Trichoglossina discolor, Assing, 2018

Assing, Volker, 2018, Six new species of Trichoglossina from China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Oxypodini), Linzer biologische Beiträge 50 (1), pp. 89-109 : 107-108

Trichoglossina discolor nov.sp. ( Figs 67-79 , Map 1 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype ♂: " CHINA [2] - S-Shaanxi, SW Meixian, Qinling Shan, 34°01'31''N, 107°24'13''E, 1870 m, 26.VII.2012, V. Assing / Holotypus ♂ Trichoglossina discolor sp.n., det. V. Assing 2018" (cAss). Paratypes: 2♀♀: same data as holotype (cAss).

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective: colourful) alludes to the distinctive coloration.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 2.3-3.0 mm; length of forebody 1.2-1.3 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 67 . Coloration: head blackish-brown; pronotum pale reddish; elytra darkyellowish with the antero-lateral portions extensively, but slightly and diffusely darker; abdomen reddish with yellowish apex; legs yellowish with darker meso- and metafemora; antennae with the basal half yellowish and the apical half reddish; maxillary palpi yellowish.

Head ( Fig. 68 ) weakly transverse; punctation dense and fine; interstices with distinct microreticulation. Eyes weakly convex, approximately as long as postocular region in dorsal view, or slightly shorter. Antenna ( Fig. 69 ) approximately 0.7 mm long; antennomere IV as long as broad or weakly transverse; antennomeres V-X transverse and gradually increasing in width, VI-X more than 1.5 times as broad as long, X slightly longer than IX, and XI longer than the combined length of antennomeres IX and X.

Pronotum ( Fig. 68 ) 1.20-1.25 times as broad as long and 1.30-1.35 times as broad as head, broadest approximately in the middle, moderately convex in cross-section; punctation very dense and fine, but more distinct than that of head; interstices with shallow microsculpture visible only at higher magnification.

Elytra ( Fig. 68 ) approximately as long as pronotum; punctation dense, fine, and illdefined; interstices with shallow microsculpture. Hind wings fully developed. Legs moderately long and moderately slender; metatarsus nearly as long as metatibia; metatarsomere I approximately as long as the combined length of II-IV or nearly so.

Abdomen ( Fig. 70 ) narrower than elytra; tergites III-V with shallow anterior impressions; punctation extremely dense, composed of oblong granules, nearly as dense on tergite VII as on anterior tergites; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

♂: posterior margin of tergite VIII weakly convex ( Fig. 71 ); sternite VIII ( Fig. 77 ) somewhat longer than tergite VIII, posterior margin convex; median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 72-73 ) 0.45 mm long; ventral process nearly straight in apical two-thirds in lateral view, apically convex in ventral view; crista apicalis prominent; internal sac with long flagellum; paramere ( Fig. 74 ) nearly 0.7 mm long, apical lobe slender and long, but less than half as long as basal portion of paramere.

♀: posterior margin of tergite VIII indistinctly obtusely pointed in the middle ( Fig. 78 ); posterior margin of sternite VIII weakly concave, with a very dense fringe of distinctly modified stout setae ( Fig. 79 ); spermatheca as in Figs 75-76.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: This species is characterized by its coloration, relatively small size, the shapes of the male and female tergites and sternites VIII, and the morphology of the aedeagus. It is additionally distinguished from the three species previously recorded from Shaanxi as follows:

from T. emeimontis PACE, 2012 by the presence of microsculpture on the forebody (absent in T. emeimontis), larger eyes, and a spermatheca with a much longer proximal portion;

from the much darker T. nona PACE, 2012 by the presence of microsculpture on the head and pronotum, larger eyes, and a spermatheca with a much longer proximal portion;

from T. taibaiensis PACE, 2012 by the presence of microsculpture on the forebody and the differently shaped spermatheca. For illustrations of T. emeimontis, T. nona, and T. taibaiensis see PACE (2012).

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d n a t u r a l h i s t o r y: The type locality is situated in the Qinling Shan, South Shaanxi ( Map 1 ). The specimens were sifted from litter and grass near a stream in a secondary deciduous forest at an altitude of 1870 m.

Figures

Map 1: Distributions of Trichoglossina aptera (black and white triangles), T. alticola (white triangle), T. acutissima (white circle), T. volans (white circle), T. discolor (black circle), and T. bifida (white diamonds).

Figs 67-76: Trichoglossina discolor: habitus (67); forebody (68); antenna (69); abdomen (70); male tergite VIII (71); median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (72-73); paramere (74); spermatheca (75-76). Scale bars: 67: 1.0 mm; 68, 70: 0.5 mm; 69, 71: 0.2 mm; 72-76: 0.1 mm.

Figs 77-79: Trichoglossina discolor: male sternite VIII (77); female tergite VIII (78); female sternite VIII (79). Scale bar: 0.2 mm.