Reichentomica, Hlaváč & Baňař, 2022

Hlaváč, Peter & Baňař, Petr, 2022, Pselaphinae of the Cameroon Volcanic Line. Part 1. New Pselaphinae (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) from the island São Tomé, Zootaxa 5222 (3), pp. 267-276 : 268-269

Reichentomica gen. nov.

Figs 1–12

Type species. Reichentomica tasani sp. nov., here designated

Etymology. The name is a combination of „Reichen“ referring to the close similar genus Reichenbachia , and „tomica“ referring to the island São Tomé. Gender feminine.

Diagnosis. Head lacking rostrum, lacking frontal fovea, with asetose small dorsal tentorial pits, ventrally with median gular carina reduced to short triangular projection; maxillary palpi about as long as head, palpomere 2 pedunculate at base, gradually thickening distad, about 2.5 times as long as broad at distal part; palpomere 3 quadrate, broader than 2 but much shorter; palpomere 4 strongly elongate, about twice as long as wide, 2.8 times as long as palpomere 3, with base straight, nearly cylindrical in proximal half and evenly, gradually tapering distad to pointed apex, lacking apical sensory appendage. Antennae composed of 11 antennomeres, club trimerous, indistinctly delimited; antennomeres 7 and 8 equal in length and shortest. Pronotum slightly transverse, pronotal disc with small, undiscernible median and larger, asetose lateral antebasal foveae, lacking antebasal sulcus. Elytra with fine, even setation, lacking basal foveae, with shallow entire sutural striae. First visible abdominal tergite (IV) lacking mediobasal and lateral foveae. Aedeagus symmetrical, slightly longer than wide, lacking diaphragm; endophallus lacking sclerites; parameres evenly expanded to apex.

Description. Body ( Fig. 1 ) elongate, moderately slender, convex, moderately shining; reddish-brown, maxillary palpi, antennae and legs slightly lighter; length 1.95–2.10 mm, maximum width 0.72–0.75 mm.

Head subtrapezoidal, about as long as wide, lacking rostrum. Temples round, clearly longer than eyes; vertex and frons confluent, weakly convex; dorsal tentorial pits (= vertexal foveae of Chandler (2001)) asetose, punctiform, situated between eyes; frontal fovea absent in shallow impression between weakly prominent supra-antennal tubercles; eyes convex, well-defined. Neck region retracted into prothorax, subcylindrical, with well-defined gular plate laterally demarcated by weakly marked gular sutures; posterior tentorial pits small, close to each other, circular, situated in front of transverse impression demarcating neck region ventrally; pre-tentorial gular-submental region transverse, median gular carina reduced to short triangular projection.

Antennae composed of eleven antennomeres, slender; antennal insertions broadly separated. Scape cylindrical, about twice as long as wide, over 1.25 times as long as pedicel, antennal club trimerous and indistinctly delimited, antennomere 11 elongate, slightly asymmetrical, over twice as long as 10.

Labium not studied.

Maxilla with large cardo; basistipes triangular, elongate; mediostipes subtriangular, not longer than basistipes; palpifer elongate. Maxillary palpi ( Fig. 9 ) about as long as head, slender, palpomere 1 minute, elongate, about twice as long as wide; palpomere 2 pedunculate at base, gradually thickening distad, about 2.5 times as long as wide at distal part; palpomere 3 quadrate, wider than 2 but much shorter; palpomere 4 strongly elongate, about twice as long as wide, 2.8 times as long as palpomere 3, slightly shorter than 1 and 2 combined, with straight base, nearly cylindrical in proximal half and evenly, gradually tapering distad to pointed apex, lacking apical sensory appendage.

Mandibles ( Fig. 8 ) subtriangular, slightly convex dorsally and concave ventrally, large, with sharp apical tooth and four triangular, rounded pointed mesal pre-apical teeth, first minuscule, second largest, lacking setae.

Labrum ( Fig. 10 ) subtrapezoidal, about 1.75 times as long as wide, with rounded antero-lateral margin bearing bunch of long setae, anterior margin straight; anteroventral margin with pair of peg-like sensilla ( Fig. 4 ; ps).

Pronotum slightly wider than long, widest near middle, with lateral margins slightly convergent in posterior half, anterior pronotal margin shorter than posterior one, anterior corners not marked, posterior corners distinct, obtuse-angled. Pronotal disc with small, indiscernible median and larger, asetose lateral antebasal foveae, lacking antebasal sulcus.

Prosternum ( Fig. 2 ; pst) laterally fused with hypomera; basisternal region distinctly longer than coxal region, setose, with pair of large, widely separated lateral procoxal foveae ( Fig. 2 , lpcf), median procoxal fovea absent; prosternal process ( Fig. 2 , psp) subtriangular, not separating procoxae. Hypomera divided by incomplete hypomeral ridges into narrow, elongate inner region and broad outer region, the latter with shallow hypomeral groove ( Fig.2 ; hyg).

Mesonotum( Fig.3 ) with transverse,subrectangular mesoscutum( Fig.3 ; sc2) and narrow,elongate mesoscutellum ( Fig. 3 ; scl2) not delimited by scutoscutellar suture; scutellar shield ( Fig. 3 , scs) circular, exposed between elytral bases, but extremely small, barely discernible.

Mesoventrite ( Fig. 4 ) laterally fused with metaventrite, with massive prepectus ( Fig. 4 ; pr), lacking procoxal rest ( Fig. 4 ; pcr), with median mesoventral fovea ( Fig. 4 ; mmvf), with pair of setose lateral mesoventral foveae ( Fig. 4 , lmvf) and pair of lateral mesocoxal foveae ( Fig. 4 , lmcf). Mesoventral ridge ( Fig. 4 , mvr) distinct, step-wise, reaching anterior margin of mesocoxae, demarcating median region from lateral areas, both almost glabrous. Mesocoxae narrowly separated by elongate, subtriangular mesoventral process ( Fig. 4 ; msvp) with pointed apex reaching middle of mesocoxae, meeting anterior pointed tip of anterior metaventral process ( Fig. 4 ; amtp), both processes flat.

Metanotum ( Fig. 5 ) transverse, largely membranous, with short alacristae ( Fig. 5 ; alc) restricted to anterior half of metascutum ( Fig. 5 ; sc3); metascutellum not differentiated; metapostnotum ( Fig. 5 ; pn3) short and broad.

Metaventrite ( Fig. 4 ) strongly transverse; posterior margins of mesocoxal rests carinate; lateral metaventral foveae ( Fig. 4 , lmtvf) (not seen in dry mounted specimens) small, punctiform, narrowly separated, asetose, posterior metaventral process ( Fig. 4 , pmtvp) broad and long, with slightly concave posterior margin.

Elytra ( Fig. 7 ) together subtrapezoidal, distinctly longer than pronotum and distinctly shorter than abdomen, lacking basal foveae, with two indistinct subbasal foveae, lacking discal striae, with shallow entire sutural striae. Hind wings reduced.

Abdomen ( Fig. 6 ) with first visible (IV) tergite clearly longest, about twice as long as second (V), length of visible tergites decreasing from first (IV) to fourth (VII); all visible tergites lacking transverse mediobasal fovea, discal carinae and basolateral foveae. First three visible paratergites well-developed. Anterior margin of second visible sternite (IV) densely setose, with median impression, clearly longer than third visible sternite (V), all visible sternites lacking basolateral foveae.

Legs long and slender, all femora narrowly clavate, tibiae and tarsi slender; tarsi longer than half length of tibiae.

Aedeagus ( Figs 11 – 12 ) symmetrical, with median lobe subcircular, slightly longer than wide; distal portion with three projections, middle one slightly longer and pointed to apex, lacking diaphragm; endophallus lacking sclerites; parameres evenly expanded to apex.

Sexual dimorphism. Second, third and fouth visible sternites (IV–VI) in males with shallow median impression.

Remarks. At first regard Reichentomica is very similar to the world spread genus Reichenbachia Leach, 1826 (278 valid species names, missing in New Zealand), Reichenbachella Jeannel, 1950 (23 valid species names) known from the Afrotropical and Oriental regions and Trissemus Jeannel, 1949 (176 valid species names) known from the Palaearctic, Oriental and Afrotropical regions. All these three genera are readilly separated from Reichentomica by having pronotal median antebasal foveae and two or three basal elytral foveae on each elytron ( Jeannel 1959). Reichentomica is the first afrotropical genus of Brachyglutina lacking basal elytral foveae. There are four genera on Madagascar lacking elytral basal foveae, Leiochrotella Jeannel, 1954 ; Leiochrotidius Jeannel, 1960 , Soagella Jeannel, 1960 and Xenobryaxis Jeannel, 1954 . All of these differ from Reichentomica by having tegument glabrous, completely lacking pubescence.

Figures

FIGURES 1–7. Reichentomica tasani gen. et sp. n.; 1, habitus, dorsal view; 2, prothorax, ventral view; 3, mesonotum; 4, mesoventrite andmetaventrite; 5,metanotum;6,abdomen, ventral view; 7, right elytron.Abbrevations:amtp, anterior metaventral process; alc, alacristae; hyg, hypomeral groove; lmcf, lateral mesocoxal fovea; lmtvf, lateral metaventral fovea; lmvf, lateral mesoventral fovea; lpcf, lateral procoxal fovea; mmvf, median mesoventral; mvr, mesoventral ridge; msvp, mesoventral process; mtvp, metaventral (intermetacoxal) process; pcr, procoxal rest; pn3, metapostnotum; pr, prepectus; psp, prosternal process; pst, prosternum; sc2+scl2, fused mesoscutum and mesoscutellum; sc3, anterior half of metascutum; scs, scutellar shield.

FIGURES 8–12. Reichentomica tasani gen. et sp. nov.; 1, male holotype; 8, right mandible; 9, right maxillary palpus; 10, labrum, dorsal view; 11, aedeagus, dorsal view; 12, aedeagus, lateral view.Abbrevations: ps, peg-like sensilla. Scale bars in mm.