Nazeris biapicalis, Assing, 2017

Assing, Volker, 2017, A revision of Nazeris IX. Three new species from Nepal and additional records (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 49 (1), pp. 307-315 : 308-311

Nazeris biapicalis nov.sp. ( Figs 1-4 , 9 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype 3: "E-NEPAL, Arun Valley, Deurali, ca. 2100 mNN, 27°30'N, 87°16'E, 10.V.2014, leg. J. Schmidt / Holotypus 3 Nazeris biapicalis nov.sp. det. V. Assing 2016 " (NME). Paratypes: 4♀♀: same data as holotype (NME, cAss).

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective) alludes to the apically bifid ventral process of the aedeagus in ventral view.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 5.5-7.0 mm; length of forebody 3.1-3.6 mm. Coloration: body black; legs pale-yellowish; antennae yellowish, with the basal antennomeres slightly darker.

Head ( Fig. 1 ) oblong, 1.05-1.08 times as long as broad; frons depressed; postero-median portion of dorsal surface somewhat elevated; punctation dense, coarse, non-umbilicate, and mostly not confluent; interstices forming narrow ridges. Eyes less than one-third as long as distance from posterior margin of eye to posterior constriction of head. Antenna 1.9-2.1 mm long.

Pronotum ( Fig. 1 ) approximately 1.2 times as long as broad and 0.80-0.85 times as broad as head; punctation very coarse, coarser than that of head, very dense everywhere.

Elytra ( Fig. 1 ) approximately 0.6 times as long as pronotum; punctation similar to that of pronotum.

Abdomen broader than elytra; punctation very dense and coarse on tergites III-VI, gradually becoming less coarse and less dense from tergite VI or VII; interstices without microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

3: sternite VII ( Fig. 2 ) distinctly transverse, 1.55 times as broad as long, with unmodified and rather sparse pubescence, posterior margin with shallow median excision; sternite VIII ( Fig. 9 ) weakly transverse, posterior excision narrowly V-shaped and rather deep, 0.3 times as deep as length of sternite, anterior to this excision with small pale impression; aedeagus ( Figs 3-4 ) 0.9 mm long and of distinctive shape; ventral process with sharply V-shaped excision apically; dorso-lateral apophyses slender, weakly sclerotized, apically weakly dilated, and short, apically extending only to base of ventral process.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Based on the shape of the male sternite VII, the transverse and impressed male sternite VIII, and particularly the morphology of the aedeagus, this species belongs to the N. flavocaudatus group, which previously included 16 species and whose distribution ranges from East Nepal across West Bengal eastwards to Sikkim ( ASSING 2014b). Among the species of this group, the aedeagus of N. biapicalis is most similar to that of N. flavocaudatus ASSING, 2014 (West Bengal: Darjeeling district), from which the new species differs by the blackish coloration of the body (including the abdominal apex), less coarse punctation of the forebody, and by the shape of the aedeagus both in ventral and in lateral view. For illustrations of N. flavocaudatus see ASSING (2014b).

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: Thetypelocalityissituatedin East Nepal. The specimens were collected at an altitude of 2100 m, together with N. confluens .

Figures

Figs 1-8: Nazeris biapicalis nov.sp. (1-4) and N. hebes nov.sp. (5-8): (1, 5) forebody; (2, 6) male sternite VII; (3-4, 7-8) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view. Scale bars: 1, 5: 1.0 mm; 2, 6: 0.5 mm; 3-4, 7-8: 0.2 mm.

Figs 9-15: Nazeris biapicalis nov.sp. (9), N. hebes nov.sp. (10), and N. trapezilobus nov.sp. (11- 15): (9-10, 13) male sternite VIII; (11) forebody; (12) male sternite VII; (14-15) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view. Scale bars: 11: 1.0 mm; 9-10, 12-13: 0.5 mm; 14-15: 0.2 mm.