Elocomosta nigra Hansen, 1989

Lin, Renchao, Jia, Fenglong & Fikacek, Martin, 2016, A review of Elocomosta Hansen with a description of a new species with reduced eyes from China (Coleoptera, Hydrophilidae, Sphaeridiinae), ZooKeys 607, pp. 81-92 : 86-90

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Hydrophilidae

Elocomosta nigra Hansen, 1989 Figs 1-3, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15-16, 18, 21-22, 24, 26, 28, 32

Elocomosta nigra Hansen, 1989: 255.

Type material examined.

Paratype. 1 female (NMPC): SARAWAK / Semengoh For. / Reserve. 11 mi. / SW Kuching / 1-4.vi.1968 / R. W. Taylor // PARATYPE / Elocomosta / nigra / M. Hansen.

Additional material examined.

1 female (NMPC): BORNEO: Sarawak / Kuching, Santubong / 26.3.1990 / leg. A. RIEDEL.

Redescription.

Habitus. Body widely oval in dorsal view, moderately convex in lateral view. Length 2.5-2.9 mm, width 1.7-1.9 mm. Coloration. Dorsum of head, pronotum and elytron uniformly black, margins only very indistinctly and narrowly paler. Maxillary palpi and antennae yellow-brown. Venter black to dark brown, tarsi and mouthparts reddish to reddish yellow. Head. Clypeus with sparse and very fine punctures, interstices smooth; anterior and lateral marginal portions of clypeus without microsculpture. Frons with punctation slightly coarser than on clypeus. Eyes well developed, strongly constricted laterally by anterior and posterior projections of frons; dorsal portion large, dorsally eyes divided by distance of 4.4 × the dorsal width of one eye, ventral portion small. Labrum nearly completely concealed by clypeus. Surface of mentum without microsculpture. Thorax. Pronotum with very fine and sparse punctation, punctures slightly smaller than on frons; surface between punctures smooth, without microsculpture; posterolateral corners rectangular, not projecting posteriad. Elytra not explanate laterally, interval punctation consisting of punctures coarser than on pronotum; epipleura moderately wide. Mesoventral plate circular, ca. as long as wide, with distinct but narrow marginal bead. Metaventrite short, metaventral process wide at base, narrowing anteriad. Metanepisternum with anterolateral tooth. Profemora with hydrofuge dense pubescence in basal 0.8. Male genitalia. Parameres ca. 1.4 × as long as phallobase, narrowly parallel-sided subapically, pointed at apex. Phallobase wide and long, posteriorly without manubrium. Median lobe a little longer than parameres, but with basal portion deeply inserted into phallobase, nearly parallel-sided below gonopore, apically abruptly narrowed into pointed apex; gonopore situated subapically.

Biology.

Terrestrial species, part of type series was collected from rainforest leaf litter ( Hansen 1989). No biology data are available on locality labels in the specimens examined by us.

Distribution.

Endemic to Borneo (Sarawak State, Malaysia).