Echiaster maior, Assing, 2013

Assing, V., 2013, The second species of Echiaster from Asia (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 45 (2), pp. 1527-1530 : 1529-1530

Echiaster maior nov.sp. ( Figs 1-6 , Map 1 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype: "LAO, Phongsaly prov., 21°41-2' N 102°6 -8'E, 28.v.- 20.vi.2003, Phongsaly env., ~ 1500 m, Pacholátko leg. / from sieved material / Holotypus Echiaster maior sp. n. det. V. Assing 2013" (Naturhistorisches Museum Basel).

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet is the comparative of the Latin adjective magnus (large) and refers to the size of the species, one of the characters separating it from the similar E. unicolor .

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 5.6 mm; length of forebody 3.0 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 1 . Coloration: body blackish-brown, elytra with an oblique dark-reddish spot in the humeral angles; legs yellowish; antennae dark-yellowish with brown antennomere I.

Head ( Fig. 2 ) 1.05 times as long as broad, widest across eyes, behind eyes convexly narrowed towards neck in dorsal view; posterior angles obsolete; punctation coarse, areolate, and extremely dense; interstices reduced to narrow ridges; dorsal surface matt. Eyes large, approximately 0.7 times as long as distance between posterior margin of eye to posterior constriction in dorsal view. Antenna 1.2 mm long.

Pronotum ( Fig. 2 ) 1.35 times as long as broad and 0.78 times as broad as head; median portion broadly impressed, this impression with median elevation posteriorly; punctation similar to that of head.

Elytra ( Fig. 2 ) 0.75 times as long as pronotum; humeral angles marked; surface elevated

at suture and flattened elsewhere; punctation very dense and granulose. Hind wings reduced.

Abdomen as broad as elytra; tergites III and IV with very coarse and dense punctation; tergite V with coarse and dense punctation in anterior half and with somewhat finer punctation in posterior half; tergites VI-VIII with dense and fine punctation; posterior margin of tergite VII strongly convex ( Fig. 1 ), without palisade fringe; tergite VIII distinctly oblong and with strongly convex posterior margin.

: sternite VII moderately transverse and with very dense dark pubescence, posterior margin weakly concave in the middle ( Fig. 3 ); sternite VIII distinctly oblong, posterior excision broadly V-shaped ( Fig. 4 ); aedeagus 0.75 mm long and shaped as in Figs 5-6.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: The new species differs from E. unicolor , the only other representative of the genus recorded from Asia, by larger body size ( E. unicolor : length of forebody 2.2-2.6 mm), the longer antennae ( E. unicolor : <1.0 mm), the longer and more slender legs, and by the much larger aedeagus ( E. unicolor : 0.53-0.56 mm) with a differently shaped apex of the ventral process. For illustrations of the aedeagus of E. unicolor see Figs 7-8.

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 near Phongsaly in northern Laos ( Map 1 ). The holotype was sifted at an altitude of approximately 1500 m.

Figures

Map 1: Geographic position of the type locality of Echiaster maior nov.sp.

Figs 1-8: Echiaster maior nov.sp. (1-6) and E. unicolor BERNHAUER (7-8): (1) habitus; (2) forebody; (3) male sternite VII; (4) male sternite VIII; (5-8) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view. Scale bars: 1-2: 1.0 mm; 3-4: 0.5 mm; 5-8: 0.2 mm.