Euconnus (Tetramelus) comorensis Franz, 2024

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2024, The ‘ curse of Horaeomorphus’ (almost) lifted. Revision of misplaced species from Madagascar, Comoros and Mascarenes (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 5505 (1), pp. 1-96 : 67-69

Euconnus (Tetramelus) comorensis Franz , stat rev.

( Figs 248–255 )

Euconnus (Anthicimorphus) comorensis Franz, 1986b: 250 .

Horaeomorphus comorensis (Franz) ; Jałoszyński (2014b): 12, result of placing Anthicimorphus as junior synonym of Horaeomorphus .

Type material studied. Holotype (Comoros): ♂, four labels: “Grande Comore / Convalescence 1700m / IX-59 Raharizonina” [white, printed], “INSTITUT / SCIENTIFIQUE / MADAGASCAR ” [bluish, printed], “ Euconnus / Anthicimorphus / comorensis m. / det. H.Franz ” [yellowish, handwritten and printed], “Typus” [red, handwritten] ( NHMW).

Revised diagnosis. Body ( Fig. 248 ) slender, only sides of vertex and pronotal disc with sparse bristles, elytra with short and sparse setae; head ( Figs 249–250 ) rhomboidal, with vertex posteriorly strongly rounded; pronotum bell-shaped, broadest between middle and anterior third, lacking antebasal pits, with shallow and diffuse transverse antebasal groove; antenna ( Fig. 251 ) slender but short, with antennomeres 1–9 each elongate (8 and 9 indistinctly so) and 10 indistinctly transverse; aedeagus ( Figs 252–255 ) in ventral view bottle-shaped and broadest near middle, ventral apical wall broadly subtriangular with rounded distal margin, dorsal apical wall forming strongly elongate narrow subtriangular process with rounded apex, each paramere slender, gradually and weakly broadening distally, with several conspicuously long apical setae.

Redescription. Body of male ( Fig. 248 ) strongly elongate and flattened, light brown with slightly lighter elytra, legs (especially tarsi), antennae and palps slightly lighter than head and pronotum; setae yellowish; BL 1.80 mm.

Head ( Figs 249–250 ) in anterodorsal view rhomboidal, about as long as broad, broadest at eyes, HL 0.30 mm, HW 0.35 mm; temple in lateral view ( Fig. 250 ) about as long as eye; vertex and frons confluent, together weakly convex and weakly elongate; vertex posteriorly strongly rounded; each eye large and strongly convex but weakly projecting from head silhouette, not emarginate posteriorly. Frons and vertex virtually impunctate, sparsely covered with long suberect setae, lateral regions of vertex and genae with thick bristles. Antenna ( Fig. 251 ) slender but short, as long as about half BL, with indistinctly delimited tetramerous club, AnL 0.95 mm, antennomeres 1–9 each elongate (8 and 9 indistinctly so) and 10 indistinctly transverse, 11 nearly as long as 9 and 10 combined, similar in width to 10, about 2.2 times as long as broad.

Pronotum bell-shaped, broadest between middle and anterior third; PL 0.45 mm, PW 0.35 mm. Anterior margin strongly rounded, lateral margins strongly rounded in anterior half, weakly sinuate in posterior half; posterior corners blunt; posterior margin nearly straight. Base with shallow and diffuse transverse groove. Disc impunctate and covered with sparse long suberect setae, bristles present on lateral areas and hypomera.

Elytra together oval, broadest slightly anterior to middle where sides are indistinctly angulate; EL 1.05 mm, EW 0.63 mm, EI 1.68; humeral calli angulate and weakly elevated, basal elytral foveae vestigial but discernible. Elytra impunctate and sparsely covered with short suberect setae.

Legs long and slender, unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Figs 252–255 ) relatively slender, AeL 0.25 mm; in ventral view bottle-shaped, broadest near middle, distally gradually narrowing; ventral apical wall broadly subtriangular and short, with rounded distal margin, dorsal apical wall much longer and forming narrow subtriangular process with rounded distal margin, endophallic sclerites complex and asymmetrical; each paramere slender, weakly and gradually broadening distally, with several conspicuously long apical setae

Female. Not studied (see Remarks).

Distribution. Comores (Grande Comore Island).

Remarks. Euconnus comorensis is most similar to the Malagasy congener E. angustissimus , but because the latter is known from a single female, it was not possible to verify whether these are separate species..

In addition to the holotype male deposited at NHMW, Franz (1986b) listed also one paratype female, which he deposited in Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris .

Figures

FIGURES 248–255. Euconnus (Tetramelus) comorensis Franz, holotype. Habitus in dorsal view (248); head in anterodorsal view (249); head and prothorax in lateral view (only bristles on head are shown) (250); antenna (251); aedeagus in ventral (252, 254) and lateral (253, 255) views.