Paraphloeostiba coriacea ( Cameron, 1952 )

Shavrin, Alexey V., 2023, New species and records of the genus Paraphloeostiba Steel, 1960 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Omaliinae) from Papua New Guinea, and notes on some species from India, Indonesia and Philippines, Zootaxa 5301 (4), pp. 486-500 : 489-491

Paraphloeostiba coriacea ( Cameron, 1952)

( Figs. 2 , 11–14 )

Phloeonomus coriaceus Cameron, 1952: 243

Paraphloeostiba coriacea: Steel 1960: 146

Material examined. PAPUA NEW GUINEA: 1 ♁ ( Fig. 2 ; abdominal tergite VII strongly damaged; specimen was dissected prior to the present study, aedeagus and apical segments is placed in vial with glycerine pinned under the card with the specimen): ‘Neth. Ind.-American New Guinea Exped. Sigi Camp 1500 m 26.ii.1939 L.J.Toxopeus`, ‘M. Cameron. Bequest. B.M.1955-147.`, ‘M. Cameron det., 19 Phloeonomus coriaceus COTYPE Cam. `, ‘NHMUK014663270`, ‘ Paraphloeostiba | coriacea ( Cameron, 1952) | Shavrin A.V. det. 2023`( BMNH).

Redescription. Measurements: HW: 0.46; HL: 0.35; OL: 0.17; TL: 0.06; AL: 0.85; PL: 0.40; PWmax: 0.67; PWmin: 0.65; ESL: 0.74; EW: 0.90; MTbL: 0.34; MTrL: 0.16 (MTrL 1–4: 0.05; MTrL 5: 0.11); AW: 0.86; AedL: 0.50; BL: 2.56.

Habitus as in Fig. 2 . Body brown, with paler lateroapical portions of head, lateral and basal portions of pronotum and middle portion of elytra (abdomen slightly darker, with paler paratergites); antennomeres 6–11 yellow-brown; mouthparts, antennomeres1–5 and legs yellowish.Head (including neck), pronotum and scutellum without punctures; elytra with moderately fine and dense punctation, finer along suture and indistinct in apical portions of each elytron; abdomen with very indistinct and moderately dense punctation, indistinct in middle portions of each tergite. Head with regular and very strong microsculpture; neck with moderately fine and dense isodiametric meshes; punctation of pronotum stronger and denser than that in middle portion of head; scutellum with dense and coarse sculpture, transverse in basal and somewhat isodiametric in apical portions; microsculpture of elytra isodiametric and very dense, but finer than that on pronotum; abdomen with very dense microsculpture, isodiametric in abdominal tergites IV–V and transverse in VI–VIII.

Head flattened in middle, with slightly elevated infraorbital portions, 1.3 times as broad as long, with moderately wide and deep anteocellar foveae.Apical maxillary palpomere about twice as long as preapical segment. Antennomeres 8–10 slightly transverse; basal antennomere slightly more than twice as long as broad, antennomere 2 slightly narrower than basal antennomere, 4 distinctly longer than broad, 6 slightly transverse and distinctly broader than 5, 7 slightly broader and longer than 6, 8–9 slightly shorter than 7, 10 slightly longer than 9, apical antennomere about 1.2 times as long as 10.

Pronotum distinctly convex, 1.6 times as broad as long, 1.4 times as broad as head, widest in middle, slightly more narrowed posteriad than anteriad; posterior angles subacute; anterior margin distinctly concave in middle; middle portion with slightly impressed medioapical portion and with two indistinct and wide paramedian impressions; laterobasal portions widely and deeply impressed.

Elytra convex, 1.8 times as long as pronotum, distinctly broadened apicad; posterior margin straight.

Abdomen slightly narrower than elytra, with two very small and round tomentose spots in middle of abdominal tergite IV.

Male. Posterior margin of abdominal tergite VIII truncate ( Fig. 13 ). Posterior margin of abdominal sternite VIII slightly concave ( Fig. 14 ). Aedeagus with wide basal bulb, strongly narrowed toward moderately small truncate apex; parameres distinctly exceeding apex of median lobe, gradually widened apically, with two long and two moderately short apical setae, and with with a row of 7–8 of moderately short setae on inner margins and one short seta on outer margins of each paramere; internal sac narrow and moderately short, with several sclerotized elongate stuctures in basal portion ( Fig. 11 ). Lateral aspect of the aedeagus as in Fig. 12 .

Female unknown.

Comparative notes. Paraphloeostiba coriacea can be distinguished from all species of the genus by the slightly transverse antennomere 6. Based on the general shape of the apical portion of the median lobe and the apical portions of parameres distinctly broadened apicad, and the presence of several short setae on inner margins of each paramere, it is somewhat similar to P. moluccensis Shavrin, 2022 , known from Yamdena Island, Indonesia ( Shavrin 2022), but differs from it by the darker coloration, stronger microsculpture of the head and the pronotum, significantly larger body, broader pronotum, longer elytra, slightly longer parameres and different morphology of the internal sac.

Distribution. Paraphloeostiba coriacea is known from three localities in eastern part of Papua New Guinea.

Remarks. Phloeonomus (s.str.) coriaceus was originally described from “Rattan Camp, 1150 m ” (type) and “Top Camp, 2100 m ...” based on the material collected by L.J. Toxopeus. Steel (1960) studied “ one paratype ... from the Cameron collection” and the male above (not type!), redescribed it and transferred to the genus Paraphloeostiba . I re-studied the latter specimen again, made figures of the aedeagus and genital segments, and redescribed the species.

Figures

FIGURES 1–6. Habitus of Paraphloeostiba: 1—P. conjuncta (holotype), 2—P. coriacea, 3—P. flaveola (holotype), 4—P. gayndahensis (Papua New Guinea), 5—P. papuana (holotype), 6—P. ullrichi (paratype). Scale bars: 1.0 mm.

FIGURES 7–14. Aedeagus and abdominal segments of Paraphloeostiba conjuncta (Figs. 7–10) and P. coriacea (Figs. 11–14): 7, 11—aedeagus, parameral view, 8, 12—aedeagus, lateral view, 9, 13—male tergite VIII, dorsal view, 10, 14—male sternite VIII, ventral view. Scale bar: 0.1 mm.