Neosclerus rougemonti, Assing, 2011

Assing, Volker, 2011, A revision of the genus Neosclerus C (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 6 (1), pp. 89-148 : 108-110

Neosclerus rougemonti sp. n. ( Figs 47-53)

Type material:

Holotype : " Thailand, Doi Inthanon, 15:III:1982, G. de Rougemont / Holotypus  Neosclerus rougemonti sp. n. det. V. Assing 2010 " (cRou) . Paratypes: 1 , 1 : same data as holotype (cRou, cAss); 1 : " Thailand, Doi Southeb, Chiang Mai, 11.I.80, Osella " (cRou) .

Description:

Body length 3.0- 3.5 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 47. Coloration: head blackish; pronotum blackishbrown; elytra dark-brown, with the humeral angles and the posterior margin indistinctly paler; abdomen blackish-brown; legs and antennae yellowish.

Head across eyes approximately 1.2 times as wide as long; eyes large, postocular region extremely short, almost obsolete; punctation moderately coarse and dense in anterior portion, sparse and finer in posterior portion of dorsal surface ( Fig. 48); interstices without distinct microreticulation and glossy; antenna approximately 0.9-1.0 mm long.

Pronotum approximately as wide as long or indistinctly transverse, and approximately 0.85 times as wide as head ( Fig. 48); punctation similar to that of anterior portion of head, but somewhat sparser; impunctate midline of variable width, narrow and ill-defined to broad and well-defined; interstices without microsculpture and glossy.

Elytra long and large, 1.10-1.15 times as long and approximately 1.25 times as wide as pronotum; humeral angles marked ( Fig. 48); punctation dense and moderately fine; interstices glossy. Hind wings fully developed.

Abdomen distinctly narrower than elytra; punctation fine and moderately dense; interstices with shallow microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

: sternite VII with posterior margin broadly and shallowly concave in the middle, near this concavity with transverse cluster of short and stout dark setae ( Fig. 49); sternite VIII relatively short, approximately as wide as long, anteriorly with elevation (best visible in lateral view), median portion extensively without pubescence, posterior excision V-shaped and acute, its depth approximately 1/5 the length of sternite ( Figs 50-51); aedeagus with long, apically acute and laterally compressed ventral process, internal sac basally with pair of distinctly sclerotized structures ( Fig. 52-53).

Etymology:

The species is dedicated to Guillaume de Rougemont, who collected the type material of this and several other species treated in the present paper and to whom I am thankful for his continuous and most helpful assistance in my work on Eastern Palaearctic and Oriental paederines.

Comparative notes:

Based on the morphology of the aedeagus (laterally compressed and apically acute ventral process, shape of internal structures), the synapomorphically derived shape and chaetotaxy of the male sternites VII (posterior margin concave in the middle; presence of median cluster of dark setae near posterior margin) and VIII (anteriorly with median elevation, posterior median portion extensively without pubescence), this species is closely allied to N .. barbatulus , N .. inarmatus , and N .. brevipennis (posterior cluster of setae on the male sternite VII not pronounced). From the former two species, it is separated by the absence of distinct microsculpture on the head, from the latter by distinctly longer, larger, and darker elytra. It is distinguished from all its congeners by the shape of the ventral process and the internal structures of the aedeagus.

Distribution and bionomics:

The species is currently known from two localities in Thailand, where it was collected in January and March.