Nepalota fellowesi PACE , 2004

Assing, Volker, 2015, On the Nepalota fauna of China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Athetini), Linzer biologische Beiträge 47 (1), pp. 207-248 : 227-229

Nepalota fellowesi PACE, 2004

( Figs 65-74 , Map 3 )

Nepalota fellowesi PACE, 2004: 508 .

Type material examined Holotype ♂: " CHINA Guangdong, Da Wu Ling, 1500 m, 26.IV.97, J. Fellowes / Rougemont Collection / Holotypus Nepalota fellowesi m., det. R. Pace 1998 / Nepalota fellowesi sp. n., det. R. Pace 1998 / Nepalota fellowesi Pace , det. V. Assing 2015" ( IRSNB). Paratype ♀: same data as holotype (IRSNB).

Additional material examined: China: 4♂♂, 6♀♀: Yunnan, NNE Pingbian, 23°01'N, 103°42'E, 1500 m, subtropical broad-leaved forest, litter sifted, 26.VIII.2014, leg. Assing (cAss).

Comment: This species was described from " China, Guandong, Da Wu Ling" ( PACE 2004), based on a male holotype and two female paratypes. The examined type material is in rather poor condition. The holotype has one elytron missing, its aedeagus is somewhat deformed, and the spermatheca of the paratype is completely deformed. Since the description and illustrations provided by PACE (2004) are incomplete and somewhat misleading, respectively, a redescription and new illustrations are given.

Redescription: Body length 3.3-4.5 mm; length of forebody 1.6-1.9 mm. Coloration: head blackish-brown to blackish; pronotum dark-brown to blackish-brown; elytra brown to dark-brown; abdomen blackish-brown, with the anterior segments often slightly paler and with the posterior margins of the segements narrowly reddish to reddish-brown; legs yellowish; antennae reddish-brown with the basal 2-3 antennomeres and antennomere XI reddish.

Head ( Fig. 65 ) weakly transverse; dorsal surface with distinct microreticulation and with very fine and sparse punctation. Eyes moderately large, slightly longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna ( Fig. 66 ) slender, 1.2-1.3 mm long; antennomere IV weakly oblong or approximately as long as broad; antennomeres V-X of gradually increasing width and increasingly transverse; preapical antennomeres moderately transverse; antennomere XI apically acute, slightly longer than the combined length of IX and X.

Pronotum ( Fig. 65 ) 1.20-1.25 times as broad as long and approximately 1.4 times as broad as head, without sexual dimorphism; disc with distinct microreticulation and with very fine punctation.

Elytra ( Fig. 65 ) approximately 0.9 times as long as pronotum; punctation dense and fine; interstices with distinct microreticulation and subdued shine. Hind wings fully developed.

Abdomen with distinct transverse microsculpture; anterior portions of tergites III-VII impunctate; posterior portions of tergites III-V with moderately sparse, those of tergites VI-VII with very sparse punctation; pubescence predominantly composed of very thin setae; tergites III and VII without sexual dimorphism.

♂: tergite VIII ( Fig. 67 ) approximately as long as broad and with distinctly convex posterior margin; sternite VIII ( Fig. 68 ) oblong, somewhat longer than tergite VIII, and strongly convex posteriorly; median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 69-70 ) approximately 0.6 mm long, conspicuously long and slender; paramere ( Fig. 71 ) approximately 0.55 mm long, shorter than median lobe, and with slender apical lobe with two long black setae.

♀: tergite VIII ( Fig. 72 ) approximately as long as broad and with distinctly convex posterior margin; sternite VIII ( Fig. 73 ) moderately transverse and with broadly convex posterior margin, middle of posterior margin not concave; spermatheca ( Fig. 74 ) approximately 0.4 mm long, with rather long capsule.

Comparative notes: This species is characterized particularly by the conspicuous shape and internal structures of the median lobe of the aedeagus.

Distribution and natural history: The known distribution is confined to one locality in Guangdong and one at the foot of Dawei Shan near Pingbian, southeastern Yunnan ( Map 3 ). The specimens from Yunnan were sifted from leaf litter in a subtropical broad-leaved forest at an altitude of 1500 m, together with N. guangdongensis and N. crocea .

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 65-74: Nepalota fellowesi PACE: (65) forebody; (66) antenna; (67) male tergite VIII; (68) male sternite VIII; (69) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (70) apical portion of median lobe of aedeagus in ventral view; (71) paramere; (72) female tergite VIII; (73) female sternite VIII; (74) spermatheca. Scale bars: 65-66: 0.5 mm; 67-74: 0.2 mm.