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

Nepalota franzi PACE, 1987

( Figs 1-16 , Map 3 )

Nepalota franzi PACE, 1987a: 131 .

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) ; 3♂♂, mountains SE Longnan , 33°13'N, 105°15'E, 2080 m, sifted, 4.VIII.2012, leg. Assing " ( cAss). 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). 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 ) 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 ) 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 ) 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 ).

Elytra ( Figs 1-2 ) 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 ); 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 ); 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 ), 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 ); sternite VIII ( Fig. 10 ) weakly oblong, much longer than tergite VIII, and strongly convex posteriorly; median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 7-8 , 12 ) 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 ) large and approximately 0.8 mm long.

♀: median portion of pronotum not depressed and with fine, non-granulose punctation ( Fig. 5 ); posterior margin of tergite VIII ( Fig. 13 ) truncate in the middle; sternite VIII ( Fig. 14 ) 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 ) 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 ), 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 .

Figures

Map 3: Distributions of Nepalota franzi PACE (filled circles), N. mocytoides nov.sp. (open circle), and N. fellowesi PACE (filled triangles), based on examined and reliable literature records.

Figs 1-8: Nepalota franzi PACE from Gansu: (1) male forebody; (2) female forebody; (3) antenna; (4) postero-median portion of male pronotum; (5) postero-median portion of female pronotum; (6) median portion of tergite VII; (7-8) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view. Scale bars: 1-2: 1.0 mm; 3: 0.5 mm; 7-8: 0.2 mm; 4-6: 0.1 mm.

Figs 9-15: Nepalota franzi PACE from Gansu: (9) male tergite VIII; (10) male sternite VIII; (11) paramere; (12) ventral process of aedeagus in ventral view; (13) female tergite VIII; (14) female sternite VIII; (15) spermatheca. Scale bars: 0.2 mm.

Fig. 16: Locality to the southeast of Longnan, Gansu, where Nepalota franzi was collected together with N. gansuensis and N. smetanai.