi).

Figures

Figs 1–8: Male habitusof Leptusaspp.1 – L.excisa; 2 – L.grandipennis; 3– L.auriculata; 4– L.gonggana; 5– L.emeiana; 6 – L. jizuica;