Leptusa (Drepanoleptusa) jizuica, Assing, 2021

Assing, Volker, 2021, New species and additional records of Leptusa from the Palaearctic region, with a focus on the faunas of China and the Caucasus region (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 71 (1), pp. 103-126 : 119-120

Leptusa (Drepanoleptusa) jizuica spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D1844B8D-2B3B-4388-933D-F2F98883B6A6

( Figs 6 , 17 , 58–60)

Type material: Holotype  [teneral]: “ CHINA: Yunnan, Dali Bai Aut. Pref., Jizu Shan , summit plateau, 37 km NE Dali, 25°58'30"N, 100°21'36"E, 3150 m, mixed forest, sifted from litter, moss & mushrooms, 5.IX.2009, leg. M. Schülke [CH09-28] / Holotypus  Leptusa jizuica sp. n. det. V. Assing 2020” ( MNB).

Etymology: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from the name of the mountain where the holotype was collected.

Description: Body length 2.3 mm; length of forebody 1.0 mm. Habitus slender ( Fig. 6 ). Colouration (note that the holotype is slightly teneral]: head blackish-brown; pronotum brown; elytra dark-yellow with the scutellar region diffusely darker; abdomen pale-brown with tergite VI and the anterior portions of tergites V and VII darker; legs yellow; antennae pale-brown with the basal three antennomeres dark-yellow.

Head ( Fig. 17 ) approximately as long as broad; punctation very coarse and dense, interstices reduced to narrow ridges. Eyes longer than postocular region in lateral view. Antenna slender; antennomeres IV weakly oblong, V–VI approximately as long as broad, VII–X increasing in width and increasingly transverse, and X barely 1.5 times as broad as long.

Pronotum ( Fig. 17 ) approximately 1.3 times as broad as long and 1.25 times as broad as head; maximal width in anterior half; posterior angles obtusely marked; punctation as coarse and as dense as that of head.

Elytra ( Fig. 17 ) slightly longer than pronotum; punctation as dense as, and even coarser than that of pronotum. Abdomen narrower than elytra; tergites III–V with anterior impressions densely and coarsely punctate; punctation on remainder of tergal surfaces moderately fine and moderately dense; interstices with distinct microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII with narrow palisade fringe.

: tergites VII and VIII unmodified (Fig. 59); posterior margin of sternite VIII obtusely produced in the middle (Fig. 60); median lobe of aedeagus (Fig. 58) approximately 0.25 mm long, with ventral process and internal structures of distinctive shapes; apical lobe of paramere rather short.

: unknown.

Comparative notes: This species is readily distinguished from all other congeners recorded from China by the distinctive shapes of the ventral process and the internal structures of the aedeagus and additionally by the combination of small size, slender habitus, and conspicuously coarse punctation of the forebody.

Distribution and natural history: The slightly teneral holotype was found in Jizu Shan, Northwest Yunnan, by sifting litter in a mixed forest at an altitude of 3150 m.

Figures

Figs 1–8: Male habitusof Leptusaspp.1 – L.excisa; 2 – L.grandipennis; 3– L.auriculata; 4– L.gonggana; 5– L.emeiana; 6 – L. jizuica;

Figs 9–18: Male habitus (9–11) and forebody (12–18) of Leptusa spp. 9, 15 – L. habana; 10 – L. monscangi; 11 – L. pathibarana; 12 – L. excisa; 13 – L. grandipennis; 14 – L. gonggana; 16 – L. auriculata; 17 – L. jizuica; 18 – L. desculpens. Scale bars:9–16: 1.0 mm; 17–18: 0.5 mm.