Chinecallicerus, Assing, Volker, 2004

Assing, Volker, 2004, A revision of Callicerus Gravenhorst, Pseudosemiris Machulka, and related genera. III. A new genus and species from China, and additional records (Insecta: Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Zootaxa 767, pp. 1-8 : 4-6

Chinecallicerus gen. n. ( Figs. 5–18 )

Type species. Chinecallicerus schuelkei sp. n.

Description. Microsculpture of forebody isodiametric and moderately coarse, that of abdomen very shallow. Puncturation on pronotum and elytra granulose ( Figs. 7–8 ); abdomen finely, not granulosely punctate.

Head with distinct posterior constriction of about half the width of head ( Fig. 6 ); dorsal surface posteriorly sloping ventrad towards constriction; pubescence of vertex predominantly directed more or less mediad in central dorsal region; dorsal area of vertex not flattened or impressed; eyes moderately large ( Fig. 6 ); postgenae carinate, in dorsal view moderately convex; gular sutures widely separated.

Antennae conspicuously long and massive ( Fig. 6 ), with dense pubescence; antennomere III very long and coniform, antennomeres IV–X cylindriform, longer than wide. Penultimate joint of maxillary palpi neither distinctly elongated nor distinctly dilated ( Fig. 16 ); ligula short and wide­based, apically bifid with the tips connected by a membrane ( Fig. 14 ); prementum as in Fig. 15 ; labrum with chaetotaxy similar to that in Callicerus ( Fig. 17 ).

Pronotum wider than head, but rather slender; posterior angles obtuse and weakly marked ( Fig. 7 ); maximal width in anterior half; pubescence directed caudad in posterior 5/6, cephalad in anterior 1/6 of midline, and predominantly diagonally latero­caudad in lateral region. Hypomera distinctly visible in lateral view. Prosternum with pronounced median carina.

Elytra distinctly wider and longer than pronotum ( Fig. 5 ); hind wings developed; mesosternum not carinate; mesosternal process long and apically very acute; mesocoxal cavities delimited from metasternum by carina.

Legs long and slender; first metatarsomere slightly longer than second.

Abdominal tergites III–V each with relatively shallow impunctate anterior impression ( Fig. 8 ); tergite IV with barely noticeable impression; tergite VIII posteriorly convex ( Fig. 9 ), with ± long and very thin marginal setae; tergite and sternite VIII only moderately transverse ( Fig. 9–10 ); anterior margin of tergite X with dense setae, median area with sparse setae ( Fig. 12 ).

Male: unknown.

Female: sternum VIII with moderately convex posterior margin ( Fig. 10–11 ), the latter with row of relatively thin, only weakly modified setae and with very fine and short micropubescence; spermatheca not strongly sclerotized ( Fig. 13 ).

Comparison. With Callicerus and Pseudosemiris , the new genus shares the following similarities: the long and massive antennae with more or less distinctly cylindriform antennomeres IV–X and a usually distinctly coniform antennomere III, the almost subquadrate and dorsally somewhat flattened head, the shape and chaetotaxy of the labrum, the short and apically bifid ligula, the distinctly carinate prosternum, the absence of a median carina on the mesosternum, the long and apically acute mesosternal process, the isodiametric microsculpture of the forebody, the granulose puncturation of the pronotum and elytra, long and slender legs, a convex posterior margin of the abdominal tergite VIII, the shape and chaetotaxy of the female sternite VIII, and a relatively simple morphology of the spermatheca. With Callicerus , it addionally shares a posteriorly constricted head. At least the derived morphology of the antenna is very likely to represent a synapomorphy suggesting a close relationship of these three genera. Chinecallicerus is distinguished from Callicerus and Pseudosemiris especially by the extremely elongated antennae, the unmodified third joint of the maxillary palpus, by the much shallower transverse impressions of the abdominal tergites III–V, and by the different morphology of the spermatheca.

Figures

FIGURES 5 – 17. Chinecallicerus schuelkei sp. n.: 5 — facies; 6 — head and pronotum; 7 — pronotum, 8 — elytra and abdomen; 9 — female tergite VIII; 10 — female sternite VIII; 11 — posterior part of female sternite VIII; 12 — female tergite X; 13 — spermatheca; 14 — labium; 15 — prementum; 16 — maxilla; 17 — labrum. Scale bars: 5, 6, 8: 1.0 mm; 7, 9, 10: 0.5 mm; 12: 0.2 mm; 11, 13 – 17: 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 18. Type locality of Chinecallicerus schuelkei sp. n.