Pselaphaulax eklai, Löbl & Kodada, 2021

Löbl, Ivan & Kodada, Ján, 2021, On the Himalayan Pselaphini (Insecta: Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae), Biodiversität und Naturausstattung im Himalaya VII, Erfurt: Naturkundemuseum, pp. 349-368 : 355-356

Pselaphaulax eklai n. sp. ( Figs 20, 21 )

Holotype ♂: Zentral-Nepal Sept.-Okt.1971 lg. H. Franz / Umg. Goropani w. Pokhara ( NHMW) .

Etymology. The species epithet means alone in Nepali.

Description. Length about 1.70 mm. Headabout 1.3 longer than wide. Anterior margin of frontal rostrum truncate, setose patch between antennal tubercles absent. Frontal sulcus deep, slightly widened posteriad, glabrous, step-like raised to continue as mesal impression of vertex. Frontal carinae oblique posterior antennal tubercles, with sharply delimited inner and lower outer margins, punctate, bearing short setae oriental posteriad. Vertex strongly raised, convex, impressed mesally, punctate and with short setae. Vertexal foveae setose. Mesal vertexal carina absent. Eyes prominent, with diameter clearly shorter than interval to neck, consisting of twelve facets. Genae smooth. Temples in lateral view with rounded contours. Temples and vertex with shortappressed setae. Maxillarypalpomere IVlong as head, with thickened apical part about 1.5 times as long as peduncle, apex truncate, margins of sensory area circular and carinate, lateral longitudinal sulcus very shallow and narrow, appearing as fine stria, withclearly defined margins onlyat apex. Scape reticulate. Length/width ratioof antennomeresas: I 26/9: II 12/8: III 8/6: IV 8/6: V 8/6: VI 9/6: VII 9/6: VIII 8/6: IX 12/8: X 13/9: XI 25/13. Gular-mandibular carina branched at level of anterior margin of gular mound, inferior branch defining laterally gular mound. Gular mound nearly globose, hardly narrowed posteriad, not ridged, gular foveae obscured by setose patch. Pronotum about 1.2 timesas long as wide, hardly longer than head, median antebasal fovea indistinct, joined to short impression, antebasal sulcus narrow, distinct, lateralantebasalfoveaedistinctand setose, lateral sulcus between lateral antebasal fovea and basalmargin narrow, not carinate. Discal setae short, appressed. Elytra slightly longer than pronotum, strongly widened apically, at apices well three times as wide as at bases, not microsculptured, flat near bases, with three distinct basal foveae, basal margins not raised, lateral margins rounded, adsuturalandmedian longitudinalcarinae fine, median longitudinal carina clearly visibly in basal two thirds of elytral length, setae covering entire surface, short and appressed as on pronotum.Abdomen with tergite I widened apically, slightly wider than elytra, with broad paratergites, rounded lateral margins, pubescence short and appressed.

Male characters. Mesal area of metaventrite impressed and glabrous, delimited laterally by ridges. Top of ridges truncate, forming oval setose pockets. Aedeagus ( Figs. 20, 21 ) 0.37 mm long, with median lobe oval, apical process abruptly bent and gradually narrowed in lateral view. Parameres weakly sclerotized, moderately bent, with apical and subapical setae, in lateral view widest near apices. Internal sac with narrow, sinuate rod and membranous vesicle bearing extremely short spines.

Measurements of the holotype (in mm). Total length 1.72; length/width of head 0.34/0.27, pronotum 0.35/0.30, elytra 0.38/0.68 (0.21), tergite I 0.50/0.70; length of maxillary palpomere IV 0.34, length of aedeagus 0.37.

Diagnosis. Length about 1.7 mm. Gular-mandibular carina branched. Eyes small, with diameter as length of temples. Antennal club three-segmented. Maxillarypalpomere IV truncate at apex, with very narrow lateral stria, densely and very finely punctate and bearing short erect setae. Thickened part of maxillary palpomere IV longer than peduncle. Pronotum hardly longer than head, with short lateral sulci extending from lateral antebasal foveae to basal margin. Elytra slightly longer than pronotum. Internal sac of aedeagus with single narrow sinuate rod.

Distribution. Western Nepal.

Comments. This new species can easily be distinguished from the type species of Pselaphaulax , P. dresdensis (Herbst, 1791) , and from the other six Palaearctic congeners, by its small eyes, the pronotum lacking carinae between the lateral antebasal foveae and the basal margin, and the elytra much shorter than the ventrite II. The few other Asian species of Pselaphaulax , P. articularis (Schaufuss, 1877) , P. bifoveolatum (Schaufuss, 1877) , P. ceylanicus Jeannel, 1961 and P. vestitus (Raffray, 1904) , are from the tropics. According to their respective descriptions, they may be distinguishedfrom P. eklai bythe long elytra. As the type material held in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris is at present unavailable, we were not able to study types of these species.

Figures

Figs 17-23. Aedeagi in dorsal and lateral views; 17-19. Himallaphus bhaai n. sp., 17, 18. Paratype from Tonglu; 19. Paratype from Dorpar Kharka, sclero- tized part of the internal sac; 20, 21. Pselaphaulax eklai n. sp.; 22, 23. Pselaphaulax sherpa n. sp.; Scales = 0.1 mm.