Leptusa (Aphaireleptusa) grandipennis, 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 : 115

Leptusa (Aphaireleptusa) grandipennis spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:476EFE09-A2F0-4227-8F55-AEC9D658E159

( Figs 2 , 13 , 26–29)

Type material: Holotype : “ 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 / Holotypus  Leptusa grandipennis sp. n. det. V. Assing 2020” ( MNB) . Paratype : same data as holotype, but leg. Wrase (cAss) .

Etymology: The specific epithet (adjective) alludes to the remarkably large elytra (in relation to the head and pronotum).

Description: Body length 3.0– 3.1 mm; length of forebody 1.4–1.5 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 2 . Colouration: body blackish; legs pale-brown, with the metafemora darker brown and the tarsi yellowish; antennae with antennomeres I–IV reddish-yellow and V–XI dark-brown to blackish-brown.

Head ( Fig. 13 ) weakly transverse; punctation coarse, very dense, and somewhat umbilicate; interstices reduced to narrow ridges, with shallow microsculpture. Eyes large and strongly convex, longer than postocular region in lateral view. Antennae slender, gradually and weakly incrassate apically, preapical antennomeres less than 1.5 times as broad as long.

Pronotum ( Fig. 13 ) 1.2 times as broad as long and 1.2 times as broad as head; maximal width in anterior half; posterior angles angularly marked; punctation coarse, very dense, asperate, and partly rugosely confluent, particularly along middle; interstices without microsculpture.

Elytra ( Fig. 13 ) conspicuously large in relation to head and pronotum, approximately 1.2 times as long and nearly 1.4 times as broad as pronotum; punctation coarse, dense, and defined.

Abdomen much narrower than elytra; punctation distinct and rather dense, very coarse and very dense in anterior impressions of tergites III–V; interstices with very shallow, nearly obsolete microreticulation on tergites III–V and with very distinct microreticulation on tergites VI–VII; posterior margin of tergite VII with distinct palisade fringe.

: posterior margin of tergite VIII weakly concave in the middle (Fig. 28); posterior margin of sternite VII truncate, without pronounced fringe of long setae; posterior margin of sternite VIII angularly pointed in the middle (Fig. 29); median lobe of aedeagus small, only 0.33 mm long, and shaped as in Figs 26–27; apical lobe of paramere of similar shape as in L. chinensis .

: unknown.

Comparative notes: Among the species of the subgenus Aphaireleptusa , L. grandipennis is most similar to L. chinensis , from which it differs by much more slen- der antennae, much larger and more prominent eyes, a relatively smaller and more slender head and pronotum, larger and longer elytra (in relation to the pronotum), confluent punctation of the pronotum, and a significantly smaller aedeagus ( L. chinensis : median lobe approximately 0.5 mm long). For illustrations of other Aphaireleptusa species known from mainland China see PACE (1997, 1999, 2001, 2010) and ASSING (2002, 2006).

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated to the north of Songpan, Sichuan. The specimens were sifted from litter in a forest with dominant spruce and interspersed birch at an altitude of 2700 m.

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;

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.