Euconnus (Tetramelus) sogaensis 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 : 74-76

Euconnus (Tetramelus) sogaensis Franz , stat rev.

( Figs 280–287 )

Euconnus (Anthicimorphus) sogaensis Franz, 1986b: 243 .

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

Type material studied. Holotype ( Madagascar): ♂, four labels: “ Madagascar / Marojejy-Oust / 1140 m, X 1959 ” [white, printed], “ ♂ ” {white, printed], “ Euconnus / Anthicimorphus / sogaensis m. / det. H.Franz ” [yellowish, handwritten and printed], “Typus” [red, handwritten] ( NHMW) . Paratypes: 2 ♀♀, same data as for holotype, but with yellow “ PARATYPUS ” labels ( NHMW) .

Revised diagnosis. Body ( Fig. 280 ) slender, only sides of vertex and pronotum with sparse bristles, entire dorsum asetose; head ( Figs 281–282 ) round, with vertex posteriorly broadly rounded; pronotum bell-shaped, broadest near anterior third, with one pair of small round antebasal pits connected by diffuse transverse groove; antenna ( Fig. 283 ) short, with antennomeres 1–9 elongate (9 indistinctly so), 10 indistinctly transverse; aedeagus ( Figs 284–287 ) in ventral view oval, broadest slightly distal to basal third, ventral apical wall truncate, dorsal apical wall forming subtrapezoidal process with truncate distal margin, each paramere slender, slightly broadening in subapical region, with two long apical and two long subapical setae.

Redescription. Body of male ( Fig. 280 ) elongate and flattened, head and pronotum dark brown, elytra light brow; legs (especially tarsi), antennae and palps slightly lighter than elytra; setae yellowish; BL 1.80 mm.

Head ( Figs 281–282 ) in anterodorsal view round, as long as wide, broadest at eyes, HL 0.33 mm, HW 0.33 mm; temple in lateral view ( Fig. 282 ) about as long as eye; vertex and frons confluent, together weakly convex and as long as broad; vertex posteriorly broadly rounded; each eye large and strongly convex but weakly projecting from head silhouette, shallowly emarginate posteriorly. Frons and vertex impunctate and asetose, genae with sparse thick bristles. Antenna ( Fig. 283 ) as long as half BL, with indistinctly delimited tetramerous club, AnL 1.88 mm, antennomeres 1–9 elongate (9 indistinctly so), 10 indistinctly transverse, 11 much longer than 10 but much shorter than 9 and 10 combined, as wide as 10, about 1.7 times 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 small round pits connected by diffuse transverse groove. Disc impunctate and asetose, bristles present on sides of pronotum and hypomera.

Elytra together oval, broadest near middle; EL 1.03 mm, EW 0.65 mm, EI 1.58; humeral calli angulate and weakly elevated, basal elytral foveae barely discernible. Elytra impunctate and asetose.

Legs long and slender, unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Figs 284–287 ) stout, AeL 0.33 mm; in ventral view oval, broadest slightly distal to basal third, distally weakly narrowing; ventral apical wall truncate with straight distal margin, dorsal apical wall forming broadly subtrapezoidal process with truncate distal margin, endophallic sclerites complex and asymmetrical; each paramere slender, weakly broadening in subapical region, with two long apical and two long subapical setae.

Female. Externally indistinguishable from male. BL 1.78–1.83 mm; HL 0.33–0.35 mm, HW 0.35–0.38 mm, AnL 0.93 mm; PL 0.45 mm, PW 0.38 mm; EL 1.00– 1.03 mm, EW 0.68–0.70 mm, EI 1.43–1.52.

Distribution. Northern Madagascar (Sava Region).

Remarks. In addition to the male holotype and two female paratypes deposited at NHMW, Franz (1986b) mentions also one male and two female paratypes deposited in Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.

Euconnus sogaensis belongs to a group of species with asetose dorsum and elongate pronotum (see Remarks for E. matsaboryi ). It can be identified by its relatively short antennae with all antennomeres elongate except for antennomere 10 which is indistinctly transverse, and by unique aedeagal structures.

Figures

FIGURES 280–287. Euconnus (Tetramelus) sogaensis Franz, holotype. Habitus in dorsal view (280); head in anterodorsal view (281); head and prothorax in lateral view (only bristles on head are shown) (282); antenna (283); aedeagus in ventral (284, 286) and lateral (285, 287) views.