Baeocera segregata Löbl, 2021

Löbl, Ivan & Smetana, Aleš, 2021, On the Baeocera Erichson (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scaphidiinae) of Sabah, Malaysia, and a tale on mystified biodiversity, J. Insect Biodiversity 23 (2), pp. 23-42 : 34

Baeocera segregata Löbl , sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:E7B4F251-9690-4022-A96F-C97A97849A97

( Figs 12–15 )

Material examined. Holotype ♂, Sabah: Poring Hot Springs 500 m 11.V.1987 Burckhardt - Löbl ( MHNG) .

Description. Length 1.15 mm, width 0.76 mm. Body light reddish-brown, mesoventrite, metaventrite and elytra slightly darker than pronotum and abdomen, femora and tibiae as pronotum, tarsi and antennae yellowish. Head with interocular distance slightly smaller than dorsoventral eye diameter. Lateral contours of pronotum and elytra nearly continuously arcuate.Pronotum not microsculptured, with punctation very fine, hardly visible at 40 times magnification, lateral margin carinae not visible in dorsal view. Tip of scutellum exposed, triangular. Elytra not microsculptured, with lateral margins rounded, lateral margin carinae concealed in dorsal view, sutural striae parallel with suture, curved at bases and extended along basal margins to form basal striae joined with lateral striae; adsutural areas flat, finely punctate in basal halves, impunctate in apical halves. Discal punctation coarse anterior elytral mid-length, punctures well delimited, mostly somewhat smaller than puncture intervals. Punctation hardly visible (80 x magnification) on apical halves of elytra. Hind wings fully developed. Hypomera appearing impunctate. Mesoventrite without mesal ridge, intercoxal process punctate. Mesepimera nearly four times as long as wide and about three times as long as intervals to coxae. Centre of metaventrite flat, with scattered, fairly coarse punctures, to part impunctate. Lateral areas of metaventrite densely and coarsely punctate, punctures round, much larger than puncture intervals and larger than punctures on centre of metaventrite. Submesocoxal areas 0.01 mm long, densely margined by round punctures as large as those on centre of metaventrite. Metanepisterna concealed. Tibiae straight. Ventrite I lacking striae, with punctures margining base not elongate, smaller than most punctures on sides of metaventrite, not interrupted at middle. Remaining abdominal punctation very fine and sparse, hardly visible at 80 x magnification.

Male characters. Protarsomeres I to III hardly widened. Aedeagus ( Figs 12–15 ) 0.34 mm long. Median lobe in dorsal view abruptly narrowed apically, with tip acute and bent; apical process strongly inflexed, about as long as third of basal bulb, ventral contour of apical process in lateral view arcuate. Articular process not prominent. Parameres fairly wide anterior mid-length, narrowed at mid-length, straight in dorsal view, weakly bent in lateral view. Internal sac with flagellar-guide sclerite elongate, not joined with flagellum and overlapped by strongly sclerotized proximal lobelike process. Accessory transverse sclerite strongly sclerotized, acute. Membranes lacking denticulate or squamous vesicles, ejaculatory duck not vesicular anterior entering flagellum.

Differential diagnosis. This species resembles B. suthepensis Löbl, 1990 by the shape of the parameres, though their narrowed apical section is notably longer. It may be distinguished from S. suthepensis by the smaller body-size, the lighter colour, the membranes of the internal sac lacking scale-like structures, the flagellar-guide sclerite widened and bent apically, and the distinctive shape of the proximal end of the sclerotized complex.

Distribution. East Malaysia: Sabah.

Etymology. The species epithet is a Latin adjective meaning separated.

Figures

Figures 8–15. Baeocera spp., aedeagi; (8–9) B. secreta sp. nov.. in dorsal and lateral views, scale = 0.1 mm; (10) ditto, paramere in ventral view, scale = 0.05 mm; (11) ditto, internal sac in dorsal view, scale = 0.05 mm. (12, 13) B. segregata sp. nov., in dorsal and lateral views (left paramere missing), scale = 0.1 mm; (14) ditto, paramere in ventral view, scale = 0.05 mm; (15) ditto, internal sac in dorsal view, scale = 0.05 mm.