Heterotetramelus (Heterotetramelus) australis (Franz) Jałoszyński, 2021

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2021, New Caledonian species misplaced in Horaeomorphus Schaufuss belong in Heterotetramelus Franz (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4951 (1), pp. 130-136 : 132-133

Heterotetramelus (Heterotetramelus) australis (Franz) , comb. n.

Horaeomorphus australis Franz, 1971: 95 .

( Fig. 1 )

Type material examined. Holotype ( NEW CALEDONIA): ♀, three labels: „Riviere Bleue / S-Neu-Kaledonien / lg. H.Franz 1970” [white, printed] with „Pa53” handwritten on reverse side, „ Horaeomorphus / australis m. / det. H.Franz ” [yellowish, handwritten and printed], „Typus” [red, handwritten] ( NHMW).

Emended diagnosis. Female body over 2 mm in length, bicolored but not with strongly contrasting parts: elytra and legs light brown with umbra hue, head and prothorax distinctly darker brown, scapes nearly as dark as head, remaining antennomeres becoming slightly lighter toward antennal apices; eye small (eye diameter subequal to apical width of scape), round and weakly convex; antennomere 7 as long as broad, 8–10 each transverse; pronotum with distinct two pairs of dorsal antebasal pits connected by transverse groove interrupted at middle by short longitudinal wrinkle. Male characters unknown.

Redescription. Male unknown. Body of female ( Fig. 1 ) moderately slender and strongly convex, bicolored: elytra and legs light brown with umbra hue, head and prothorax distinctly darker brown, scapes nearly as dark as head, remaining antennomeres becoming slightly lighter toward antennal apices, setae distinctly lighter than elytra, yellowish-brown; BL 2.30 mm.

Head sub-pentagonal, broadest at eyes, HL 0.43 mm, HW 0.50 mm. Vertex and frons confluent, together sub- trapezoidal and weakly convex; supraantennal tubercles weakly elevated; tempora in dorsal view nearly twice as long as eyes; eye diameter subequal to apical width of scape, in lateral view eye nearly circular, very weakly convex and finely faceted. Punctures on frons and vertex fine, inconspicuous; setae dense, moderately long, suberect or erect; tempora with distinct long and dense thick bristles. Antennae slender and weakly gradually thickened, AnL 1.08 mm, antennomeres 1–6 each distinctly elongate (6 the least so), 7 as long as broad, 8–10 each distinctly, but not strongly transverse, 11 distinctly shorter than 9–10 combined, 1.7 × as long as broad.

Pronotum in dorsal view bell-shaped, broadest near anterior third, PL 0.63 mm, PW 0.58 mm; anterior margin and sides in anterior third rounded together; lateral margins in posterior half distinctly sinuate; posterior corners indistinctly obtuse-angled and blunt; posterior margin weakly arcuate. Base of pronotum with two pairs of distinct pits connected by transverse groove interrupted at middle by short longitudinal wrinkle. Punctures, setae and lateral bristles similar to those on head.

Elytra together oval, strongly and evenly convex, broadest slightly behind middle; EL 1.25 mm, EW 0.90 mm, EI 1.39; basal elytral impressions short but distinct; humeral calli weakly elevated, elongate; elytral apices separately rounded. Punctures on elytra superficial and indistinct; setae distinctly thicker and denser than those on head and pronotum, suberect.

Legs moderately long and slender, meso- and metatibiae slightly curved inwards.

Figures

FIGURES 1–3. Dorsal habitus of type specimens. Heterotetramelus australis (Franz), holotype female (1); H. baloghi (Franz), paratype female (2); H. novaecaledoniae (Franz), holotype male (3).