Gyrophaena (Gyrophaena) sexualis Cameron, 1939

Enuschenko, Ilya V. & Shavrin, Alexey V., 2021, On some species of Gyrophaenina Kraatz 1856 of Sri Lanka and India (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Homalotini), Zootaxa 5032 (3), pp. 331-356 : 348

Gyrophaena (Gyrophaena) sexualis Cameron, 1939

( Figs 71–77 )

Gyrophaena sexualis Cameron, 1939: 111

Type material examined: Syntypes of Gyrophaena sexualis Cameron 1939: 2 ♂# [one male dissected; labels as in Fig. 77 ], 1 ♀ [dissected]: ‘ Ghum distr. Mangpo v-31 Dr. Cameron’, ‘SYN- TYPE’, ‘ M. Cameron. Bequest. B.M. 1955–147.’, ‘ Gyrophaena sexualis Cameron Enushchenko I.V. inv. 2019’ ( BMNH) .

Redescription. Body length 2.50 mm. Forebody narrow ( Fig. 71 ). Head, apical parts of elytra and abdominal tergites dark brown; antennomeres 4–11 and pronotum reddish-brown; apical part of elytra and basal abdominal tergites yellow-brown; mouthparts, antennomeres 1–3 and legs yellow. Head 1.2 times as wide as long, with very indistinct reticulate microsculpture and fine (0.01 mm diam.), sparse punctation on lateral portions. Basal antennomere 1.7 times as long as wide, antennomere 2 distinctly narrower, more than twice as long as wide, 3 small, strongly transverse, 4 wider than 3, 1.3 times as wide as long, 5–10 slightly wider and shorter than 4, apical antennomere twice as long as wide. Pronotum 1.3 times as wide as long and head, with evenly rounded lateral margins; microsculpture as that on head; punctation irregular, fine (0.01 mm diam.), denser in median and basal portion, with two large (0.06 mm diam.), deep punctures near basal margin. Elytra about twice as wide as long; punctation fine (0.01 mm diam.), moderately dense; microsculpture absent. Abdomen distinctly narrower than elytra, sub-parallel.

Male. Median lobe with moderately wide dorsal projection and very long, folded flagellum; ventral plate shorter and slightly narrower than dorsal projection, slightly widened in preapical portion, with curved subacute apex ( Fig. 72 ). Apical margin of abdominal tergite VIII with two moderately long and slightly curved inwards latero-apical projections and with two significantly smaller, narrow teeth between them ( Fig. 73 ). Apical margin of abdominal sternite VIII somewhat truncated ( Fig. 74 ).

Female. Apical margin of abdominal tergite VIII truncated, slightly concave in middle ( Fig. 75 ). Apical margin of abdominal sternite VIII rounded ( Fig. 76 ).

Comparative notes. Based on the microsculpture of the body, shape of the male abdominal tergite VIII and general structure of the aedeagus G. sexualis is is similar to Nepalese G. jhyariensis Pace 2006 , described from ’ 25 km N Jumla…’ ( Pace 2006), from which it differs by the larger body, different shape of the apical margin of the male abdominal tergite VIII, and details of apical structure of the aedeagus (ventral plate shorter, more curved apically, dorsal projection longer, with different apical details).

Distribution. India (West Bengal).

Figures

FIGURES 71–77. Gyrophaena sexualis (syntype): 71–habitus, 72–aedeagus, lateral view, 73–male abdominal tergite VIII, dorsal view, 74–male abdominal sternite VIII, ventral view, 75–female abdominal tergite VIII, dorsal view, 76–female abdominal sternite VIII, ventral view, 77–type labels. Scale bars: 1.0 mm (Fig. 71), 0.10 mm (Figs 72–76).