Protoconnus araguanus Franz

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2018, Revision of the Neotropical genus Protoconnus Franz (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4392 (1), pp. 41-82 : 54-55

Protoconnus araguanus Franz

( Figs 34 , 40–41 , 95 , 101 )

Protoconnus araguanus Franz, 1988: 79 , fig. 23.

Type material. Holotype: VENEZUELA (Aragua State): ♂, three labels ( Fig. 95 ): "Entre Cata y Anayagua, 400 m / Cord. de la Costa b. Maracay / Venezuela, lg. Franz" with "SA 254" on the reverse side [white, printed], " Protoconnus / araguanus / m. / det.H.Franz" [white, handwritten and printed], "Holotypus" [red, handwritten] (NHMW). The holotype bears another label, which has been apparently erroneously placed under this specimen: a yellow label with " Microscydmus (Neoscydmus) myrmecophilous m., Paratypus".

Revised diagnosis. BL 0.88 mm; body stout, elytra 1.64 times as broad as strongly transverse pronotum; frons in male between supraantennal tubercles very narrow and distinctly impressed; vertex with narrow but rounded posterior ridge straight in its median portion; pronotal base with small and indistinct pits, except for the lateral pair, and distinct groove; lateral pronotal carinae indistinct, rounded; humeral carinae rounded; aedeagus in ventral view very slender, with rapidly and very strongly broadened short apical portion and broadly rounded apical margin, parameres in subapical region rapidly bent laterad at a nearly right angle.

Redescription. Body of male ( Fig. 34 ) strongly convex, brown with a lighter, diffuse strip along elytral suture, setae distinctly lighter than cuticle; BL 0.88 mm.

Head broadest at large, strongly convex and coarsely faceted eyes, HL 0.15 mm, HW 0.20 mm; tempora in lateral view as long as about 1/4 of the longest diameter of eye; vertex flattened at middle, posterior margin of vertex straight in its median portion and developed as a narrow but rounded ridge, transition between posterior margin of vertex and tempora forming a blunt but distinct angle; frons between prominent supraantennal tubercles very narrow and distinctly impressed. Punctures on frons and vertex inconspicuous; setae short, moderately dense and suberect. Antennae slender, AnL 0.38 mm, less than half as long as body, club distinctly delimited; antennomeres I and II each about twice as long as broad; III–VIII each slightly transverse, IX–X each strongly transverse, XI much longer than X, about 1.1 × as long as broad.

Pronotum strongly transverse, nearly semicircular, broadest near posterior third; PL 0.23 mm, PW 0.28 mm. Anterior and posterior margins weakly convex, lateral margins weakly rounded; lateral carinae indistinct; transverse antebasal groove distinct, pits very small and indistinct, except for the lateral pair. Punctures on pronotal disc inconspicuous; setae sparse, short, suberect.

Elytra much more convex than pronotum, oval, broadest in front of middle; EL 0.50 mm, EW 0.45 mm, EI 1.11; humeral carinae developed as elongate and rounded protuberances. Punctures and setae similar to those on pronotum.

Legs moderately long and slender, unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Figs 40–41 ) slender; AeL 0.20 mm; in ventral view basal capsule slightly longer than half of distal region, narrowed distad; distal region laterally delimited from sides of basal capsule by a shallow constriction, slender, subtriangular with sinuate sides, with apex strongly broadened and forming a large transverse plate with broadly rounded apical margin, in lateral view its distal half nearly straight; in lateral view area above parameral bases forming a long rounded projection; parameres with apices strongly broadened and rapidly bent laterad at a nearly right angle, each with one long apical and one short subapical seta.

Female unknown.

Distribution. North-central Venezuela ( Fig. 101 ).

Remarks. Franz (1988) mentioned a holotype male and paratype female included in the type series. The paratype labeled as female is in fact a male of a different, undetermined species; its aedeagus is partly damaged.

Protoconnus araguanus is externally unremarkable and examination of the aedeagus is necessary to identify this species. The aedeagus is unique; only P. venezolanus has the apex broadened and resembling a tail fin of a fish, but the broadening in P. araguanus is much larger, and the median lobe is much more slender.

In the original description, Franz (1980) gives additional collecting data for the holotype, not included in the labels: 19.04.1982.

Figures

FIGURE 101. Distribution of nominal Protoconnus species.

FIGURES 34–39. Dorsal habitus of Protoconnus species. Protoconnus araguanus Franz (34); P. paraguayanus Franz (35); P. peruensis Franz (36); P. robustus Franz (37); P. minutus Franz (38); P. minutissimus Franz (39).

FIGURES 40–47. Aedeagi of Protoconnus species. Protoconnus araguanus Franz (40–41); P. paraguayanus Franz (42–43); P. peruensis Franz (44–45); P. robustus Franz (46–47).

FIGURES 90–100. Original labels of primary type specimens of previously described Protoconnus species. Protoconnus andicola Franz (90); P. venezolanus Franz (91); P. bolivianus Franz (92); P. comarapae Franz (93); P. princeps (Franz) (94); P. araguanus Franz (95); P. paraguayanus Franz (96); P. peruensis Franz (97); P. robustus Franz (98); P. minutus Franz (99); P. minutissimus Franz (100).