Leptusa (Yunnaleptusa) zhemomontis, Assing, 2010

Assing, V., 2010, Three new species of Leptusa from Yunnan, with a catalogue of the Leptusa species recorded from China and Taiwan (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 42 (2), pp. 1155-1167 : 1156-1158

Leptusa (Yunnaleptusa) zhemomontis nov.sp. ( Figs 1-9 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d Holotype: " China: Yunnan, Dali Bai Aut. Pref., Zhemo Shan, 7 km SW Xiaguan, 25°32-33'N, 100°10-11'E, 2870-2970 m, scrub with bamboo, oaks & Rhododendr., litter sifted, 18.IX.2009, leg. M. Schülke [ CH 09-60] / Holotypus Leptusa zhemomontis sp. n. det. V. Assing 2010" (cAss). Paratypes: 22 exs.: same data as holotype (OÖLL, cSch, cAss).

D e s c r i p t i o n: Small species, 1.8-2.3 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 1 . Coloration: forebody reddish, with the head occasionally slightly darker; abdomen blackish-brown to blackish, with the anterior segments somewhat paler brown and the apex (segments VIII- X) reddish; legs and antennae reddish to dark-reddish.

Head weakly transverse; punctation moderately sparse, fine, and shallow; interstices with very shallow to indistinct microsculpture. Eyes small, weakly projecting from lateral contours of head, shorter than postocular portion in dorsal view. Antenna moderately incrassate apically; antennomere IV approximately as long as wide, V-X of gradually increasing width and increasingly transverse; X nearly twice as wide as long.

Pronotum large in relation to head and elytra, strongly convex in cross-section, approximately 1.30-1.35 times as wide as long and 1.30-1.35 times as wide as head, maximal width in the middle; lateral margins evenly convex in dorsal view; posterior angles weakly marked; punctation much denser and slightly more distinct than that of head.

Elytra slightly narrower than, or – at most – as wide as pronotum; approximately 0.65 times as long as pronotum; punctation much coarser than that of head and pronotum. Hind wings reduced.

Abdomen subparallel, widest at segments V/VI, wider than elytra; punctation fine, sparser on posterior than on anterior tergites; microsculpture indistinct; tergite VII without sexual dimorphism; posterior margin of tergite VII with narrow rudiment of a palisade fringe.

: sternite VII unmodified; tergite VIII without modifications, posterior margin weakly concave in the middle ( Fig. 2 ); sternite VIII posteriorly broadly convex, weakly produced in the middle ( Fig. 3 ); median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 4-6 ) approximately 0.35 mm long and of distinctive morphology; paramere of similar shape and chaetotaxy as that of other species of the subgenus.

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: posterior margin of tergite VIII indistinctly concave in the middle ( Fig. 7 ); posterior margin of sternite VIII broadly convex, in the middle weakly concave ( Fig. 8 ); spermathecal capsule with very short proximal portion ( Fig. 9 ).

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E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet is composed of Zhemo, the name of the mountain where the type locality is situated, and the genitive of the Latin noun mons (mountain).

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Based on the primary and secondary sexual characters, L. zhemomontis undoubtedly belongs to the subgenus Yunnaleptusa ASSING 2008 . In the recent key to the species of this subgenus ( ASSING 2008), L. zhemomontis would key out at couplet 2 together with L. parvibulbata , most likely its sister species, as can be inferred from the similar external appearance and particularly by the highly similar male sexual characters. Both species are reliably distinguished only by the morphology of the aedeagus, particularly the shape of the crista apicalis, the shape of the ventral process ( L. parvibulbata : more strongly arched in ventral view and without the small projection at the base), as well as the different shapes of the internal structures.

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d b i o n o m i c s: Leptusa zhemomontis is known only from the type locality, the Zhemo Shan to the south of Xiaguan, Yunnan province. The type specimens were sifted from litter in a shrub habitat (oak, rhododendron, bamboo) at an altitude of 2870-2970 m.

Figures

Figs 1-9: Leptusa zhemomontis nov.sp. (1, 5-6: holotype): (1) habitus; (2) male tergite VIII; (3) male sternite VIII; (4-5) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (6) apical portion of median lobe in ventral view; (7) female tergite VIII; (8) female sternite VIII; (9) spermatheca. Scale bars: 1: 1.0 mm; 2-8: 0.1 mm; 9: 0.05 mm.