Euconnus (Tetramelus) matsaboryi 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 : 71-72

Euconnus (Tetramelus) matsaboryi Franz , stat rev.

( Figs 264–271 )

Euconnus (Anthicimorphus) matsaboryi Franz, 1986b: 241 .

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

Type material studied. Holotype ( Madagascar): ♂, three labels: “Madagascar Est / district Sambava / Marojejy / Matsabory 2030m / XII-58 Raharizonina” [white, printed], “ Euconnus / Anthicimorphus / matsaboryi m. / det. H.Franz ” [yellowish, handwritten and printed], “Typus” [red, handwritten] ( NHMW).

Revised diagnosis. Body ( Fig. 264 ) slender, only sides of vertex and pronotum with sparse bristles, dorsum asetose; head ( Figs 265–266 ) sub-pentagonal, with vertex posteriorly nearly straight; pronotum bell-shaped, broadest near anterior third, with one pair of barely discernible punctiform antebasal pits connected by sharply marked transverse groove; antenna ( Fig. 267 ) slender and long, with all antennomeres elongate, of which 4–6 are longest and each 3.5–4 times as long as broad; aedeagus ( Figs 268–271 ) in ventral view pear-shaped, broadest near proximal third, ventral apical wall broadly subtriangular with angulate but blunt distal margin, dorsal apical wall subrectangular, with truncate and almost straight distal margin, each paramere slender, not broadened, with three long apical setae.

Redescription. Body of male ( Fig. 264 ) elongate and slightly flattened, dark brown with slightly darker pronotum; legs (especially tarsi), antennae and palps slightly lighter than body; setae yellowish; BL 1.83 mm.

Head ( Figs 265–266 ) in anterodorsal view sub-pentagonal, about as long as broad, broadest at eyes, HL 0.33 mm, HW 0.35 mm; temple in lateral view ( Fig. 266 ) about as long as eye; vertex and frons confluent, together weakly convex and weakly transverse; vertex posteriorly truncate and only slightly rounded; each eye large and strongly convex but weakly projecting from head silhouette, with posterior margin nearly straight. Frons and vertex impunctate and asetose, genae with sparse thick bristles. Antenna ( Fig. 267 ) slender and long, distinctly longer than half BL, gradually thickened distally, AnL 1.15 mm, all antennomeres elongate, of which 4–6 are longest and each 3.5–4 times as long as broad, 11 slightly longer than 10 but much shorter than 9 and 10 combined, as wide as 10, about twice as long as broad.

Pronotum bell-shaped, broadest near 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 one pair of barely discernible punctiform pits connected by sharply marked transverse groove. Disc impunctate and asetose, bristles present on sides of pronotum and hypomera.

Elytra together slightly rhomboidal, broadest slightly behind middle; EL 1.05 mm, EW 0.70 mm, EI 1.50; humeral calli angulate and weakly elevated, basal elytral foveae barely discernible. Elytra impunctate and asetose.

Legs long and slender, unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Figs 268–271 ) relatively stout, AeL 0.33 mm; in ventral view pear-shaped, broadest near proximal third, distally weakly narrowing; ventral apical wall broadly subtriangular with blunt distal margin, dorsal apical wall with truncate distal margin, endophallic sclerites complex and asymmetrical; each paramere slender, with three long apical setae.

Female. Unknown (see Remarks).

Distribution. Northern Madagascar (Sava Region).

Remarks. The type specimens deposited at NHMW include the holotype and one female labeled as paratype. However, the female has a different shape of the elytra, and in my opinion is not conspecific with the holotype. Franz (1986b) mentions also three more females collected together with the holotype. Although he suspects that they do not belong to E. matsaboryi , he nevertheless lists them in his paper. Two of these females, identified as E. matsaboryi with a question mark, are at NHMW, and they clearly belong to a different species (somewhat similar to E. vulgaris , and quite dissimilar to the holotype of E. matsaboryi ).

Euconnus matsaboryi is externally similar to other Malagasy species with slender bodies, distinctly elongate pronota and asetose or nearly asetose dorsum, as E. imaitsanus , E. sogaensis , or E. tamatavae . Among them, E. matsaboryi is unique in all antennomeres strongly elongate, especially 4–6, which are the longest and each is 3.5–4 times as long as broad. Euconnus matsaboryi has the aedeagus most similar to that of E. imaitsanus , including some components of the endophallus and setal pattern on parameral apices. Shapes of the ventral and dorsal apical plates of median lobes are clearly different in these species, and E. imaitsanus has stouter antennae, with the longest antennomere 5 only 2.5 times as long as broad.

Figures

FIGURES 264–271. Euconnus (Tetramelus) matsaboryi Franz, holotype. Habitus in dorsal view (264); head in anterodorsal view (265); head and prothorax in lateral view (only bristles on head are shown) (266); antenna (267); aedeagus in ventral (268, 270) and lateral (269, 271) views.