Leptusa (Yunnaleptusa) monscangi, 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 : 122

Leptusa (Yunnaleptusa) monscangi spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:2B2ECDE0-93FD-42BB-BF27-6D7C7B8E38BC

(Figs 19, 69–76)

Type material. Holotype : “P. R. CHINA, Yunnan, E slope Cangshan at Dali, N25°40'24.1", E100°05'57.6", 17.v.2010, 3806 m, sifting15, V. Grebennikov / Holotypus  Leptusa monscangi sp. n. det. V. Assing 2020” ( CNC) . Paratypes: 12 exs.: same data as holotype ( CNC, cAss) ; 4 exs.: “P. R. CHINA, Yunnan, E slope Cangshan at Dali, N25°39'54.4", E100°05'53.0", 15.v.2010, 3991 m, sifting14, V. Grebennikov ” ( CNC, cAss) ; 7 exs.: “P. R. CHINA, Yunnan, E slope Cangshan at Dali, N25°40'01.9", E100°05'45.5", 15.v.2010, 4063 m, sifting13, V. Grebennikov ” ( CNC, cAss) ; 7 exs.: “P. R. CHINA, Yunnan, E slope Cangshan at Dali, N25°40'14.7", E100°06.'12.0", 17.v.2010, 3827 m, sifting16, V. Grebennikov ” ( CNC, cAss) ; 4 exs.: “P. R. CHINA, Yunnan, E slope Cangshan at Dali, N25°40'07.6", E100°06'12.9", 18.v.2010, 3887 m, sifting18, V. Grebennikov ” ( CNC, cAss) ; 11 exs.: “P. R. CHINA, Yunnan, E slope Cangshan at Dali, N25°39'54.7", E100°06'04.5", 19.v.2010, 3815 m, sifting19, V. Grebennikov ” ( CNC, cAss) ; 2 exs.: exs.: “ CHINA, Yunnan, Cang Shan at Dali, N25°40'12", E100°06'10", 3740 m, 05.vii.2011, sift37, V. Grebennikov” ( CNC, cAss) .

Etymology: The specific epithet is a noun composed of the Latin noun mons (mountain) and the genitive of the name of the mountain where this species may be endemic.

Description: Body length 1.6–2.2 mm; length of forebody 0.8–1.0 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 19. Colouration: head reddish to blackish-brown; pronotum and elytra reddish; abdomen with segments III–IV reddish to blackish, V–VII blackish, and VIII–X reddish; legs and antennae reddish.

Head transverse; punctation fine and rather sparse; interstices with shallow microsculpture. Eyes slightly more than half as long as postocular region in lateral view. Antennae moderately slender, gradually and moderately incrassate apically, preapical antennomeres approximately 1.5 times as broad as long.

Pronotum approximately 1.3 times as broad as long and approximately 1.3 times as broad as head; maximal width slightly anterior to middle; posterior angles weakly marked, nearly obsolete; punctation fine and rather dense; microsculpture more distinct than that of head.

Elytra approximately 0.75 times as long as pronotum; punctation dense, more distinct than that of head and pronotum. Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen broader than elytra; punctation very fine and moderately dense; interstices with shallow microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII with narrow rudiment of a palisade fringe; tergites VII and VIII without pronounced sexual dimorphism; posterior margin of tergite VIII with weakly concave to weakly convex posterior margin (Figs 72, 74).

: posterior margin of sternite VIII convex (Fig. 73); median lobe of aedeagus approximately 0.35 mm long, shaped as in Figs 69–70; apical lobe of paramere moderately long and moderately slender (Fig. 71).

: posterior margin of sternite VIII convex (Fig. 75); spermatheca (Fig. 76) with long and slender apical invagination and with short proximal portion.

Comparative notes: As can be inferred from the similar external and sexual characters (structure of median lobe of aedeagus and paramere; shape of spermatheca; shapes of male and female sternite VIII; habitus and colouration), this species is undoubtedly very closely allied to L. recta and L. curvata , both of them endemic to individual mountains in North Yunnan. It is reliably distinguished from them only by the structure of the median lobe of the aedeagus. For illustrations of L. curvata and L. recta see ASSING (2006).

Distribution and natural history: The specimens were found by sifting litter in several close localities in Cang (Diancang) Shan, Northwest Yunnan, at high altitudes (3740–4060 m), in nearly all localities together with L. auriculata .