Nepalota franzi PACE, 1987

Assing, Volker, 2015, On the Nepalota fauna of China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Athetini), Linzer biologische Beiträge 47 (1), pp. 207-248 : 216-218

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.5414155

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6632409

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03EA87E2-366E-FFA3-28DB-FB08FE789327

treatment provided by

Marcus

scientific name

Nepalota franzi PACE, 1987
status

 

Nepalota franzi PACE, 1987 View in CoL

( Figs 1-16 View Figs 1-8 View Figs 9-15 View Fig , Map 3 View Map 3 )

Nepalota franzi PACE, 1987a: 131 View in CoL .

Material examined: China: Gansu: 4♂♂, 1♀, mountains SE Longnan , 33°11'N, 105°14'E, 2030 m, N-slope with scree, moss, fern roots, and moist litter sifted, 31.VII.2012, leg. Assing ( cAss) GoogleMaps ; 3♂♂, mountains SE Longnan , 33°13'N, 105°15'E, 2080 m, sifted, 4.VIII.2012, leg. Assing " ( cAss). GoogleMaps Yunnan: 1♂, Zhongdian Co., 51 km SSE Zhongdian , 2970 m, 27°25'N, 99°57'E, 2970 m, stream valley, mixed coniferous forest with shrubs and bamboo, 16.VIII.2003, leg. Wrase ( cSch). GoogleMaps Nepal: 2 exs., Bagmati Province, Phulchoki near Kathmandu, 2500 m, 10.V.1981, leg. Löbl ( MHNG) ; 1 ex., Bagmati Province, Nagarjun forest near Kathmandu, 1650 m, 2.IV.1981, leg. Löbl & Smetana ( MHNG) ; 16 exs., Bagmati Province, Pokhare NE Barahbise , 2800 m, 2.V.1981, leg. Löbl & Smetana ( MHNG) ; 1 ex., same data, but 2700 m ( MHNG) ; 6 exs., same data, but 3000 m, 7.V.1981 ( MHNG) ; 3 exs., Bagmati Province, Dobate Ridge NE Barahbise, 2700 m, 2.V.1981, leg. Löbl & Smetana ( MHNG) ; 3 exs., Bagmati Province, Chaubas, 2600 m, 5.IV.1981, leg. Löbl & Smetana ( MHNG) ; 1 ex., Bagmati Province, above Shermathang, 2900 m, 26.IV.1981, leg. Löbl & Smetana ( MHNG) ; 1 ex., Bagmati Province, Tarke Ghyang, 2650 m, 19.IV.1981, leg. Löbl & Smetana ( MHNG) ; 2 exs., Khandbari District, forest above Ahale , 2300 m, 26.III.1982, leg. Smetana ( MHNG) ; 1 ex., Khandbari District, Khandbari , 1700 m, 23.III.1982, leg. Smetana ( MHNG) ; 1 ex., Mustang District, Lete , 2550 m, 2.X.1983, leg. Löbl & Smetana ( cAss) .

Comment: The original description is based on a male holotype and two paratypes from Nepal ( PACE 1987a). The species was subsequently recorded from other localities in Nepal by PACE (1987b, 1991, 2013). Since a reliable identification based on the original description is difficult, a redescription is provided.

Redescription: Body length 4.2-5.0 mm; length of forebody 2.1-2.3 mm. Coloration: head, pronotum, abdomen, and antennae blackish; elytra dark yellowishbrown to brown, with the anterior and the sutural portion diffusely and more or less distinctly darker; legs dark-yellowish.

Head ( Figs 1-2 View Figs 1-8 ) weakly, but noticeably transverse; dorsal surface with distinct microreticulation, subdued shine, and very fine, barely noticeable punctation. Eyes large, distinctly longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna ( Fig. 3 View Figs 1-8 ) slender, 1.5- 1.6 mm long; preapical antennomeres only weakly transverse; antennomere XI elongated and apically acute, slightly longer in male than in female.

Pronotum ( Figs 1-2 View Figs 1-8 ) 1.25-1.30 times as broad as long and 1.35-1.40 times as broad as head, subject to conspicuous sexual dimorphism; disc with pronounced microreticulation and subdued shine ( Figs 3-4 View Figs 1-8 ).

Elytra ( Figs 1-2 View Figs 1-8 ) 0.93-1.00 times as long as pronotum; punctation dense and fine; interstices with distinct microreticulation and subdued shine. Hind wings fully developed.

Abdomen with fine, but distinct transverse microsculpture ( Fig. 6 View Figs 1-8 ); tergites III-VI impunctate near anterior margins and with moderately dense punctation on remainder of surfaces; tergite VII with sparse punctation; pubescence predominantly composed of short and rather stout brownish setae ( Fig. 6 View Figs 1-8 ); tergite III with weakly pronounced, tergite VII without sexual dimorphism.

♂: median portion of pronotum more or less extensively depressed or shallowly impressed and with distinctly granulose punctation ( Fig. 4 View Figs 1-8 ), lateral portions with fine and non-granulose punctation; tergite III with indistinct median tubercle; tergite VIII with broadly and shallowly concave posterior margin ( Fig. 9 View Figs 9-15 ); sternite VIII ( Fig. 10 View Figs 9-15 ) weakly oblong, much longer than tergite VIII, and strongly convex posteriorly; median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 7-8 View Figs 1-8 , 12 View Figs 9-15 ) approximately 0.75 mm long, strongly concave between base of ventral process and crista apicalis in lateral view, with long and slender ventral process, and with narrow crista apicalis; paramere ( Fig. 11 View Figs 9-15 ) large and approximately 0.8 mm long.

♀: median portion of pronotum not depressed and with fine, non-granulose punctation ( Fig. 5 View Figs 1-8 ); posterior margin of tergite VIII ( Fig. 13 View Figs 9-15 ) truncate in the middle; sternite VIII ( Fig. 14 View Figs 9-15 ) distinctly transverse and with broadly convex posterior margin, middle of posteriorly margin with fine and thin, lateral portions with moderately stout submarginal setae; spermatheca ( Fig. 15 View Figs 9-15 ) approximately 0.34 mm long, proximal portion of capsule rather short.

Comparative notes: As can be inferred from the similar sexual and external characters, particularly the similar sexual dimorphism of the pronotum (clearly a synapomorphy), N. franzi is closely allied to N. chinensis , from which it differs by the absence of a sexual dimorphism of the elytral punctation ( N. chinensis : male elytra with distinctly granulose, female elytra with non-granulose punctation), by the darker coloration ( N. chinensis : basal antennomeres yellowish to yellowish-brown; pronotum, abdomen, and apical antennomeres brown to blackish-brown), by the modification of the male tergite III ( N. chinensis : with spine-shaped median process), by the shapes of the male and female tergite VIII ( N. chinensis : posterior margin convex), by the shape of the median lobe of the aedeagus, by the shape of the female sternite VIII ( N. chinensis : posteriorly more strongly convex and with more distinctly modified submarginal setae), and by the slightly different shape of the spermatheca. For illustrations of the primary sexual characters of N. chinensis see PACE (1998). The aedeagus of N. franzi is most similar to that of N. martensi , from which it is distinguished by the pronounced sexual dimorphism of the pronotum, the absence of a median keel on the male tergite VII ( N. martensi : tergite VII with a – sometimes weakly pronounced – median elevation), the posteriorly concave posterior margin of the male tergite VIII ( N. martensi : weakly convex), and by the shape of the median lobe of the aedeagus.

Distribution and natural history: The vast distribution of N. franzi ranges from West Nepal to the Chinese provinces Gansu and Yunnan ( Map 3 View Map 3 ), from where it is recorded for the first time. The examined material was sifted from litter in forest and shrub habitats at altitude of 1650-3000 m, in Gansu together with N. gansuensis and N. smetanai .

MHNG

Switzerland, Geneva, Museum d'Histoire Naturelle

MHNG

Museum d'Histoire Naturelle

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Coleoptera

Family

Staphylinidae

Genus

Nepalota

Loc

Nepalota franzi PACE, 1987

Assing, Volker 2015
2015
Loc

Nepalota franzi

PACE R 1987: 131
1987
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