Leptusa (Chondrelytropisalia) pathibarana, 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 : 124

Leptusa (Chondrelytropisalia) pathibarana spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:ED968EFF-8133-4318-992C-A4D401C04ADB

( Figs 11 , 31–32, 77–79)

Type material: Holotype : “E-NEPAL, D: Taplejung, W-slope Pathibara 3000–3400 m, 14./ 16.V.2016, 27°26'20"N, 87°46'44"E, leg. J. Schmidt / Holotypus  Leptusa pathibarana sp. n. det. V. Assing 2017 ” ( NME) . Paratypes: 2 exs.: same data as holotype ( NME) ; 6 exs.: same data, but “E-slope” [probably erroneous, since the coordinates are identical to those of the holotype] ( NME, cAss) .

Etymology: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from the name of the mountain where the type locality is situated.

Description: Body length 3.1–3.5 mm; length of forebody 1.4–1.5 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 11 . Colouration: forebody reddish-brown to dark-brown; abdomen reddish-brown to blackish-brown, with the posterior margins of the tergites and the abdominal apex reddish to yellowish red; legs brown to dark-brown; antennae brown with antennomeres I–III and XI reddish.

Head (Fig. 31) approximately as long as broad; punctation coarse and dense; interstices narrower than diameter of punctures, with or without very shallow microsculpture visible only at high magnification. Eyes small, composed of approximately 30–40 ommatidia, approximately half as long as postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna 0.9–1.0 mm long, weakly incrassate apically; antennomere IV oblong; antennomere X approximately 1.5 times as broad as long.

Pronotum (Fig. 31) weakly transverse, approximately 1.1 times as broad as long and 1.20–1.25 times as broad as head, strongly convex in cross-section; lateral margins sinuate near posterior angles in dorsal view; punctation distinct and dense, somewhat less coarse than that of head; interstices without microsculpture; pubescence long, pale, and sub-erect to erect.

Elytra (Fig. 31) 0.85–0.90 times as long as pronotum; punctation very coarse, much coarser than that of head; interstices without microsculpture. Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen (Fig. 32) approximately as broad as elytra; tergites III–VI with pronounced, deep anterior impressions; punctation rather sparse and fine; interstices without microsculpture and very glossy; posterior margin of tergite VII with narrow rudiment of a palisade fringe; tergites VII and VIII with sexual dimorphism.

: tergite VII with marked, long and narrow median keel extending along at least the posterior half of tergite (Fig. 32); tergite VIII with weakly pronounced median keel in posterior portion, posterior margin distinctly concave in the middle and somewhat serrate (due to insertions of marginal setae); posterior margin of sternite VII indistinctly concave and with conspicuously long and dark marginal setae; posterior margin of sternite VIII obtusely pointed in the middle; median lobe of aedeagus approximately 0.42 mm long, shaped as in Figs 77–78; paramere slightly longer than median lobe, with short and broad apical lobe.

: posterior margin of tergite VIII weakly concave in the middle; sternite VIII with convex posterior margin; spermatheca small, shaped as in Fig. 79.

Comparative notes: The subgenus Chondrelytropisalia is currently represented by ten species and seven subspecies distributed in the Himalaya from Central Nepal to Sikkim and West Bengal, and in China (Yunnan, Sichuan, and Shaanxi provinces). Leptusa pathibarana is reliably distinguished from all of them by the shape of the median lobe of the aedeagus in lateral view. For illustrations of the sexual characters of other species recorded from East Nepal see PACE (1989) and ASSING (2011a).

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated in Mount Pathibara in the extreme northeast of Nepal, very close to the border with the Indian province Sikkim. The type specimens were collected at an altitude between 3000 and 3400 m.

Figures

Figs 9–18: Male habitus (9–11) and forebody (12–18) of Leptusa spp. 9, 15 – L. habana; 10 – L. monscangi; 11 – L. pathibarana; 12 – L. excisa; 13 – L. grandipennis; 14 – L. gonggana; 16 – L. auriculata; 17 – L. jizuica; 18 – L. desculpens. Scale bars:9–16: 1.0 mm; 17–18: 0.5 mm.