Trichoglossina volans, Assing, 2018

Assing, Volker, 2018, Six new species of Trichoglossina from China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Oxypodini), Linzer biologische Beiträge 50 (1), pp. 89-109 : 103-107

Trichoglossina volans nov.sp. ( Figs 56-66 , Map 1 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype ♂: " CHINA (N. Sichuan) 70 km N Songpan, road S 301, above Gan lake, 2700 m, 33°15'26''N, 103°46'03''E, (spruce forest with birch, litter, moss, soil sifted), 12.VIII.2012 D.W. Wrase [26] / Holotypus ♂ Trichoglossina volans sp. n., det. V. Assing 2018" (MNB). Paratype ♀: same data as holotype (cAss).

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet is the present participle of the Latin verb volare (to fly) and alludes to the fully developed hind wings.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 3.0- 3.2 mm; length of forebody 1.4-1.5 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 56 . Coloration: head dark-brown to blackish; pronotum reddish-yellow to palereddish; elytra brown with the humeral angles reddish and the posterior margin broadly yellowish; abdomen blackish-brown to blackish with the narrow posterior margins of segments III-VI, the posterior portion of segment VII, and all of segments VIII-X reddish-yellow to yellow; legs yellow; antennae yellowish with the apical portion more or less distinctly and more or less extensively darker; maxillary palpi yellowish.

Head ( Fig. 57 ) weakly transverse; punctation dense and fine; interstices with shallow, but distinct microreticulation. Eyes weakly convex, approximately as long as postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna ( Fig. 58 ) approximately 0.8 mm long; antennomere IV as long as broad or weakly oblong; antennomeres V-X transverse and gradually increasing in width, VI-X more than 1.5 times as broad as long, X slightly longer than IX, and XI as long as the combined length of antennomeres VIII-X (♂), or nearly so (♀).

Pronotum ( Fig. 57 ) strongly transverse and broad in relation to head, nearly 1.3 times as broad as long and approximately 1.4 times as broad as head, broadest approximately in the middle, moderately convex in cross-section; punctation and microsculpture similar to those of head.

Elytra ( Fig. 57 ) slightly longer than pronotum; punctation dense and fine; interstices with shallow microsculpture. Hind wings fully developed. Tarsi very long and slender; metatarsus approximately as long as, or even longer than metatibia; metatarsomere I approximately as long as, or even longer than the combined length of II-IV.

Abdomen narrower than elytra; tergites III-V with shallow anterior impressions; punctation moderately coarse and very dense, as dense on tergite VII as on anterior tergites; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

♂: posterior margin of tergite VIII obtusely pointed in the middle ( Fig. 59 ); sternite VIII ( Fig. 60 ) somewhat longer than tergite VIII, posterior margin truncate; median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 61-62 ) 0.5 mm long; ventral process somewhat sinuate in lateral view, apically acute in ventral view; crista apicalis prominent; internal sac with long flagellum; paramere ( Fig. 63 ) approximately 0.8 mm long, apical lobe very slender, medially constricted, and long, approximately half as long as basal portion of paramere.

♀: posterior margin of tergite VIII slightly more sharply pointed than in male ( Fig. 64 ); posterior margin of sternite VIII weakly concave, with a very dense fringe of distinctly modified stout setae ( Fig. 65 ); spermatheca as in Fig. 66.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: This species is characterized by a broad habitus with a large and distinctly transverse pronotum, by the shapes of the male and female tergites and sternites VIII, and the conspicuous morphology of the aedeagus. The shape of the median lobe of the aedeagus somewhat resembles that of T. parasmetanai PACE, 1999 (Gansu: Xinlong Shan), but differs by a more prominent crista apicalis and the shape of the ventral process (lateral view). Externally, T. volans is distinguished from T. parasmetanai by a darker head ( T. parasmetanai : head yellowish-brown), a much larger and more transverse pronotum, and the presence of distinct microsculpture on the head and pronotum ( T. parasmetanai : head without, pronotum with very shallow microsculpture). For illustrations of the habitus and the aedeagus of T. parasmetanai see PACE (1999). From the syntopic T. acutissima , T. volans is differs by a much broader habitus, a larger, distinctly more transverse, and less convex (cross-section) pronotum, darker coloration of the pronotum, legs, and antennae, fully developed hind wings, longer and broad elytra, much more distinct punctation on the abdomen, and by the primary and secondary sexual characters.

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 and the circumstances of collection are identical to those of T. acutissima .

Figures

Map 1: Distributions of Trichoglossina aptera (black and white triangles), T. alticola (white triangle), T. acutissima (white circle), T. volans (white circle), T. discolor (black circle), and T. bifida (white diamonds).

Figs 56-66: Trichoglossina volans: habitus (56); forebody (57); antenna (58); male tergite VIII (59); male sternite VIII (60); median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (61-62); paramere (63); female tergite VIII (64); female sternite VIII (65); spermatheca (66). Scale bars: 56: 1.0 mm; 57: 0.5 mm; 58-65: 0.2 mm; 66: 0.1 mm.