Pomphopsilla bifurcata, Jałoszyński, 2024

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2024, Three new species of Pomphopsilla Jałoszyński in Togo (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 5471 (2), pp. 287-292 : 289-290

Pomphopsilla bifurcata sp. n.

( Figs 2 , 5 , 7 )

Type material. Holotype: ( TOGO): ♂, three labels: “TOGO PALIME / Forêt de Klouto / 20-24-IV-74 S. Vit ” [white, printed], “ Coll. S. Vit / MHNG - 2021” [white, printed], “ POMPHOPSILLA / bifurcata m. / P. Jałoszyński, '24 / HOLOTYPUS” [red, printed] ( MHNG) . Paratypes (2 exx): 2 ♂♂, same data as for holotype except that “Klouto” is crossed out and replaced with handwritten “Kpimé”; paratypes with yellow “PARATYPUS” labels (cPJ, MHNG) .

Diagnosis. Body ( Fig. 2 ) light brown; pronotum and elytra with inconspicuously fine punctures; pronotum with five antebasal pits: two pairs of circular and small lateral pits and slightly transverse median pit; aedeagus in ventral view ( Fig. 5 ) with deeply bifurcate apex forming lateral lobes and with weakly sclerotized and simple endophallus.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 2 ) strongly elongate, weakly convex, light brown. BL 0.68–0.73 mm.

Head broadest at large, strongly convex and coarsely faceted eyes, HL 0.08 mm, HW 0.16–0.18 mm; vertex strongly transverse, weakly convex, anteriorly confluent with subtriangular and similarly weakly convex frons; supraantennal tubercles small but distinct; punctures on frons and vertex fine and inconspicuous; setae very short and sparse, recumbent; frontal glands present, each situated behind supraantennal tubercle and near mesal margin of eye. Antenna moderately long, with abruptly broadened club composed of two antennomeres, AnL 0.29–0.33 mm, antennomeres 1 and 2 each elongate, 3 indistinctly transverse, 4 as long as broad, 5–9 each indistinctly elongate, 10 indistinctly transverse, 11 slightly broader and slightly longer than 10, about as long as broad.

Pronotum subrectangular with broadly rounded anterior corners, broadest near anterior fourth; PL 0.23 mm, PW 0.25 mm.Anterior margin nearly straight; anterior corners in strictly dorsal view not visible; lateral margins rounded in anterior third and nearly straight in posterior half, indistinctly microserrate; posterior corners obtuse-angled; posterior margin with narrow and rounded emargination in front of mesoscutellum, sides of posterior margin barely noticeably concave; pronotal base with five pits: inner and outer lateral pairs of circular and similarly small pits, and with slightly transverse distinct median pit. Punctures on pronotal disc inconspicuously fine; setae short, moderately dense, recumbent.

Elytra oval, broadest slightly anterior to middle; EL 0.38–0.43 mm, EW 0.28–0.30 mm, EI 1.33–1.42; humeral calli small but distinctly elevated, slightly elongate. Punctures and setae similar as those on pronotum.

Hind wings well developed.

Legs moderately long and slender, unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Fig. 5 ) stout, AeL 0.10 mm; median lobe in ventral view drop-shaped with deeply bifurcate apex forming a fishtail-like structure; endophallus weakly sclerotized, with median tubular structure; parameres slender, their apices not reaching apex of aedeagus, each with one long apical seta.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. Southern Togo ( Fig. 7 ).

Etymology. The specific adjective bifurcata refers to the unusually shaped apex of the aedeagus.

Remarks. This species is externally unremarkable, but the bifurcate aedeagal apex is a unique feature and allows for unambiguous identification.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Distribution of nominal Pomphopsilla species, with aedeagus of each species in ventral view (P. felicitas is known from a single female, and P. crenata is known from a single male with a strongly distorted aedeagus).

FIGURES 1–3. Dorsal habitus of holotype males. Pomphopsilla spinosa sp. n. (1); P. bifurcata sp. n. (2); P. klotoensis sp. n. (3).

FIGURES 4–6. Aedeagus in ventral view. Pomphopsilla spinosa sp. n. (4); P. bifurcata sp. n. (5); P. klotoensis sp. n. (6).