Syndicus (Semisyndicus) primus, Jałoszyński, 2023

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2023, Two new species of Syndicus in southern India (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 5230 (4), pp. 489-495 : 492-494

Syndicus (Semisyndicus) primus sp. n.

( Figs 7–12 )

Type material studied. Holotype: INDIA: ♁, two labels: “S-India: Kerala / Thekkady / Peryar W.L.S. / 1.-5.IX.1989 / leg. Riedel ” [white, printed], “ SYNDICUS / ( SEMISYNDICUS ) / primus m. / P. Jałoszyński, ’23 / HOLOTYPUS” [red, printed] ( MNHW) . Paratype: INDIA: 1 ♁, same data as for holotype (cPJ) .

Diagnosis. Male: punctures on head fine and unremarkable, on pronotum large, deep and conspicuously dense, on median region of elytra similarly large and dense as those on pronotum but much shallower; median lobe of aedeagus nearly barrel-shaped, with short and weakly narrowed apical region; endophallus nearly symmetrical, with median broad flagellum flanked by two pairs of submedian elongate sclerites, distal region of flagellum surrounded by densely distributed thin needle-like sclerites; parameres lacking apical setae.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 7 ) elongate, moderately strongly convex; pigmentation light brown, legs, antennae and palps indistinctly lighter, body covered with yellowish setae slightly lighter than cuticle; BL 3.13–3.15 mm.

Head ( Figs 7, 8 ) broadest at eyes, HL 0.50–0.53 mm, HW 0.65 mm; tempora in dorsal view slightly shorter than eyes, evenly arcuate and strongly converging posterad, posteromedian region of vertex with shallow but clearly visible longitudinal groove. Eyes large and strongly convex, finely faceted, bean-shaped, with distinct posterior emargination. Frons and vertex confluent and transverse; supraantennal tubercles distinctly elevated, diffuse. Frons and vertex with unremarkable, unevenly distributed small and shallow punctures; setae sparse, long and suberect, postgenae with thick and sparse bristles. Antennae slender and weakly thickening distad, AnL 1.58–1.63 mm, antennomeres 1–6 each distinctly elongate (6 weakly so), 7 barely discernibly elongate, 8 and 9 each about as long as broad, 10 distinctly transverse, 11 as long as broad, 10 and 11 together distinctly shorter than 8–9 combined.

Pronotum moderately strongly convex, strongly elongate, broadest near anterior angles, PL 0.88–0.90 mm, PW 0.70–0.73 mm. Sides strongly rounded in anterior half, posteriorly slightly concave, anterior and posterior corners obtuse-angled and blunt, anterior margin strongly arcuate, posterior pronotal margin strongly arcuate. Pronotal disc demarcated from short posterior ‘collar’ by shallow constriction and transverse row of two dorsal pairs and two lateral pairs of large, deep and oval pits. Punctures on disc small but deep and distinct, conspicuously dense, separated by spaces clearly shorter than diameters of punctures. Setae sparse, long and suberect, clearly thicker than those on head; thick bristles present on sides of pronotum.

Elytra together oval, broadest between middle and anterior third; EL 1.73–1.75 mm, EW 1.05–1.10 mm, EI 1.57–1.67; humeral calli prominent, elongate; basal impressions shallow; elytral apices rounded together. Small oval circumsutural area in anterior third of elytra indistinctly flattened. Punctures on entire surface of elytra about as large and dense as those on pronotal disc but much shallower, reducing in diameters towards lateral and posterior elytral margins; setae similar to those on pronotum but appear slightly thicker.

Hind wings long, functional.

Legs slender and long, unmodified; glandular openings on dorsal regions of femoral clava small but distinct, situated at highest site of femur, dorsal longitudinal groove on each femur running from base to distal margin of femur; all tibiae straight.

Aedeagus ( Figs 9–12 ) weakly elongate, AeL 0.68 mm; median lobe in ventral view nearly barrel-shaped, with short and weakly narrowed apical region; apical margin broadly and evenly rounded; endophallus nearly symmetrical, with median broad flagellum flanked by two pairs of submedian elongate sclerites (one pair with triangular apices, second pair with apices strongly curved outwards), distal region of flagellum surrounded by densely distributed fine needle-like sclerites; parameres slender, in lateral view strongly curved in distal half, lacking apical setae.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. Southern India: Kerala.

Etymology. The Latin adjective primus , meaning the first, refers to the fact that this is the first member of the subgenus Semisyndicus known to occur in India.

Remarks. Species of the subgenus Semisyndicus are difficult to identify by external characters; in most cases they differ from each other in proportions and measurements of various body parts and distribution of punctures, especially those on the pronotum. The primary diagnostic features are associated with the aedeagus and spermatheca. Syndicus primus has a unique shape and arrangement of endophallic sclerites that allows for unambiguous determination.

Figures

FIGURES 7‒12. Syndicus (Semisyndicus) primus sp. n., holotype male. Dorsal habitus (7); head in lateral view (8); aedeagus in ventral (9, 11) and lateral (10, 12) views.