Notocousya quadriceps, Assing, 2018

Assing, Volker, 2018, A new genus of Oxypodini from China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 50 (2), pp. 1119-1124 : 1123-1124

Notocousya quadriceps nov.sp. ( Figs 1-14 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype ♀: " CHINA (N-Yunnan) Zhongdian Co., Xue Shan , 10 km SW Zhongdian, 3700-3800 m, 27°46.5'N, 99°36.5'E (primary mixed forest, leaf litter sifted) 20.VIII.2003 Wrase [10A] / Holotypus ♀ Notocousya quadriceps sp. n., det. V. Assing 2018" (Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin).

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet is an adjective composed of the Latin noun quadra (cuboid) and the adjectival suffix ceps (-headed). It alludes to the conspicuous shape of the head.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 4.6 mm; length of forebody 2.2 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 1 . Coloration: head and pronotum blackish; elytra blackish-brown; abdomen blackish, with the apex (segments VIII-X and posterior margin of segment VII) paler; legs with dark reddish-brown femora and dark-reddish tibiae and tarsi; antennae blackishbrown with the basal two antennomeres slightly paler; maxillary palpi dark-brown with the apical palpomere yellowish.

Head ( Fig. 2 ) of oblong quadrangular shape, 1.1 times as long as broad; temples long, nearly as long as eyes, and parallel; punctation fine, dense, and shallow; interstices with distinct microreticulation. Eyes of moderate size and moderately convex. Antenna ( Fig. 4 ) 1.2 mm long and weakly incrassate; antennomeres IV-VI approximately as long as broad, VII weakly transverse, VII-X of gradually increasing width and increasingly transverse, X less than 1.5 times as broad as long, and XI approximately as long as the combined length of IX and X.

Pronotum ( Fig. 5 ) small, approximately 1.15 times as broad as long and 1.1 times as broad as head, broadest at the sharply marked posterior angles; punctation extremely fine and dense, barely noticeable in the distinct microreticulation.

Elytra ( Fig. 5 ) large and long in relation to pronotum, 1.3 times as long as pronotum; punctation and microsculpture similar to those of pronotum. Hind wings present. Legs slender ( Fig. 7 ); metatarsi nearly as long as metatibiae; meso- and metatarsomeres distinctly elongate.

Abdomen ( Fig. 6 ) much narrower than elytra; punctation extremely fine and dense, barely visible in the distinct microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

♂: unknown.

♀: posterior margin of tergite VIII convex ( Fig. 11 ); posterior margin of sternite VIII convex, in the middle indistinctly angled, with modified marginal setae, these setae dense in the middle ( Figs 12-13 ); spermatheca as in Fig. 14.

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d n a t u r a l h i s t o r y: Thetypelocalityissituated in the Xue Shan near Zhongdian, Northwest Yunnan, China. The holotype was sifted from litter in a primary mixed forest at an altitude of 3700-3800 m. Since only a single specimen has been collected despite some collecting activity in the region, it appears likely that the record is somewhat accidental and that the true reproduction habitat is of a cryptic nature.

Figures

Figs 1-7: Notocousya quadriceps: habitus (1); head in dorsal view (2); head in ventral view (3); antenna (4); forebody (5); abdomen (6); hind leg (7). Scale bars: 1: 1.0 mm; 4-7: 0.5 mm; 2-3: 0.2 mm.

Figs 6-14: Notocousya quadriceps: maxilla (8); labium (9); thorax in ventral view (10); female tergite VIII (11); female sternite VIII (12); posterior margin of female sternite VIII (13); spermatheca (14). Scale bars: 10: 0.5 mm; 11-12: 0.2 mm; 8-9, 13-14: 0.1 mm.