Trisunius schuelkei, Assing, 2011

Assing, V., 2011, Trisunius gen. nov. from the southern East Palaearctic and the Oriental regions (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae: Medonina), Linzer biologische Beiträge 43 (1), pp. 195-220 : 209-211

Trisunius schuelkei nov.sp. ( Figs 41-45 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype Ƌ: " China: Yunnan, Lincang Pref., Bangma Shan, 33 km SSW Lincang, 2150 m, 23°35'41''N, 100°00'27''E, decid. forest remnant, N-slope, litter and dead wood sifted, 11.IX.2009, leg. M. Schülke [ CH 09-42] / Holotypus Ƌ Trisunius schuelkei sp.n. det. V. Assing 2011" (cAss). Paratypes: 8 exs. [4 slightly teneral]: same data as holotype (cSch, cAss).

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 2.7-3.2 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 41 . Coloration: head reddish-brown; pronotum reddish; elytra dark-brown, with the anterior and posterior margins yellowish; abdomen blackish-brown; legs and antennae reddish.

Head ( Fig. 42 ) weakly oblong, approximately 1.05 times as long as wide; punctation fine and moderately dense; interstices with fine, but distinct microsculpture. Eyes approximately half as long as postocular region in dorsal view. Anterior margin of labrum with two distinct teeth on either side of median incision.

Pronotum ( Fig. 42 ) approximately 1.1 times as long as wide and 0.95 times as wide as head; punctation less fine and more distinct than that of head; midline with narrow impunctate band; interstices without microsculpture.

Elytra approximately 1.05 times as long as pronotum; humeral angles marked ( Fig. 42 ); punctation dense and shallow, less distinct than that of pronotum; interstices without microsculpture. Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I approximately as long as II.

Abdomen narrower than elytra, widest at segment VI; punctation fine and moderately dense; interstices with distinct microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

Ƌ: sternite VII with a few long dark setae posteriorly and with weakly concave posterior margin, otherwise unmodified ( Fig. 43 ); sternite VIII with moderately deep and rather narrow V-shaped excision ( Fig. 44 ); aedeagus approximately 0.45 mm long; ventral process of distinctive shape in lateral view ( Fig. 45 ).

E t y m o l o g y: The species is dedicated to my friend and colleague Michael Schülke, who collected the types of this species, as well as a large proportion of the material of other species treated in the present paper.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: This species is characterized particularly by the conspicuous shape of the aedeagus, as well as by the coloration and the relatively long elytra.

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: This species is known only from the type locality in the Bangma Shan in western Yunnan, China. The five type specimens, four of them teneral, were collected in a deciduous forest remnant at an altitude of 2150 m. Syntopic species are T. spathulatus and T. cultellatus .

Figures

Figs 41-49: Trisunius schuelkei nov.sp. (41-45) and T. truncatus nov.sp. (46-49): (41, 46) habitus; (42, 47) forebody; (43, 48) male sternite VII; (44, 49) male sternite VIII; (45) aedeagus in lateral view. Scale bars: 41, 46: 1.0 mm; 42, 47: 0.5 mm; 43-44, 48-49: 0.2 mm; 45: 0.1 mm.