Elacatophora malakkana (Franz) Franz, 2016

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2016, Euconnus malakkanus Franz transferred to Elacatophora Schaufuss (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4114 (2), pp. 195-200 : 196-198

Elacatophora malakkana (Franz) , comb. n.

( Figs 1–2 )

Euconnus malakkanus Franz, 1970: 571 .

Type material. Holotype: WEST MALAYSIA (Cameron Highlands): ♀, three labels ( Fig. 2 ): " 14.8.67 Malaya / Tanah Rata / Forest litter 4000'" [white, handwritten]; " Euconnus / malakkanus / m." [white, handwritten]; " Typus " [red, handwritten] ( NHMW).

Revised diagnosis. BL over 1.5 mm and below 1.8 mm; pronotum as long as broad and with strongly rounded sides, broadest in posterior third; elytra stout, EI <1.3; antennomere XI slightly longer than broad; pronotum with faint median longitudinal wrinkle just behind deep transverse antebasal groove.

Redescription. BL 1.78 mm. Body of female ( Fig. 1 ) elongate, brown, with slightly lighter setae.

Head broadest at large, moderately convex eyes, HL 0.30 mm, HW 0.35 mm; vertex and frons convex and confluent; supraantennal tubercles distinct but weakly raised; tempora nearly as long as eyes in lateral view. Punctures on frons and vertex fine and inconspicuous; posterior portion of frons, entire vertex and tempora with sparse thick bristles directed dorsoposteriorly or posteriorly. Antennae gradually and strongly thickened distally, AnL 0.78 mm, antennomeres I–II strongly elongate, III–V and VII–X distinctly transverse, VI nearly as long as broad, XI distinctly broader than X, longer than IX–X combined, slightly longer than broad, with slightly oblique base and rounded apex.

Pronotum subtrapezoidal, broadest in posterior third; PL 0.45 mm, PW 0.45 mm; anterior and posterior margins weakly arcuate; sides strongly rounded in posterior half; pronotal base with distinct and entire transverse groove not deepened at each end and one lateral pair of large, deep, subtriangular impressions, which are adjacent to groove, but not fused to it. Area posterior to transverse groove with indistinct median longitudinal wrinkle not reaching posterior pronotal margin. Punctures on pronotal disc fine and inconspicuous; disc with long and sparse suberect setae, sides with admixture of thick erect bristles.

Elytra oval, broadest distinctly in front of middle; EL 1.03 mm, EW 0.83 mm, EI 1.24; humeral calli weakly developed; basal impression on each elytron deep and elongate. Punctures on elytra slightly more distinct than those on pronotum but small, shallow and with diffused margins; setae short, sparse, suberect. Hind wings not studied.

Legs moderately long and slender, unmodified.

Male. Unknown.

Distribution. Peninsular Malaysia, Cameron Highlands.

Remarks. Elacatophora is one of the genera similar to Euconnus in general appearance, but easily distinguishable on the basis of the head capsule in lateral view highest in front of eyes and with the frons and vertex strongly depressed posteriorly, the maxillary palpomere IV very slender, nearly rod-like, and contiguous metacoxae. Moreover, in most species of Elacatophora the antennae are strongly and gradually thickened distally, with the antennomere XI strikingly large, often suboval and with oblique base; also the aedeagus is unique, thinwalled and with paired bunches of needle-like sclerites in the endophallus. External characters of the female of Euconnus malakkanus are sufficient to place this species in Elacatophora .

Three species of Elacatophora were previously described on the basis of specimens collected in the Cameron Highlands: E. malaysiae ( Franz, 1984) , E. longipes ( Jałoszyński, 2004) and E. euconnoides Jałoszyński, 2015 . Surprisingly, Elacatophora malakkana , which occurs in the same area, is not conspecific with any of these species. The only known specimen of E. euconnoides is a male, but it is markedly smaller than the female of E. malakkana (BL 1.18 vs. 1.78 mm, respectively) and it has the sides of pronotum nearly straight, while those of E. malakkana are strongly rounded. Elacatophora longipes , in turn, is much larger than E. malakkana (BL of females 2.12−2.22 vs. 1.78 mm in E. malakkana ) and females of E. longipes have more elongate, slender elytra (EI 1.38−1.43 vs. 1.24 in E. malakkana ). Elacatophora malaysiae is also larger than E. malakkana , but the smallest known female of E. malaysiae has the BL 1.89 mm, only 0.11 mm smaller than BL of E. malakkana . However, females of E. malaysiae are more slender, with distinctly elongate pronotum (as long as broad in E. malakkana ) and more elongate elytra (EI 1.28−1.30 vs. 1.24 in E. malakkana ).

The remaining known species of Elacatophora , distributed in the Malay Peninsula, Borneo and Java, are also clearly different from E. malakkana . Elacatophora dissimilis ( Jałoszyński, 2004) is much smaller than E. malakkana and has a conspicuously elongate antennomere XI. Elacatophora apion ( Jałoszyński, 2004) is of a similar length, but females of this species are more slender, with elongate pronotum and the elytral index 1.34−1.36 (1.24 in E. malakkana ). Elacatophora robusta , E. maxima ( Jałoszyński, 2005) and E. soesilae ( Makhan & Ezzatpanah, 2011) are much larger than E. malakkana , with BL exceeding 2 mm (only 1.78 mm in E. malakkana ). Elacatophora javanica ( Jałoszyński, 2005) is only slightly larger than E. malakkana (the smallest known female of the former species is only 0.09 mm longer than E. malakkana ), but this is also a species with distinctly elongate pronotum, whereas the pronotum in E. malakkana is as long as broad.

Unfortunately, E. malakkana is the second species of Elacatophora based solely on a female specimen (the first one was E. robusta ). Moreover, the male of E. soesilae was very poorly described, with photographs of the general habitus and the aedeagus partly blurred ( Makhan & Ezzatpanah 2011). As there are currently ten species of Elacatophora distributed within a relatively small area of the Malay Peninsula, Borneo and Java, and one of the species ( E. malaysiae ) is known to occur both in West and East Malaysia ( Jałoszyński 2004), the lack of reliable male diagnostic characters in three species poses a serious problem. Not only new species in Sundaland can be expected to occur, but it is also possible that still some species hide under Euconnus , as Franz himself, the author who described Borneosabahia (= Elacatophora ) failed to recognize three of his own species as belonging to this genus and retained them in Euconnus .

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 2. Elacatophora malakkana (Franz), comb. n., habitus of holotype female in dorsal view (1) and original set of labels (2).