Elacatophora indica, Jałoszyński, 2020

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2020, Four new species of the Oriental genus Elacatophora L. W. Schaufuss (Coleoptera Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4834 (2), pp. 264-272 : 270-271

Elacatophora indica sp. n.

( Figs 4 , 17–20 )

Type material. Holotype: INDIA (Meghalaya State): ♂, two labels: “ INDE Meghalaya / Khasi Hill 700 m / Nongpoh 5.XI.78 / Besuchet-Löbl” [white, printed]; “ Elacatophora / indica m. / P. Jałoszyński, 2020 / HOLOTYPUS ” [red, printed] ( MHNG).

Diagnosis. BL> 1.2 mm but <1.5 mm; pronotal antebasal transverse groove entire; antennal club composed of antennomeres 7–11 and strongly thickening distad; aedeagus in ventral view moderately slender, oval with sharply demarcated apical region with sinuate sides, in lateral view with apical projections weakly bent dorsad, endophallic sclerites occupying basal half of capsular portion of median lobe, parameres in lateral view slender and parallelsided.

Description. Body ( Fig. 4 ) moderately slender with flattened pronotum and elytra, dark brown, covered with light brown setae; BL 1.26 mm.

Head broadest at moderately large, strongly convex and coarsely faceted eyes, HL 0.23 mm, HW 0.25 mm; vertex and frons convex, together elongate but not rectangular; supraantennal tubercles barely marked. Punctures on frons and vertex inconspicuous; setae sparse, long and suberect, thick bristles distinct, directed posterad and dorsoposterad. Antennae moderately long and slender, with indistinctly delimited club composed of antennomeres 7–11, AnL 0.48 mm, antennomeres 1–2 each distinctly elongate, 3–10 each distinctly transverse, 11 distinctly broader than 10, indistinctly longer than 9–10 combined, only slightly elongate, oval and distinctly asymmetrical.

Pronotum subconical, broadest at base; PL 0.31 mm, PW 0.33 mm; anterior and lateral margins in anterior half nearly straight, sides in posterior half slightly convex; posterior margin weakly arcuate; pronotal base with sharply marked and entire transverse groove connecting small and diffuse lateral pits, and with separated from groove lateral pair of small impressions developed as sharply marked, deep pits. Punctures on pronotal disc fine and inconspicuous; disc with long and sparse suberect setae, sides with sparse, thick bristles.

Elytra oval, broadest distinctly in front of middle; EL 0.73 mm, EW 0.58 mm, EI 1.26; humeral calli weakly developed, basal impressions moderately large and deep, slightly elongate; apices separately rounded. Punctures on elytra as inconspicuous as those on pronotum; setae sparse, long, suberect. Hind wings well developed.

Legs moderately long and slender, all tibiae straight or almost straight.

Aedeagus ( Figs 17–20 ) in ventral view moderately slender, oval; AeL 0.20 mm; apical portion weakly bent dorsad and visible in ventral view as sharply demarcated, elongate structure with strongly sinuate sides; endophallus in ventral view with two pairs of bunches of moderately long needle-like sclerites, and additionally with one similar, but shorter median basal group of sclerites; parameres long, in lateral view slender and parallel-sided, each with one apical and one subapical seta.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. North-eastern sub-Himalayan India ( Fig. 21 ).

Etymology. Named after the country of origin.

Remarks. Elacatophora indica is the first species of this genus known to occur in India, far from the hitherto known range of Elacatophora . For this reason, although the holotype male is an incomplete specimen (lacking one elytron and parts of legs), I decided to describe this species, as it may be important to better understand biogeography and evolution of Elacatophora .

This first Indian species has small-bodied males, not reaching 1.5 mm. Comparably small males can be found also in E. dissimilis , E. euconnoides , E. thailandiana , E. jambiana , and E. kerinciana . Among these species none has the aedeagus similar to that of E. indica , with the elongate apical region, in ventral view sharply demarcated from basal capsule and with strongly sinuate sides.

Figures

FIGURE 21. Distribution of nominal Elacatophora species. Collecting locality for Elacatophora soesilae is known only as “central Java”.

FIGURES 1–4. Dorsal habitus of a paratype female (1) and holotype males (2–4). Elacatophora thailandiana sp. n. (1); E. jambiana sp. n. (2); E. kerinciana sp. n. (3); E. indica sp. n. (4).

FIGURES 13–20. Aedeagus in ventral (13, 15, 17, 19) and lateral (14, 16, 18, 20) views. Elacatophora kerinciana sp. n. (13–16); E. indica sp. n. (17–20).