Paraphloeostiba cooteri, Shavrin, 2020

Shavrin, Alexey V., 2020, New species and records of Paraphloeostiba Steel, 1960 from China and Laos and descriptions of four new species of related genera (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae Omaliinae: Omaliini), Zootaxa 4890 (3), pp. 301-329 : 308-310

Paraphloeostiba cooteri sp.n.

( Figs. 14 , 12–13 , 23–24 )

Type material examined: Holotype Ƌ (dissected): ‘ CHINA: Zhejiang Prov., | W. Tianmu Shan, ca 500m. | Sieved litter under Ginkgo | trees # 225–230. | 22.vi.2009. Leg., J. Cooter.’ <printed>, ‘ Rougemont | collection’ <printed>, ‘ Paraphloeostiba [handwritten] | sp. [handwritten] | Det. 2009 | G. de Rougemont’ <printed>, ‘ HOLOTYPE | Paraphloeostiba | cooteri sp. n. | Shavrin A. V. des. 2020’ <printed> ( OUMNH).

Paratype 1 Ƌ (dissected): ‘ CHINA: Zhejiang Prov., | Lin`an county, m. | W. Tianmu Shan N. R. ’ <printed>, ‘Flight | interception | trap’ <printed>, ‘Rougemont | collection’ <printed>, ‘ Paraphloeostiba [handwritten] | n.sp. [handwritten] | det. 2002 | G. de Rougemont’ <printed>, ‘ PARATYPE | Paraphloeostiba | cooteri sp.n. | Shavrin A. V. des. 2020’ <red, printed> ( OUMNH).

Description. Measurements (n=2): HW: 0.36–0.37; HL: 0.20–0.21; AL (holotype): 0.44; OL: 0.11; PL: 0.25; PW: 0.43–0.45; ESL: 0.43–0.45; EW: 0.58; AW: 0.60; MTbL: 0.25; MTrL: 0.10 (MTrL 1–4: 0.03; MTrL 5: 0.07); AedL: 0.28; TL: 1.90(holotype)–1.94.

Body and antennomeres 6–11 brown; maxillary palpomeres, laterobasal portions of pronotum, median part of elytra (holotype), paratergites, and apical tergites of abdomen yellow-brown; mouthparts, antennomeres 1–5, and legs yellow. Head with regular, dense, and moderately coarse isodiametric microsculpture; microsculpture of pronotum slightly finer than that of head, without punctation; punctation of elytra irregular, fine and very dense, more distinct in scutellar area and in median portion along suture, microsculpture dense, similar to that on pronotum, but slightly coarser.

Head slightly convex in posterior portions between ocelli and eyes, 1.7–1.8 times as broad as long, with deep and moderately long anteocellar foveae almost reaching level of mid-length of eyes; postocular carina indistinct; distance between ocelli about as long distance between ocellus and posterior margin of eye. Apical palpomere of maxillary palpi about 1.4 times as long as penultimate palpomere. Basal antennomere 1.6 times as long as broad, antennomere 2 indistinctly narrower than basal antennomere, 6–9 about twice as broad as long, apical antennomere about twice as long as 10, from middle slightly narrowing to the moderately wide apex.

Pronotum 1.7–1.8 times as broad as long, 1.1–1.2 times as broad as head, widest approximately in middle, sharply narrowed towards the obtuse posterior angles; anterior angles widely rounded; paramedian longitudinal impressions distinct, wide and long, from medioapical portion extending along almost the whole disc; lateral impressions moderately deep.

Abdomen slightly wider than elytra, with two indistinct, small and round wing-folding patches on abdominal tergite IV.

Male. Posterior margin of abdominal tergite VIII rounded ( Fig. 12 ). Posterior margin of abdominal sternite VIII concave ( Fig. 13 ). Aedeagus ( Fig. 23 ) with narrow basal bulb, gradually narrowed towards middle, with moderately wide, rounded apex; parameres not reaching apex of median lobe, with two pairs of moderately short apical and preapical setae, and three setae on inner edge of apical third of each paramere; internal sac moderately long, with three sclerotized, elongate structures in basal portion. Aedeagus laterally as in Fig. 24 .

Female unknown.

Comparative notes. Based on shapes of the posterior angles and the paramedian impressions of the pronotum, on the proportions of elytra, and on the setation of the short parameres, P. cooteri sp.n. is similar to P. singularis Kraatz, 1859 , a species known from Sri Lanka and the southern India ( Steel 1960), but differs by a smaller body, darker elytra, a wider apical part of the pronotum, a narrower median lobe of the aedeagus, and slightly wider parameres. Regarding, the general shape of the aedeagus, P. cooteri sp.n. is similar to P. kyushuensis Watanabe, 1962 , described from Kyushu, Japan ( Watanabe 1962a), from which it differs by a smaller and paler body, the shapes of the paramedian impressions, which are not connected to each other in mediobasal third, and by a narrower median lobe of the aedeagus.

Distribution. The species is known from the Tianmu Shan range in Zhejiang ( Fig. 14 ).

Bionomics. The specimens were collected at an elevation of 500 m a.s.l. by sifting litter under Ginkgo .

Etymology. Eponymic, the species is named to honour Jonathan Cooter (Oxford), the collector of the type specimens.

Figures

FIGURE 14. Distribution of Paraphloeostiba in south-eastern Asia: P. ampliata (black circle), P. brancuccii (white circles), P. cooteri (black triangle).

FIGURES 6–13. Abdominal segments of Paraphloeostiba (6–11: P. ampliata; 12–13: P. cooteri): 6, 12—male tergite VIII (dorsal view), 7, 13—male sternite VIII (ventral view), 8—female tergite VIII (dorsal view), 9—female sternite VIII (ventral view), 10—female accessory sclerite, 11—spermatheca. Scale bar: 0.1 mm.

FIGURES 23–26. Aedeagus of Paraphloeostiba (23–24: P. cooteri (paratype), 25–26: P. gayndahensis (Hong Kong)): 23, 25—parameral view, 24, 26—lateral view. Scale bar: 0.1 mm.