Paraphloeostiba opacicollis Steel, 1960

Shavrin, Alexey V., 2020, New species and records of Paraphloeostiba Steel, 1960 from China and Laos and descriptions of four new species of related genera (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae Omaliinae: Omaliini), Zootaxa 4890 (3), pp. 301-329 : 312-313

Paraphloeostiba opacicollis Steel, 1960

( Figs. 28–36 )

Paraphloeostiba opacicollis Steel, 1960: 150

Type material examined. Holotype of Paraphloeostiba opacicollis Steel, 1960 ♀ (tergites and sternites VII–VIII, apical part of the abdomen, female genital segment and spermatheca are missing): ‘HOA-BINH | TONKIN 1930 | CLERMONT’ <printed>, ‘opacicollis | Brnh.Typus | un.Phloeonom[u]s’, <orange, handwritten in black Indian ink> ‘Chicago NHMus | M.Bernhauer | Collection’ <printed>, ‘ Paraphloeostiba | opacicollis Steel | TYPE’ <handwritten in black Indian ink>, ‘ HOLOTYPE | teste D.J.Clarke2014 | GDI Imaging Project’ <violet, printed>, ‘PHO-TOGRAPHED | Kelsey Keaton 2014 | Emu Catalog’ <blue, printed>, ‘( FMNH barcode in left side of label) FMNHINS | 2819653 | FIELD MUSEUM’ <printed> ( FMNH).

The photographs of the habitus and type labels are available in the Arthropod Collections Database of FMNH (last access: 14.11.2020) .

Material examined: 2 ♀♀: ‘LAOS—Houa Phan prov. , | Phou Pane Mt., 20°13’N, | 104°00’E, 1480–1510 m, | 22.IV.–14. V .2008. | leg. V. Kubáň ( NHMB)’ ( CA); 5 ƋƋ , 5 ♀♀: ‘LAOS—Houa Phan | prov., Phou Pane Mt., | 20°13’N, 104°00’E, | 1480–1510 m, 22.IV.– | 14. V .2008, lg. V. Kubáň’ (1 Ƌ, 1 ♀: CS; 4 ƋƋ, 4 ♀♀: CA) .

Redescription. Measurements (n=12): HW: 0.42–0.51; HL: 0.26–0.31; AL (averaged): 0.60; OL: 0.12–0.15; PL: 0.32–0.38; PW: 0.61–0.68; ESL: 0.59–0.65; EW: 0.84–0.95; AW: 0.81–0.88; MTbL(averaged): 0.40; MTrL (averaged): 0.17 (MTrL 1–4: 0.07; MTrL 5: 0.10); AedL: 0.40–0.45; TL: 2.13–3.32 (length of the holotype ( Steel 1960): 2.50) .

Body and antennomeres 6–11 yellow-brown to brown or reddish-brown, with darker head, middle of pronotum, and latero-apical and apical portions of elytra; mouthparts, antennomeres 1–5, intersegmental membranes between tergites of abdomen, and legs yellow. Head with dense isodiametric microsculpture, coarser in middle and on infraorbital ridges; neck with transverse meshes, larger than that on head; pronotum with very dense, coarse isodiametric sculpture, slightly coarser than that on head, with indistinct, moderately dense, and deep punctation; scutellum with distinct isodiametric meshes, without punctures; elytra with punctation sparser and larger than that on pronotum, with regular, dense, isodiametric microsculpture distinctly coarser than that on pronotum; abdomen with fine, indistinct punctation and transverse microreticulation. Forebody as in Fig. 17 in Steel (1960).

Head flattened or indistinctly convex in middle and posterior portions between ocelli and eye; distance between ocelli about as long as distance between ocellus and posterior margin of eye. Antennomere 2 slightly narrower than basal antennomere, 3 slightly longer than 2, 5 slightly wider than 4, 6 transverse, twice as broad as long, 7–10 transverse, slightly more than twice as broad as long, apical antennomere about twice as long as 10.

Pronotum with flattened middle portion, distinctly transverse, 1.7–1.9 times as broad as long, 1.3–1.4 times as broad as head, widest approximately in middle, more narrowed posteriad than anteriad; anterior margin distinctly concave; paramedian longitidinal impressions distinct, wide, with additional narrow impression between them in medioapical third.

Elytra 1.4 times as broad as long, with moderately wide, flattened lateral margins.

Male. Posterior margin of abdominal tergite VIII somewhat rounded ( Fig. 31 ). Posterior margin of abdominal sternite VIII deeply concave, with small, rounded median protrusion ( Fig. 32 ). Aedeagus narrow, with moderately wide basal bulb, gradually narrowing toward rounded apex ( Figs. 28, 30 ); parameres narrow, nearly exceeding apex of median lobe, with three moderately long apical setae, and several additional, short setae on inner and outer edges of middle portion of each paramere; internal sac narrow, long, with narrow sclerotized structures in basal portion. Aedeagus laterally as in Fig. 29 .

Female. Posterior margin of abdominal tergite VIII straight ( Fig. 33 ). Posterior margin of abdominal sternite VIII rounded ( Fig. 34 ). Female accessory sclerite asymmetric, with narrow, long apical portion ( Fig. 35 ). Spermatheca as in Fig. 87 in Steel (1960).

Comparative notes. Regarding body size and the shapes of the transverse pronotum and the aedeagus, P. opacicollis is similar to that of P. similis Steel, 1960 from Sumatra, but differs by the base of the pronotum not sinuate on each side, a wider median lobe of the aedeagus, and the apical portions of the parameres. The shape of the female genital segment and spermatheca is similar to that of P. impressicollis (Cameron, 1924) from Sumatra.

For illustrations of the compared species see Steel (1960).

Distribution. The species is known from the northern parts of Vietnam and Laos ( Fig. 36 ).

Remarks. Paraphloeostiba opacicollis was originally described from “ Hoa Binh ”, northern Vietnam ( Steel 1960). The shape of the female accessory sclerite is illustrated in figure 88 ( Steel 1960) and Fig. 35 . The spermatheca is similar to that of P. impressicollis , which is illustrated in figure 87 in Steel (1960). Based on external morphology and the shape of the female accessory sclerite, the specimens from Laos are conspecific with P. impressicollis ( Steel 1960) . A future study of the type and additional material of the Sumatran P. impressicollis and P. similis may reveal that these names are synonymous.

Figures

FIGURE 36. Distribution of Paraphloeostiba opacicollis in Vietnam and Laos.

FIGURES 28–30. Aedeagus of Paraphloeostiba opacicollis (Laos): 28, 30: parameral view, 29—lateral view. Scale bar: 0.1 mm.

FIGURES 31–35. Abdominal segments of Paraphloeostiba opacicollis: 31—male tergite VIII (dorsal view), 32—male sternite VIII (ventral view), 33—female tergite VIII (dorsal view), 34—female sternite VIII (ventral view), 35—female accessory sclerite. Scale bar: 0.1 mm.

FIGURES 15–17. Aedeagus of Paraphloeostiba brancuccii (15, 17: parameral view, 16: lateral view): 15–16—paratype, Xieng Khouang, 17—paratype, Bolikhamsay. Scale bar: 0.1 mm.