Tropimenelytron viaticum (PACE 1998)

Assing, V., 2011, Six new species and additional records of Aleocharinae from China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 43 (1), pp. 291-310 : 298

Tropimenelytron viaticum (PACE 1998) ( Figs 24-27 )

Pelioptera (Tropimenelytron) viatica PACE 1998c: 938 .

T y p e m a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d Holotype: " China, Sichuan, Gongga Shan, above Camp 3, 3050 m, 22.VII.1994, A. Smetana [C18] / Holotypus Pelioptera viatica m., det. R. Pace 96" ( MHNG) . Paratypes: 1: " China, Sichuan, Gongga Shan, Lake abv. Camp 2, 2750 m, 24.VII.1994, A. Smetana [C20]" ( MHNG) ; 1: " China, Sichuan, Gongga Shan, abv. Camp 3, 3300-3350 m, 23.VII.1994, A. Smetana [C19]" ( MHNG) ; 3: " China, Sichuan, Gongga Shan, above Camp 2, 2700 m, 26.VII.1994, A. Smetana [C26]" ( MHNG) .

C o m m e n t: The original description, which lacks any information whatsoever on the modifications of the male elytra, is based on eleven type specimens from the Gongga Shan in Sichuan ( PACE 1998c), eight of them deposited in the MHNG. Remarkably, the holotype is a female.

The male elytra are characterized by the presence of a short straight sutural carina on either side of the suture, close to the scutellum; these carinae barely reach the middle of the suture ( Fig. 24 ). The pronotum is of similar shape in males and females. The male tergite VII has a smooth and distinct median tubercle near the posterior margin. The male tergite and sternite VIII are shaped as in Figs 25-26 . The median lobe of the aedeagus is 0.46 mm long ( Fig. 27 ).

Figures

Figs 20-27: Tropimenelytron sinuosum nov.sp. (20-23) and T. viaticum PACE, paratype (24-27): (20, 24) forebody; (21, 27) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (22) median lobe of aedeagus in ventral view; (23) spermatheca; (25) male tergite VIII; (26) male sternite VIII. Scale bars: 20, 24: 0.5 mm; 25-26: 0.2 mm; 21-23, 27: 0.1 mm.