Neolindus brachati, Assing, 2012

Volker, A., 2012, Two new species of Neolindus from Peru and Venezuela (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae: Cylindroxystina), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 62 (6), pp. 291-297 : 294-297

Neolindus brachati sp. n. ( Figs 11-20 )

Type material:

Holotype : “ Venezuela, Carabobo. Mun. Bejuma, Via Palmichal , 750-850 m, XI.2005, leg. Brachat / Holotypus  Neolindus brachati sp. n., det. V. Assing 2012“ . Paratype : same data as holotype.

Etymology:

This species is dedicated to Volker Brachat, specialist of Pselaphinae , to whom I owe all the Neolindus specimens treated in this paper, including the type material of both newly described species.

Description:

Body length 5.0- 5.3 mm; length of forebody 2.5-2.6 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 11 . Coloration: body blackish; legs, antennae, and mouthparts reddish.

Head ( Fig. 12 ) strongly transverse, approximately 1.4 times as broad as long, widest across eyes; posterior angles weakly marked; dorsal surface with sparse macro- and micropunctation; microsculpture absent; on either side with only one trichobothrium near antero-dorsal margin of eye. Eyes moderately convex and large, approximately three times as long as postocular region and approximately as long as distance between posterior margin of eye and neck, or even slightly larger. Antenna with antennomeres II and III elongate and of subequal length; IV with dense pubescence, distinctly shorter than III, and weakly transverse; V-X of gradually and slightly increasing width and increasingly transverse; X almost 1.5 times as broad as long; XI little longer than X.

Pronotum ( Fig. 12 ) 1.15-1.20 times as broad as long and approximately 1.15 times as broad as head; posterior angles weakly marked, broadly rounded; punctation moderately coarse and moderately dense; on either side of the broadly impunctate midline without distinct dorsal series of punctures (i.e., dorsal series not separated from lateral punctures); interstices without microsculpture.

Elytra ( Fig. 12 ) nearly 1.1 times as long and 1.1 times as broad as pronotum; humeral angles marked; punctation coarser than that of pronotum, defined, except for sutural series not arranged in distinct series, and moderately dense; interstices in central portion on average broader than diameter of punctures and without microsculpture. Hind wings probably fully developed. Metatarsomere I slightly to distinctly longer than II.

Abdomen ( Fig. 13 ) approximately 0.9 times as broad as elytra; punctation coarse and dense on anterior, much finer and sparser on posterior tergites; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe; posterior margin of tergite VIII in both sexes weakly convex, almost truncate in the middle ( Fig. 14 ).

: sternite VII moderately transverse, posterior margin weakly concave in the middle ( Fig. 15 ); sternite VIII oblong and with broad, moderately deep, and basally acute posterior excision ( Fig. 16 ); tergite IX with anterior portion in the middle undivided, much shorter than posterior processes, and shorter than tergite X ( Fig. 17 ); aedeagus ( Figs 18-20 ) 0.85 mm long, with ventral process of distinctive shape and with two long sclerotised internal structures.

: posterior margin of sternite VIII truncate.

Comparative notes:

Neolindus brachati is distinguished from all its congeners by the male sexual characters. It is additionally separated from the three species previously recorded from Venezuela as follows:

from N. plectrus Herman, 1991 by the darker coloration ( N. plectrus : head and pronotum reddish-brown), the presence of macropunctation in the median dorsal portion of the head, the presence of only one pair of cephalic trichobothria, the transverse pronotum, and the longer elytra ( N. plectrus : shorter than pronotum);

from N. brachiatus Herman, 1991 by the darker coloration ( N. brachiatus : head and pronotum reddish-brown), the presence of macropunctation in the median dorsal portion of the head, the presence of only one pair of cephalic trichobothria, the transverse pronotum, and the longer and broader elytra ( N. brachiatus : elytra shorter and narrower than pronotum);

from N. rudiculus Herman, 1991 by the darker coloration ( N. rudiculus : body reddish-brown), the presence of macropunctation in the median dorsal portion of the head, the presence of only one pair of cephalic trichobothria, much larger eyes, the transverse pronotum, and the longer and broader elytra ( N. rudiculus : elytra shorter and narrower than pronotum).

Distribution and natural history:

The type locality is situated near Bejuma, Carabobo province, northern Venezuela. The type specimens were sifted from leaf litter in a secondary forest at an altitude of 750-850 m (Brachat pers. comm.) .

Figures

Figs 11-20: Neolindus brachati: habitus (11); forebody (12); abdominal tergites III-VII (13); male tergite VIII (14); male sternite VII (15); male sternite VIII (16); male tergites IX-X (17); aedeagus in ventral and in lateral view (18-19); ventral process of aedeagus in ventral view (20). Scale bars: 11-13: 1.0 mm; 14-19: 0.5 mm; 20: 0.1 mm.