Paraneseuthia meybohmi, Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2015

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2015, Paraneseuthia Franz in the Indian Himalayan Region and Western Palaearctic (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 3948 (2), pp. 287-295 : 292-293

Paraneseuthia meybohmi sp. n.

( Figs. 2 , 9–10 )

Type material. Holotype: TURKEY (Mersin Prov.): ♂, three labels: " TR Mersin (33) / road to Arslanköy / 5 km SE Aladag 700 m " [white, printed]; "36º54'45 N 34º31' 44E / (33) leg. 2.5.2004 / Brachat & Meybohm" [white, printed]; " PARANESEUTHIA / meybohmi m. / det. P. Jałoszyński, '13 / HOLOTYPUS " [red, printed] ( MNHW). Paratypes (4 ♀♀): 2 ♀♀, same data as holotype; 2 ♀♀, " TR Umg. Mersin / Mersin - Arslanköy / 9 km sö Akdag / N36º55', E34º32' ", "Süd-Türkei / leg. 6.5.2002 / Brachat & Meybohm" (cHM, cPJ). Each paratype with an additional yellow printed label " PARANESEUTHIA / meybohmi m. / det. P. Jałoszyński, '15 / PARATYPUS ".

Diagnosis. BL about 0.8 mm; body strongly convex with short and nearly recumbent setae; sides of pronotum with indistinct and rounded margins visible only in posterior third; in males frons, vertex, protrochanters, protibiae and metaventrite unmodified; aedeagus in ventral view with distinctly asymmetrical and feebly emarginated apex and nearly straight parameres; diaphragm located in subapical region and directed not ventrally, like in all other species of Paraneseuthia , but apically.

Description. BL 0.79 mm. Body of male ( Fig. 2 ) elongate and strongly convex, light brown, setae yellowish. Head broadest at small, weakly convex and finely faceted eyes, HL 0.11 mm, HW 0.18 mm; vertex and frons confluent and weakly convex; supraantennal tubercles small but distinct. Punctures on head dorsum distributed mostly on sides of vertex, where they are large and dense but very shallow and with diffused margins, median area on vertex and frons nearly impunctate; setae short, sparse and suberect. Antennae short and slender, with indistinctly delimited club composed of antennomeres IX–XI, AnL 0.33 mm, antennomeres I–II elongate, III–V each about as long as broad, VI–VII slightly transverse, VIII–X distinctly transverse, XI broader than X but shorter than IX–X together, about 1.6× as long as broad.

Pronotum nearly semielliptical in dorsal view, with rounded and confluent anterior and lateral margins, distinct and obtuse-angled posterior corners and nearly straight posterior margin, broadest near middle (in Fig. 2 pronotum is slightly tilted anteroventrally and its shape differs from that seen in strictly dorsal view); PL 0.23 mm, PW 0.25 mm; pronotal base with shallow transverse impression distinctly deepened at middle and with indistinct pair of shallow and small lateral impressions. Punctures on pronotal disc fine and inconspicuous; setae short, sparse and nearly recumbent.

Elytra oval, broadest distinctly anterior to middle and evenly convex; EL 0.45 mm, EW 0.33 mm, EI 1.38; humeral calli indistinct, elytra not impressed at base; apices separately rounded. Punctures on elytra more distinct than those on pronotum but shallow and with diffused margins, separated by spaces subequal to diameters of punctures; setae similar to those on pronotum. Hind wings not studied.

Metaventrite nearly evenly convex, without modifications.

Legs moderately long and slender, unmodified, all tibiae straight.

Aedeagus ( Figs. 9–10 ) elongate, AeL 0.23 mm; median lobe in ventral view broadest in sub-basal third and gradually narrowing distally; apex distinctly asymmetrical and feebly emarginate; endophallus without darkly sclerotized structures; diaphragm circular, located sub-apically and perpendicular to the long axis of aedeagus; parameres in lateral view nearly straight, setae in studied specimen missing.

Female. Externally indistinguishable from male; BL 0.78–0.79 mm (mean 0.78 mm); HL 0.11–0.13 mm (mean 0.12 mm), HW 0.15–0.18 mm (mean 0.16 mm), AnL 0.30–0.33 mm (mean 0.31 mm); PL 0.23 mm, PW 0.25 mm; EL 0.43–0.45 mm (mean 0.44 mm), EW 0.30–0.33 mm (mean 0.32 mm), EI 1.31–1.50.

Distribution. South-central Turkey.

Etymology. This species is dedicated to Heinrich Meybohm, one of few specialists on the Scydmaeninae and a collector of this extraordinary western representative of Paraneseuthia .

Remarks. Paraneseuthia meybohmi was collected in a pasture with bushes growing between limestone rocks; specimens were taken from sifted samples of leaf litter under the bushes (H. Meybohm, pers. comm.). This is an unusual habitat of Paraneseuthia ; previously known species were collected in forests (from leaf litter and rotten wood, also in tree hollows).

In the general body shape and fine, nearly recumbent setae this species resembles several representatives of Paraneseuthia that inhabit Japan and the Russian Far East. However, the aedeagus of P. meybohmi shows features strikingly different from those known so far in all other congeners, and the unusual location and orientation of the diaphragm (in other species sub-basal and parallel to the long axis of aedeagus) is unambiguous diagnostic character. Another unusual character is the lateral margin of pronotum, which in other species of Paraneseuthia (and all other Eutheiini ) is developed as a sharp edge visible at least in the posterior third, but usually from base nearly up to the anterior pronotal margin. In P. meybohmi the sides of pronotum are rounded and only in the posterior third they form indistinct and rather rounded lateral carinae. This structure can be associated with the strongly convex pronotum; the lateral carina is typically sharply marked in strongly flattened species and more rounded in convex taxa.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 2. Dorsal habitus of holotype males. Paraneseuthia loebli sp. n. (1); Paraneseuthia meybohmi sp. n. (2).

FIGURES 6 – 10. Right fore leg of male in posterior view (6), aedeagus in ventral (7, 9) and lateral (8, 10) views. Paraneseuthia loebli sp. n. (6 – 8); Paraneseuthia meybohmi sp. n. (9 – 10).