Paederus borailicus, Assing, 2013

Assing, V., 2013, Three new species of Paederinae from Northeast India (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 45 (2), pp. 1561-1570 : 1567-1569

Paederus borailicus nov.sp.

( Figs 11-17 , Map 1 )

Type material: Holotype: " India: Assam, North #8a, Cachar Hills dist., Mt Borail , Borail Peak , 1700 m, 19.x.2005, 25°06'43''N, 93°03'11''E / sifting bamboo #8a, leaf litter in mountain rain forest, Cuccudoro & Marletta / Holotypus Paederus borailicus sp.n. det. V. Assing 2013" ( MHNG) . Paratype: " India: Assam, North #9d, Cachar Hills dist., Mt Borail, Borail Peak-Notun Leikul, 1550 m, 20.x.2005, 25°06'51''N, 93°03'07''E / sifting moist broadleaf litter in mixed forest, Cuccudoro & Marletta" (cAss).

Etymology: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from the name of the mountain where the species was discovered.

Description: Body length 9.5-10.5 mm; length of forebody 4.5-4.8 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 11 . Coloration conspicuous: head and pronotum bright reddish; elytra blue with metallic hue; abdomen bicoloured, with segments III-VI black and VII-X reddish (except for infuscate apices of the hemitergites IX); legs and antennae dark-yellowish, apices of femora and tibiae not infuscate.

Head ( Fig. 12 ) transverse, shape apparently sexually dimorphic, 1.23 (male) or 1.10 times (female) as broad as long, widest across eyes; punctation rather fine and very sparse. Eyes distinctly convex, but rather small, as long as, or slightly longer than half the distance from posterior margin of eye to posterior constriction. Antenna 3.0- 3.1 mm long.

Pronotum ( Fig. 12 ) globulous, strongly convex in cross-section, 1.05-1.07 times as long as broad, 1.05-1.07 times as broad as head, and approximately 1.1 times as broad as elytra; lateral suture indistinct in anterior half and obsolete in posterior half; punctation similar to that of head, very sparse.

Elytra ( Fig. 12 ) short, half as long as pronotum; punctation coarse, defined, and rather sparse. Hind wings completely reduced. Metatarsomere I slightly longer than combined length of II and III.

Abdomen distinctly broader than elytra; punctation very sparse; interstices with shallow microsculpture, glossy; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe; posterior margin of tergite VIII strongly convex.

: sternite VII unmodified; sternite VIII ( Fig. 13 ) transverse and with deep and narrow posterior incision; aedeagus ( Figs 14-17 ) symmetric (except for the internal structures), 2.1 mm long, without parameres; ventral process deeply bifid, apically acute and with numerous thin setae; dorsal plate large and apically acute.

Comparative notes: Paederus borailicus is readily distinguished from other micropterous, geographically close congeners of similar size by its coloration pattern alone. In addition, it is characterized by the morphology of the aedeagus. Using the key in CAMERON (1931), it would key out at couplet 11, together with P. setifer CAMERON 1914 from Sri Lanka, from which it differs by even shorter elytra and the different coloration of the abdomen ( P. setifer : segments III-VI red and VII-VIII black).

Distribution and natural history: The type specimens were collected in two adjacent localities in Assam province, northeastern India ( Map 1 ), in the same mountain as Oedichirus bicuspidatus . They were sifted from bamboo and tree leaf litter in a mixed forest and in a mountain rain forest at altitudes of 1550 and 1700 m.

Figures

Map 1: Distributions of Oedichirus depravatus nov.sp. (triangles), O. bicuspidatus nov.sp. (circle), and Paederus borailicus nov.sp. (circle).

Figs 11-17: Paederus borailicus nov.sp.: (11) habitus; (12) forebody; (13) male sternite VIII; (14- 15) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view; (16) apical portion of ventral process of aedeagus in ventral view; (17) internal structures of aedeagus in ventral view. Scale bars: 11-15: 1.0 mm; 16- 17: 0.5 mm.