Oxytelus tibetanus Bernhauer, 1933

Lü, Liang & Zhou, Hong-Zhang, 2012, 3576, Zootaxa 3576, pp. 1-63 : 53-55

Oxytelus tibetanus Bernhauer, 1933

( Figs. 1N, P; 21A–O)

Bernhauer, 1933: 27 (subgenus Tanycraerus ; Type locality: Grenze Thibet Ost: Tatsienlu; Herman, 1970: 411; Herman, 2001: 1461 (distribution); Smetana, 2004: 517 (subgenus Tanycraerus ; distribution).

Material examined. 6 specimens, 4 males and 2 females. 1 male, Grenze Thibet Ost : Tatsien-lu [=CHINA: Sichuan, Ganzi (or Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture), Kangding (=Dardo)], Em. Reitter. // Oxytelus tibetanus Brnh., Typ. un.// tibetanus Bernh. , Typus unic.// Chicago NHMus, M.Bernhauer Collection // Oxytelus tibetanus Bernh., P. M. Hammond , det. 1970, LECTOTYPE ♂ ( FMNH); CHINA, Sichuan, Baoxing: 1 male, Guobayan, 2295m, Cyclobalanopsis forest, pitfall trap, 4–7.VIII.2003, Xiao-Dong Yu leg. ( IZ-CAS); 1 male, Fengtongzhai, Dashuigou, 1500m, waterside, 3.IX.2005, Xiao-Yan Li leg. ( IZ-CAS); 1 male, same data as previous except: Cai- Yun Zhao leg. ( IZ-CAS); 2 females, Longdong, Ganyanggou, 1795m, dead wood, 12.VIII.2003, Xiao-Dong Yu leg. ( IZ-CAS).

Redescription. Body black. Mandibles, maxillary palpi, first 4 antennomeres, elytra, and legs testaceous or dark brown. Length [average] male, 5.6 mm; female, 4.8 mm.

Male. Head ( Fig. 21A) widest at temples. Disc densely punctate, nearly glabrous. Clypeus elongated, protruding largely beyond anterior margin of supra-antennal ridges, longer than 1/3 head length, strongly depressed in middle, surface glabrous and coriaceous in depressed region, scattered with sparse fine punctures in anterior part; anterior margin emarginate and slightly thickened. Epistomal suture with lateral portions broadly incurved and running backward to level of anterior margin of eyes. Vertex densely punctate, slightly convex; midlongitudinal suture obvious, two punctate paralateral sutures running anteriorly to level of middle of eyes. Eyes with fine facets, shorter than (in some cases as long as) temples. Temples broadly rounded and obviously dilated posterolaterally. Occipital suture with middle portion remarkable and punctate, but obsolete or in some individuals); nuchal ridge interrupted in middle, dorsal basal ridge present.

Mandible ( Fig. 21C) robust and strongly curved; two denticles on inner edge, one near middle and one near apex and tiny. Antenna (type I) as long as or a little shorter than head and pronotum together, with apical antennomere shorter than two preceding together.

Pronotum transverse, broadest at about anterior 1/3, almost as broad as (but in some cases broader than) head. Disc 5-sulcate (as Fig. 1I), median sulcus and two paramedial sulci deep and punctate; two paralateral sulci straight, shorter, each with punctate and strigose depression on lateral side. Lateral margins even but finely crenulate at prominent posterolateral angles. Elytra punctate and striate, without lateral longitudinal ridge.

Abdomen coriaceous and pubescent, broadest at segment V. Sternite VII ( Fig. 21E) with posterior margin straight, narrowly and transparently membranous, near middle bearing two denticles, between which weakly emarginate. Sternite VIII ( Fig. 21F) with subbasal ridge continuous and straight in middle, with shallow ovoid depression in center and adjacent to subbasal ridge; posterior margin protruding into long and slim lobe, with two teeth at base, apex truncate or slightly emarginate and with fine and bent transverse carina a little behind. Tergite X ( Fig. 21H) weakly longer than wide, posterior margin truncate, with two lines of setae on haired posterior part.

Aedeagus ( Figs. 1N, P; 21K–O). Median lobe elongated ovoid, with sclerite-like or membranous structures inside; apico-medial hook bent at middle, apex pointed and weakly upcurved, with transverse ridge (like process in lateral view) in front of corner, basal part high erect but not produced; dorsal membranous area covering most of dorsum of median lobe but not across whole length. Paramere arm-like, with seta at apical 1/3, with apex narrowed, with triangular dorsal process at apical 1/3, and quadrangular ventral process at near corner, both of two processes rolled medially.

Female. Head ( Fig. 21B) smaller than male, narrower than pronotum; clypeus plane or weakly depressed and protruding lightly beyond anterior margin of supra-antennal ridges, with anterior margin slightly emarginate; temples a little shorter than eyes, not dilated; mid-longitudinal suture nearly invisible; occipital suture present in middle. Mandible ( Fig. 21D) smaller.

Abdominal sternite VII without denticles on posterior margin. Sternite VIII ( Fig. 21G) with posterior margin broadly rounded and not protruding in middle. Tergite IX with sharp projection on anterior margin of each ventral plate, at same place of male “ventral strut”. Tergite X ( Fig. 21I) almost diamond-shaped, with anterior margin narrow and posterior margin truncate.

Spermatheca ( Fig. 21J) ʋ- shaped, almost right-angled at middle, basal portion slightly inflated, apex curved.

Distribution. China (Sichuan, Xizang).

Remarks. Oxytelus almorensis , O. houomontis , O. jessoensis , O. laqueatus , O. robustus , and O. tibetanus are here grouped into laqueatus -allied species, because they have similar shape of habitus, head, pronotum and elytra, and even shape of the posterior margin of sternites VII–VIII. Clearly, O. tibetanus differs from the other species by the shape of paramere, the smaller apical orifice, and the shape of internal sac.