Pseudolathra vellicans, Assing, 2012

Assing, V., 2012, The Pseudolathra species of the East Palaearctic and the Oriental regions (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 62, pp. 299-330 : 319-320

Pseudolathra vellicans sp. n. ( Figs 40-44 , Map 3 )

Type material:

Holotype ♂: “ Kheri Rau, Siwaliks . / Dr. M. Cameron. 30.X.1021. / M. Cameron. Bequest. B.M. 1955-147. / cafrum / Holotypus ♂ Pseudolathra vellicans sp. n., det. V. Assing 2012” ( BMNH) . Paratypes: 1 ♀: same data as holotype (cAss) ; 1 ♀: “ Kaldhunga , Haldwani Dn. 26.3. ‘23. HGC.” ( BMNH) ; 1 ♀: “ Timli , Siwaliks. / Dr. Cameron. 27.XI.21 / M. Cameron. Bequest. B.M. 1955- 147. / cafrum” ( BMNH) ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀: “ Haldwani Dist. Kumaon, India. H. G. C. / G.C. Champion coll. B.M. 1927-409” ( BMNH, cAss) ; 1 ♀: “ Mohan Rau , Siwaliks, U.P. / Dr. Cameron. 12.10.21. / M. Cameron. Bequest. B.M. 1955-147. / cafrum” ( BMNH) ; 2 ♀♀: “ India: U.P., Saharanpur Div. , Siwalik Hills, 8.iv.1928. H.G. Champion. / cafrum” ( BMNH) .

Comment:

This species is evidently conspecific with Last´s (1966) interpretation of P. caffra , as is suggested by his schematic drawing of the aedeagus.

Etymology:

The specific epithet (present participle of the Latin verb vellicare: to pinch) alludes to the pair of claw-like apical structures of the aedeagus.

Description:

Body length 5.8-7.8 mm; length of forebody 3.05-3.50 mm. Coloration variable: head reddish to blackish; pronotum reddish; elytra brown to blackish, along suture, lateral and posterior margins, and at humeral angles usually more or less extensively reddish; abdomen reddish to dark-brown; legs and antennae yellowish to reddish yellow.

Dorsal portion of head almost impunctate; punctures usually confined to lateral and posterior portions. Antennae rather fine and short, approximately 2.0 mm long. Other external characters as in P. pulchella .

♂: sternite VII not distinctly modified; sternite VIII distinctly oblong, posterior excision narrow, sharply acute at apex, and deep, its depth approximately half the length of sternite ( Fig. 40 ); aedeagus conspicuously large in relation to body size, 1.4 mm long, and of highly distinctive shape: apically with pair of claw-shaped structures extending beyond apex of dorsal plate ( Figs 41-42 ); ventral process slender, laterally compressed, somewhat dagger-shaped in lateral view, and apically distinctly bifid in ventral view ( Figs 43-44 ).

Comparative notes:

Pseudolathra vellicans is distinguished from the highly similar P. pulchella only by the slightly shorter and finer antennae (in P. pulchella usually longer than 2.0 mm and slightly more massive), the on average more extensively impunctate dorsal surface of the head, the different shape of the male sternite VIII, and particularly by the completely different morphology of the aedeagus.

Distribution:

This species is currently known only from several localities in Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh, northern India.

Figures

Map 3: Distributions of Pseudolathra pulchella (triangles; open triangles: female-based records), P. vellicans (filled circles), P. transversicollis (open squares), based on revised records.

Figs 38-44: Pseudolathra pulchella from Malaysia (38-39) and P. vellicans (40-44): male sternite VII (38); male sternite VIII (39-40); aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (41-42); ventral process of aedeagus in ventral view (43); apex of ventral process of aedeagus in ventral view (44). Scale bars: 38-43: 0.5 mm; 44: 0.2 mm.