Nazeris hebes, Assing, 2017

Assing, Volker, 2017, A revision of Nazeris IX. Three new species from Nepal and additional records (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 49 (1), pp. 307-315 : 311-312

Nazeris hebes nov.sp. ( Figs 5-8 , 10 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype 3: " NEPAL, E, Therathum distr., N Basantapur, 2650-2700 m, 28.-29.V.2016, leg. J. Schmidt, 27°10'21''N, 87°45'14''E A / Holotypus 3 Nazeris hebes nov.sp. det. V. Assing 2016 " (NME). Paratypes: 233, 1♀: same data as holotype (NME, cAss).

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective: blunt) alludes to the apically blunt ventral process of the aedeagus in lateral view, one of the characters distinguishing this species from the similar N. imberbis ASSING, 2014 .

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 5.7-6.5 mm; length of forebody 3.1-3.3 mm. Coloration: body dark-brown to black; legs pale-yellowish; antennae yellowish, with the basal antennomeres slightly darker.

Head ( Fig. 5 ) weakly oblong or as long as broad; frons depressed; postero-median portion of dorsal surface somewhat elevated; punctation dense, coarse, and nonumbilicate, extensively confluent in median and antero-median portion of dorsal surface; interstices forming narrow ridges. Eyes less than one-third as long as distance from posterior margin of eye to posterior constriction of head. Antenna approximately 1.8 mm long.

Pronotum ( Fig. 5 ) 1.15-1.20 times as long as broad and approximately 0.85 times as broad as head; punctation very coarse, slightly coarser than that of head, very dense everywhere, partly slightly confluent.

Elytra ( Fig. 5 ) 0.55-0.60 times as long as pronotum; punctation similar to that of pronotum, but not confluent.

Abdomen broader than elytra; punctation dense and coarse, slightly less coarse and less dense on posterior than on anterior tergites; interstices without microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

3: sternite VII ( Fig. 6 ) strongly transverse, approximately 1.7 times as broad as long, with unmodified and moderately sparse pubescence, posterior margin very shallowly concave, without median excision; sternite VIII ( Fig. 10 ) transverse, posterior excision anteriorly rounded (not acute) and moderately deep, barely 0.25 times as deep as length of sternite, anterior to this excision with impression without pubescence; aedeagus ( Figs 7-8 ) approximately 0.75 mm long and of distinctive shape; ventral process with minute median excision apically in ventral view; dorso-lateral apophyses slender, moderately sclerotized, apically weakly dilated, and short, apically extending slightly beyond base of ventral process.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Like N. biapicalis , N. hebes belongs to the N. flavocaudatus group. Regarding the shape of the aedeagus, it is most similar to N. imberbis from Solu Khumbu and Bhojpur districts, East Nepal. Nazeris hebes differs from this species by the denser and extensively confluent punctation of the head, by the shape of the posterior excision of the male sternite VIII ( N. imberbis : posterior excision deeper and anteriorly acute), and by the shape of the aedeagus ( N. imberbis : ventral process basally broader in ventral view and apically acute in lateral view). For illustrations of N. imberbis see ASSING (2014b). For characters distinguishing N. hebes from the syntopic N. trapezilobus see the comparative notes in the following section.

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: Thetypelocalityissituatedto the north of Basantapur in Therathum district, East Nepal. The specimens were collected at an altitude of 2650-2700 m, together with the similar and closely related N. trapezilobus .

Figures

Figs 1-8: Nazeris biapicalis nov.sp. (1-4) and N. hebes nov.sp. (5-8): (1, 5) forebody; (2, 6) male sternite VII; (3-4, 7-8) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view. Scale bars: 1, 5: 1.0 mm; 2, 6: 0.5 mm; 3-4, 7-8: 0.2 mm.

Figs 9-15: Nazeris biapicalis nov.sp. (9), N. hebes nov.sp. (10), and N. trapezilobus nov.sp. (11- 15): (9-10, 13) male sternite VIII; (11) forebody; (12) male sternite VII; (14-15) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view. Scale bars: 11: 1.0 mm; 9-10, 12-13: 0.5 mm; 14-15: 0.2 mm.