Rugilus (Rugilus) asperrimus, Assing, 2019

Assing, Volker, 2019, A revision of Palaearctic and Oriental Rugilus. VI. Two new species Irom China, a new synonymy, and additional records (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 51 (1), pp. 5-20 : 14-16

Rugilus (Rugilus) asperrimus nov.nom.

Rugilus rugosissimus ASSING, 2015: 78 ff.; preoccupied.

C o m m e n t: Al Newton kindly drew my attention to the homonymy of Rugilus rugossimus ASSING, 2015 with Stilicus rugossimus FAGEL, 1953. The preoccupied name is here replaced with nomen novum R. asperrimus .

Rugilus (Rugilus) gryps nov.sp. ( Figs 16-20 , Map 1 ) T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype ♂: ̎ China: Sichuan Prov., Moxi env., Hailuogou valley ,

Gonghe vill., 1715 m, 29°37'27''N, 102°06'28''E, / 17.-21.VI.2014, at light, in front of hotel, ruderals and gardens close to margin of mixed forest, J. Hảjek, J. Růžička & M. Tkoč leg. / Holotypus ♂ Rugilus gryps sp. n., det. V. Assing 2015 ̎ (NMP).

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet (Latin: griffin, also griffon or gryphon, a mythical creature with the head and wings of an eagle) is a noun in apposition. It alludes to the shape of the ventral process of the aedeagus, which somewhat resembles the beak of an eagle in lateral view.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 6.2 mm; length of forebody 3.8 mm. Coloration: head, pronotum, and abdomen blackish-brown; elytra dark-brown with slight bronze hue; legs dark-yellowish, with the apices of the meso- and metafemora indistinctly and narrowly darker; antennae pale-reddish, with antennomere I slightly darker red.

Head ( Fig. 16 ) weakly transverse, 1.04 times as broad as long, broadest across eyes; margins behind eyes smoothly curving towards posterior constriction in dorsal view, posterior angles obsolete; punctation coarse, largely longitudinally confluent. Eyes large and bulging, approximately 0.7 times as long as distance from posterior margin of eyes to posterior constriction. Anterior margin of labrum with two basally fused teeth on either side of the median incision.

Pronotum ( Fig. 16 ) 1.15 times as long as broad and 0.75 times as wide as head; midline without impunctate, glossy band; punctation similar to that of head.

Elytra ( Fig. 16 ) 0.97 times as long as pronotum and with pronounced humeral angles; punctation dense, moderately coarse, and defined; interstices glossy. Hind wings present. Metatarsomere I slightly longer than the combined length of II and III.

Abdomen approximately 0.9 times as broad as elytra; tergites III-VI with moderately pronounced impressions anteriorly, these impressions with coarse, dense and irregular punctation; punctation of remaining tergal surfaces fine and dense; interstices without distinct microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

♂: sternite VII ( Fig. 19 ) strongly transverse, approximately 1.4 times as broad as long, with shallow median impression, posterior margin with deep and broad excision, on either side of this excision acutely produced; sternite VIII ( Fig. 20 ) approximately 1.15 times as broad as long, posterior excision 0.2 times as deep as length of sternite; aedeagus ( Figs 17-18 ) small in relation to body size, 0.6 mm long, and of compact shape.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Based on the similarly derived modifications of the male sternite VII (with large and nearly semi-circular posterior excision), the similarly derived morphology of the aedeagus (small, but robust; ventral process short and forming an angle with the basal portion; internal sac with large black sclerites), as well as the similar external characters, R. gryps belongs to the R. malaisei group, which previously included five species: R. asperrimus ASSING, nov.nom. (Guizhou), R. wuyicus ASSING, 2012 (Jiangxi), R. desectus ASSING, 2012 (Yunnan), R. aquilinus ASSING, 2012 (Sichuan), and R. malaisei (SCHEERPELTZ, 1965) ( Burma). It is distinguished from them as follows:

from R. asperrimus and R. wuyicus by smaller size, a more slender body, paler antennae, a much less transverse head, much longer elytra, the presence of hind wings, the presence of a palisade fringe at the posterior margin of tergite VII, a deeper posterior excision of the less transverse male sternite VII and more acute projections on either side of this excision, and a slightly smaller aedeagus with a ventral proces of slightly different shape,

from R. wuyicus additionally by the more confluent punctation of the head and pronotum;

from R. malaisei by smaller size, a more slender head with larger and more bulging eyes, a more slender pronotum, a less transverse male sternite VII with a deeper posterior excision of different shape, and by the slightly different shape of the ventral process of the aedeagus;

from R. desectus by a slightly smaller body with a less transverse head and a more slender pronotum, a less deep posterior excision of the male sternite VII, and the completely different shape of the ventral process of the aedeagus;

from R. aquilinus by somewhat paler legs and antennae, a less transverse head, relatively longer elytra, a less transverse male sternite VII with a deeper posterior excision of different shape, and by the slightly different shape of the ventral process of the aedeagus.

For illustrations of the external and male sexual characters of R. asperrimus , R. wuyicus , R. aquilinus, R. desectus , and R. malaisei see ASSING (2012a, 2012b, 2015). The distributions of the species of the R. malaisei group are illustrated in Map 1.

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: The type locality is situated to the southeast of the Gongga Shan in Sichuan, China ( Map 1 ). The holotype was collected with a light trap near the margin of a mixed forest at an altitude of 1715 m.

Figures

Map 1: Distributions of the species of the Rugilus malaisei group: R. malaisei (black circle); R. desectus (white circle); R. gryps (black diamond); R. aquilinus (white diamond); R. asperrimus (black star); R. wuyicus (white star).

Figs 13-18: Rugilus reuteri (13-15) and R. gryps (16-18): (13) male habitus; (14) female habitus; (15, 17-18) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view; (16) forebody. Scale bars: 13-14, 16: 1.0 mm; 15, 17-18: 0.2 mm.

Figs 19-20: Rugilus gryps: (19) male sternite VII; (20) male sternite VIII. Scale bar: 0.2 mm.