Paederus (Harpopaederus) edentulus, Assing, 2015

Assing, Volker, 2015, On the Harpopaederus fauna of China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 47 (1), pp. 163-190 : 173-176

Paederus (Harpopaederus) edentulus nov.sp. ( Figs 30-45 , Map 2 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype 3: " CHINA [18] - S-Gansu, mountains SE Longnan , sifted, 33°11'17''N, 105°14'12''E, 2060 m, 7.VIII.2012, V. Assing / Holotypus 3 Paederus edentulus sp.n. det. V. Assing 2015" (cAss) . Paratypes: 1♀: same data as holotype, but leg. Wrase (cSch) ; 1♀: " CHINA: S-Gansu [CH12-13b], Mts. 36 km SE Longnan , 2080 m, 33°13'03''N, 105°14'55''E, Eslope with mixed pine and birch forest, litter sifted, 4.VIII.2012, M. Schülke " (cAss) .

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective: without teeth) alludes to the absence of denticles on the dorsal plate of the aedeagus.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 10.0-11.0 mm; length of forebody 4.7-6.0 mm. Coloration: head black; pronotum bright reddish; elytra metallic-blue; scutellum palereddish; abdomen bicoloured with segments III-VI pale-reddish and segments VII-X black; legs dark-yellowish, with the apical halves of the femora blackish; antennae darkyellowish.

Head ( Fig. 30 ) transverse, 1.13-1.19 times as broad as long; punctation rather fine and sparse in median and anterior dorsal portions, coarser and denser in lateral and posterior dorsal portions; interstices without microsculpture. Eyes noticeably shorter than postocular region from posterior margin of eye to posterior constriction of head. Antenna 2.9-3.0 mm long; antennomere IV approximately twice as long as broad; antennomere X approximately 1.5 times as long as broad. Labrum with rather deeply and broadly excavate anterior margin ( Figs 31-32 ).

Pronotum ( Fig. 30 ) 1.06-1.07 times as long as broad and 1.02-1.06 times as broad as head, strongly convex in cross-section; dorsal series each composed of approximately 10 punctures.

Elytra ( Fig. 30 ) approximately 0.68-0.75 times as long as pronotum and of trapezoid shape; punctation moderately coarse and of somewhat variable density; interstices without microsculpture. Hind wings completely reduced. Protarsomeres I-IV with pronounced sexual dimorphism. Metatarsomere I approximately as long as the combined length of II and III.

Abdomen approximately 1.1 times as broad as elytra; punctation moderately fine and rather dense; pubescence long and blackish; interstices with fine and transverse microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe; tergite VIII sexually dimorphic.

3: protarsomeres I-IV strongly dilated; tergite VIII strongly convex posteriorly; posterior margin of sternite VII weakly concave in the middle; sternite VIII ( Fig. 33 ) weakly transverse, posterior excision nearly half as deep as length of sternite; tergites IX- X as in Fig. 34 ; aedeagus ( Figs 35-42 ) 2.0 mm long and nearly symmetric; ventral process very weakly sclerotized; dorsal plate long, basally slender, apically acute and not curved in lateral view, extending far beyond apices of parameres, without denticles; parameres apically very weakly curved; internal sac with a clip-shaped weakly sclerotized basal structure, but without sclerotized spines.

♀: protarsomeres I-IV moderately dilated, much less so than in male; tergite VIII ( Fig. 43 ) strongly tapering posteriad, posterior margin blackish, weakly convex in the middle; sternite VIII ( Fig. 44 ) posteriorly with median process of triangular shape, postero-lateral angles acute and projecting posteriad; tergites IX and X as in Fig. 45.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: The new species differs from the geographically close and externally highly similar P. agnatus , as well as from other micropterous Harpopaederus species recorded from the western Qinling Shan by the morphology of the aedeagus (dorsal plate rather slender basally, without denticles, apically not curved in lateral view; apices of parameres only very weakly curved), and additionally as follows:

from P. agnatus by the shapes of the female tergite VIII and sternite VIII (see Figs 9-10 );

from P. antennocinctus , with which it shares the absence of denticles on the dorsal plate of the aedeagus, by uniformly yellowish antennae ( P. antennocinctus : antennomeres III- XI apically infuscate), the yellowish tibiae and basal halves of the femora, the differently shaped female tergite VIII ( P. antennocinctus : apically strongly convex), and the much shorter and less slender median projection of the posterior margin of the female sternite VIII (see description and figures in WILLERS 2001b);

from P. gracilacutus , with which it shares a similar shape of the labrum, by the acutely angled and distinctly projecting postero-lateral angles of the female sternite VIII; for illustrations of P. gracilacutus see PENG et al. (2015).

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: Thespecieswasdiscoveredin two localities situated to the southeast of Longnan, southern Gansu. The specimens were collected by sifting litter and moss in a mixed pine and birch forest and in a shrub habitat on a slope with scree at altitudes of 2060 and 2080 m.

Figures

Map 2: Distributions of Harpopaederus species in Sichuan, Gansu, and Shaanxi (some doubtful female-based literature records omitted): Paederus chinensis (filled triangles); P. deplectens (filled stars); P. antennocinctus (open circles); P. agnatus (filled circles); P. minicus (open diamond); P. edentulus (filled diamonds); P. gracilacutus (open stars).

Figs 30-42: Paederus edentulus nov.sp.: (30) forebody; (31-32) mouthparts; (33) male sternite VIII; (34) male tergites IX-X; (35-37) aedeagus in lateral, ventral, and dorsal view; (38-40) apical portion of aedeagus in lateral, ventral, and dorsal view; (41-42) internal structures of aedeagus in lateral and ventral view. Scale bars: 40-37: 1.0 mm; 38-42: 0.2 mm.

Figs 43-45: Paederus edentulus nov.sp.: (43) female tergite VIII; (44) female sternite VIII; (45) female tergites IX-X. Scale bars: 1.0 mm.

Figs 1-12: Paederus agnatus EPPELSHEIM: aedeagus of males from the Chengxian region (1-3), the region to the southwest of Longnan (4-9), and from the region to the northwest of Longnan (10-12) in lateral (1, 4, 7, 10), ventral (2, 5, 8, 11), and in dorsal view (3, 6, 9, 12). Scale bar: 1.0 mm.