Tetartopeus truncatus, Assing, 2009

Assing, V., 2009, New species and additional records of Lathrobium and Tetartopeus from the Palaearctic region (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 41 (2), pp. 1269-1283 : 1279

Tetartopeus truncatus nov.sp. ( Figs 20-23 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype 3: " Primorskij Kraj, Ussurijskij Nat.Res., 100 km N von Wladiwostok / 23.-24.VII.1991, leg. F. Hieke / Holotypus 3 Tetartopeus truncatus sp. n., det. V. Assing 2009 " ( MNHUB) . Paratypes: 13 [slightly teneral]: " Primorskij Kraj, Lasurnij bereg, 28.VII.1991, leg. F. Hieke " ( MNHUB) ; 13: " Primorskij Kraj, Barabasch-Lewada , 30.VII.- 1.VIII.1991 / ca. 40 km WNW v. Kamen Rybolow, leg. F. Hieke " (cAss) .

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 4.8-5.5 mm. Coloration: body blackish, with the posterior 1/4-1/3 of the elytra yellowish; legs reddish-yellow; antennae dark-reddish.

Head approximately 1.1 times as long as wide ( Fig. 20 ); punctation moderately coarse and not very dense, interstices on average wider than diameter of punctures; median dorsal area without, lateral and posterior dorsal area with shallow traces of microsculpture. Eyes approximately half as long as postocular region from posterior margin of eye to neck. Antenna slender; antennomere IV approximately twice as long as wide; X approximately 1.5 times as long as wide.

Pronotum 1.15-1.20 times as long as wide and approximately 1.1 times as wide as head; punctation similar to that of head or slightly coarser, of variable density; interstices without microsculpture and shiny ( Fig. 20 ).

Elytra relatively short, approximately 0.8 times as long as pronotum ( Fig. 20 ); punctation rather dense, shallower and less defined than that of pronotum; interstices without distinct microsculpture.

Abdomen approximately as wide as elytra; punctation very fine and very dense; interstices with distinct fine microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

3: posterior margin of tergite VIII convexly produced in the middle ( Fig. 21 ); posterior margin of sternite VII weakly concave in the middle; sternite VIII in posterior 2/3 of median portion with cluster of black setae, posterior margin with V-shaped incision in the middle ( Fig. 22 ); aedeagus with short ventral process of distinctive shape ( Fig. 23 ).

♀: unknown.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Tetartopeus truncatus is distinguished from all its congeners by the distinctive morphology of the aedeagus, from all other representatives of the genus distributed in the Eastern Palaearctic region also by the combination of short elytra and the broadly and distinctly yellowish posterior portion of the elytra. Other species recorded from the Eastern Palaearctic have either longer or differently coloured elytra (either uniformly blackish or with indistinctly or narrowly yellowish posterior margin). For illustrations of the sexual characters of T. baicalicus (EPPELSHEIM 1878) , T. lentus RYVKIN 1989 , T. niger (LECONTE 1863) , and T. poppiusi ( KOCH 1939) see COIFFAIT (1982) and RYVKIN (1989).

E t y m o l o g y: This specific epithet (Latin, adjective) alludes to the short ventral process of the aedeagus.

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d b i o n o m i c s: The species is known from three localities in the Russian Far East. Bionomic data are not available.

Figures

Figs 20-28: Tetartopeus truncatus nov.sp. (20-23) and T. inexcisus nov.sp. (24-28): (20, 25) forebody; (21) male tergite VIII; (22, 26) male sternite VIII; (23, 27) aedeagus in lateral view; (24) habitus; (28) apical portion of aedeagus. Scale bars: 24: 1.0 mm; 20-23, 25-27: 0.5 mm; 28: 0.1 mm.