Thoracostrongylus diaoluoensis, Yang & Zhou & Schillhammer, 2011

Yang, Zhuo, Zhou, Hong-Zhang & Schillhammer, Harald, 2011, Taxonomy of the genus Thoracostrongylus Bernhauer (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) with descriptions of five new species from China, Journal of Natural History 45 (7 - 8), pp. 407-433 : 418-419

Thoracostrongylus diaoluoensis sp. nov.

( Figures 1D , 5 A–G)

Type material

Holotype. Male, CHINA: Hainan, Diaoluo Mountain [18 ◦ 43’N, 109 ◦ 52’E], 950 m, 2004.VII.29, Jie Wu, Yongjie Chen coll. (IZCAS).

Paratypes. 1 male, CHINA: Hainan, Diaoluo Mountain [18 ◦ 43’N, 109 ◦ 52’E], 931 m, 2004.VII.31, Jie Wu, Yongjie Chen coll. (IZCAS) ; 1 male, Hainan, Wuzhi Mountain [18 ◦ 53’N, 109 ◦ 39’E], 780 m, 2004.VII.11, Jie Wu, Yongjie Chen coll. (IZCAS) ; 1 female, Hainan, Diaoluo Mountain [18 ◦ 43’N, 109 ◦ 52’E], 950 m, 2004.VII.29, Jie Wu, Yongjie Chen coll. (IZCAS) ; 1 female, Hainan, Diaoluo Mountain [18 ◦ 43’N, 109 ◦ 52’E], 931 m, 2004.VII.31, Jie Wu, Yongjie Chen coll. (IZCAS) .

Description

Measurements. Body length: 11.1 – 11.2 mm. ♂ (mean, n = 3): HL: 1.47; HW: 2.04; CL: 0.97; PO: 0.25; PL: 1.87; PW: 1.58; EL: 2.24; EW: 2.35; ELS: 1.20. ♀ (mean, n = 2): HL: 1.53; HW: 2.15; CL: 1.08; PO: 0.28; PL: 1.85; PW: 1.66; EL: 2.35; EW: 2.48; ELS: 1.23.

Male. Body elongate, nearly parallel. Head and pronotum bronze with brassy lustre, with scattered grey pubescence; mandibles dark brown with tip almost black, maxillary palpi, labial palpi and first four segments of antennae brown; elytra brassy, with scattered spots of grey pubescence; 3 – 7th abdominal tergites brown; legs pale brown, femora with black ring at midlength and distal end.

Head large, transverse, oval, distinctly wider than pronotum; eyes large and prominent, occupying almost entire sides, longitudinal diameter nearly four times as long as temporal region; vertex with a small longitudinal specular spot medially; surface densely covered with coarse umbilicate punctures, punctures bearing exceedingly short setae. Antennae relatively short; 1st segment longest, 2nd narrower than and almost half as long as 1st, 3rd somewhat longer than 2nd, 4th narrower and shorter than 2nd, 5–10th gradually increasing in breadth, longer than wide, last segment nearly twice as long as wide and subacuminate towards tip.

Pronotum oblong and well convex, moderately longer than wide, and much narrower than elytra; widest at level of large lateral seta, slightly narrowed towards rounded anterior angles, distinctly concavely narrowed towards base; anterior margin almost straight, posterior margin moderately convex, hind angles broadly rounded; punctation and pubescence similar to that on head. Scutellum triangular, with dense, black, velvety pubescence.

Elytra subquadrate, distinctly dilated posteriorly; surface densely and finely punctate.

Abdomen gradually narrowed towards apex, with scattered yellow pubescence, 3 – 7th tergites with a pair of black tomentose spots medially; apical margin of 8th tergite slightly emarginate medially, with numerous long black setae along margin; apical margin of 8th sternite ( Figure 5A ) slightly and narrowly excised medially; 10th tergite ( Figure 5B ) distinctly wider than long, posterior margin almost straight with numerous long black setae in apical third; apical margin of 9th sternite ( Figure 5C ) emarginate medially.

Male genital organ ( Figures 5 F–G) well sclerotized; median lobe elongate, in ventral view symmetrical and subparallel, slightly constricted above phallobase, with two semi-transparent subapical spots, apex moderately sharply pointed; in lateral view moderately curved ventrad, with two subapical, dorsal, tooth-like extensions; paramere slender, symmetrical, gradually narrowed towards apex, longer than half length of median lobe, with two short apical setae.

Female. First four segments of front tarsus similar to those of male. Genital segment with second gonocoxite ( Figure 5E ) with minute stylus bearing one long apical seta; 10th tergite ( Figure 5D ) wider than long, posterior margin bisinuate and with several long black setae near apical margin.

Remarks

In general appearance, the species is similar to Th. malaisei Scheerpeltz, 1965 , but can be distinguished from the latter by bigger eyes, wider elytra and different shape of the male genital organ.

Distribution

China (Hainan).

Etymology

The species is named after the type locality, Diaoluo Mountain National Nature Reserve in Hainan Province, China .

Figures

Figure 1. (A) Thoracostrongylus acerosus sp. nov.; (B) Thoracostrongylus aduncatus sp. nov.; (C) Thoracostrongylus baoxingensis sp. nov.; (D) Thoracostrongylus diaoluoensis sp. nov.; (E) Thoracostrongylus fujianensis sp. nov.; (F) Thoracostrongylus birmanus, (Fauvel, 1895).

Figure 5. Thoracostrongylus diaoluoensis sp. nov., holotype, male and female from Hainan, China. (A) 8th sternite, male; (B) 10th tergite, male; (C) 9th sternite, male; (D) 10th tergite, female; (E) genital segment with second gonocoxite, female; (F) aedeagus, ventral view; (G) aedeagus, lateral view. Scale bar 1 mm.