Orphnebius fansipanicus, Assing & V, 2015

Assing, Volker & V, North, 2015, On the Lomechusini fauna of Vietnam (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 47 (2), pp. 1257-1282 : 1270-1271

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.5282217
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03A2856A-FF80-A319-4B99-FDDDE157FC08
treatment provided by	Marcus
scientific name	Orphnebius fansipanicus
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Orphnebius fansipanicus View in CoL nov.sp. ( Figs 8-9 View Figs 1-9 , 27-29 View Figs 27-34 , 39 View Figs 35-43 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype 3: "N-Vietnam - pass 8 km NW Sa Pa , 22°21'13''N, 103°46'01''E, 2030 m, forest margin, 10.VIII.2013, V.Assing [10a+2] / Holotypus 3 Orphnebius fansipanicus sp. n., det. V. Assing 2015" (cAss). GoogleMaps

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from Fansipan, the highest peak of Vietnam, near which the type locality is situated.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 3.6 mm; length of forebody 1.6 mm. Coloration: forebody black; abdomen dark-reddish; legs with dark-brown femora and with reddish tibiae and tarsi; antennae with antennomeres I-IV reddish, V brown, and VI-XI blackishbrown; maxillary palpi dark-brown with pale-yellowish terminal palpomere.

Head ( Fig. 8 View Figs 1-9 ) 1.4 times as broad as long; dorsal surface with few scattered punctures and without microsculpture. Eyes large and bulging, more than twice as long as distance from posterior margin of eye to posterior constriction. Antenna 1.1 mm long, nearly symmetric, shaped as in Fig. 9 View Figs 1-9 .

Pronotum ( Fig. 8 View Figs 1-9 ) approximately 1.2 times as broad as long and 1.7 times as broad as head; disc with very few scattered setiferous punctures, nearly impunctate; lateral margins each with four long black setae, one at anterior angle, one a short distance (about half the length of seta) behind anterior angle, one just behind middle, and one near posterior angle.

Elytra ( Fig. 8 View Figs 1-9 ) approximately 0.85 times as long as pronotum; punctation fine and sparse; pubescence long, pale, and depressed to suberect; microsculpture absent. Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I nearly as long as the combined length of II and III.

Abdomen: tergites III-VI each with a lateral puncture and few punctures at posterior margins, otherwise impunctate; tergite VII with extensive oblong puncture-like impressions in anterior two-thirds, posteriorly with a transverse row of setiferous punctures; posterior margin of tergite VII with pronounced palisade fringe.

3: median lobe of aedeagus 0.75 mm long, with rather short and straight (lateral view) ventral process ( Figs 27-28 View Figs 27-34 ); paramere ( Figs 29 View Figs 27-34 , 39 View Figs 35-43 ) much shorter than median lobe, paramerite without conspicuous modifications, at apical margin of sclerotized portion with four setae, condylite stout, much shorter than paramerite, and with short velum.

♀: unknown.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Based on the modifications of the abdominal segments IX and X (with long and dense dark setae) and on the morphology of the aedeagus (shapes of median lobe and of parameres), Orphnebius fansipanicus belongs to the O. hauseri group (see ASSING 2006a, 2006b), whose distribution ranges from the western Himalaya southeastwards to China and Taiwan ( ASSING 2015a). Except for O. thai PACE, 2000 ( Thailand) , whose aedeagal shape suggests that it may belong to this group, too, all other species previously described from Thailand and Laos belong to other species groups. Among the species of the O. hauseri group, O. fansipanicus is most similar to O. bihamatus ASSING, 2015 (East Yunnan), from which it differs by the proportions of head and pronotum ( O. dishamatus : pronotum 1.35 times as broad as long and 1.25 times as broad as head), the coloration ( O. dishamatus : abdomen pale-reddish; legs with brown femora and reddish-brown tibiae), the slightly longer antennomere XI, the chaetotaxy of the pronotum ( O. dishamatus : the two antero-lateral long setae separated by a greater distance), the shape of the median lobe of the aedeagus ( O. dishamatus : ventral process broader in ventral view; crista apicalis of different orientation and slightly different shape), and by the shape of the paramere (O. bihamatus: apex of paramere of slightly different shape; condylite longer in relation to paramerite). For illustrations of the Orphnebius species recorded from Thailand and China see ASSING (2006a, 2006b, 2009, 2015a) and PACE (1986, 1992, 2000, 2004a), for figures of O. bihamatus and a key to the species known from China see Figs 30 View Figs 27-34 , 40 View Figs 35-43 and ASSING (2015a), respectively.

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 at a pass 8 km to the northwest of Sa Pa, North Vietnam, at an altitude of 2030 m. The holotype was sifted from litter and roots under bushes near the margin of a secondary deciduous forest, together with Tetrabothrus bicolor . For a habitat photo see figure 27 in ASSING (2015c).