Leptusa (Homopisalia) hiarens, Assing, 2011

Assing, V., 2011, New species and additional records of Leptusa from the Caucasus region and the Himalaya (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 43 (1), pp. 253-265 : 261-263

Leptusa (Homopisalia) hiarens nov.sp. ( Figs 35-41 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype: " Nepal: 361, Taplejung Dist. upper Simbua Khola, near Tseram, 10.-15.V.88, 3250- 3350 m, leg. Schawaller / Holotypus Leptusa hiarens sp.n. det. V. Assing 2010" (SMNS). Paratypes: 4, 4: same data as holotype (SMNS, cAss).

D e s c r i p t i o n: Small species, body length 1.8-2.0 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 35 . Coloration: body reddish to reddish-brown, with the abdominal segment VI and sometimes the anterior portion of segment VII blackish; legs reddish; antennae brown.

Head approximately 1.1 times as wide as long; punctation moderately dense, shallow, weakly evident in the pronounced microreticulation; surface almost matt; eyes small, shorter than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna similar to that of L. schawalleri (cf. Fig. 42 ), distinctly incrassate apically; antennomere IV approximately as wide as long; V-X of increasing width and increasingly transverse; X approximately twice as wide as long. Maxillary palpi relatively short and stout; preapical palpomere little more than twice as long as broad.

Pronotum approximately 1.25 times as wide as long and 1.25 times as wide as head, moderately convex in cross-section; maximal width in anterior half; posterior angles obtusely marked; punctation and microreticulation similar to that of head ( Fig. 36 ).

Elytra short, approximately 0.75 times as long and 0.90-0.95 times as wide as pronotum; posterior margin distinctly sinuate near postero-lateral angles; suture posteriorly gaping ( Fig. 37 ); punctation much coarser than that of head and pronotum and moderately dense; interstices with extremely shallow microsculpture (visible only at high magnification) and glossy ( Fig. 37 ). Hind wings completely reduced. Legs of moderate length; metatarsomere I somewhat longer than II, but shorter than the combined length of II and III.

Abdomen distinctly broader than elytra, widest at segments V/VI; tergites III-VI with moderately deep, densely and moderately coarsely punctate anterior impressions; remainder of tergal surfaces with fine and less dense punctation; interstices with distinct microreticulation; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe; tergites VII- VIII without evident sexual dimorphism, posterior margin of tergite VIII truncate or very shallowly concave in the middle ( Fig. 38 ).

: sternite VII unmodified; posterior margin of sternite VIII obtusely angled in the middle; aedeagus ca. 0.28 mm long, shaped as in Fig. 39 ; apical lobe of paramere short and stout ( Fig. 40 ).

: middle of posterior margin of sternite VIII obtusely angled, slightly less produced than in male; spermathecal capsule with pronounced apical cuticular intrusion ( Fig. 41 ).

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet (Latin, present participle of hiare: to gape) refers to the posteriorly gaping elytral suture.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Only two species of the subgenus Homopisalia PACE 1982 have become known from the Himalaya, L. bengalensis PACE 1982 from the Tunglu range (Darjeeling district) in West Bengal, northern India, and L. cassagnaui PACE 1984 from "Jalgala Himal, Nepal " ( PACE 1989), a locality I have been unable to find in any map, gazetteer, or in other internet sources. In aedeagal morphology, L. hiarens is more similar to L. bengalensis , but distinguished by the more acute angle and the more pronounced excavation (lateral view) between the ventral process and the basal portion of the capsule of the median lobe, as well as by apically obliquely truncate ventral process (lateral view). Moreover, the spermatheca is of completely different shape. For illustrations of L. bengalensis and L. cassagnaui see PACE (1989). For characters separating L. hiarens from the externally extremely similar and syntopic L. schawalleri see the following section.

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d n a t u r a l h i s t o r y: Thetypelocalityissituatedin the upper Simbua Khola, Taplejung district, in the extreme northeast of Nepal, close to the border with Sikkim. The specimens were sifted in a mature fir and rhododendron forest at an altitude of 3250-3350 m, together with the types of the following species.

Figures

Figs 35-41: Leptusa hiarens nov.sp.: (35) habitus; (36) median portion of pronotum; (37) sutural portion of elytra; (38) male tergite VIII; (39) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (40) apical lobe of paramere; (41) spermatheca. Scale bars: 35: 1.0 mm; 36-39: 0.1 mm; 40-41: 0.05 mm.

Figs 42-52: Leptusa schawalleri nov.sp. (42-49) and L. ilamensis PACE (50-52): (42) antenna; (43) median portion of pronotum; (44) sutural portion of elytra; (45, 50) male tergite VIII; (46, 51) male sternite VIII; (47, 52) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (48) apical lobe of paramere; (49) spermatheca. Scale bars: 0.1 mm.