Venezolanoconnus meridanus, Jałoszyński, 2020

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2020, Five new species of the Neotropical genus Venezolanoconnus Franz (Coleoptera Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4858 (2), pp. 274-284 : 275-277

Venezolanoconnus meridanus sp. n.

( Figs 1 , 6, 7 , 16–19)

Material studied. Holotype: ♂ ( VENEZUELA, Mérida state): two labels: “VENEZUELA - Merida / Merida - Sta Rosa / 2000m - 15.V-15. VI.81 / Pantrap / A. Briceño-Suarez ” [white, handwritten], “ VENEZOLANOCONNUS / meridanus m. / P. JAŁOSZYŃSKI, 2020 / HOLOTYPUS ” [red, printed] ( MHNG) . Paratypes (7 exx.): 2 ♂♂, 5 ♀♀, same data as for holotype (cPJ, MHNG) .

Diagnosis. Male: BL exceeding 1.2 mm; antennomeres 3–10 each slightly to strongly transverse; humeral line about 0.3 EL; eyes large, so that post-ocular portion of head is only slightly longer than eye, posterior emargination of eye about right-angled; pronotum lacking antebasal pits and groove; aedeagus with broadly rounded apical region, subapical C-shaped flagellum, subapical elongate plate with transverse, truncate and finely microserrate apex, and each paramere with a group of only 2 or 3 short setae near apex.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 1 ) stout, strongly convex, BL 1.25–1.35 mm (mean 1.28 mm); cuticle glossy, pigmentation uniformly light to moderately dark brown, vestiture of setae yellowish.

Head ( Figs 6–7 ) short, broadest at eyes, HL 0.23 mm, HW 0.26–0.28 mm (mean 0.27 mm); tempora in dorsal view ( Fig. 6 ) strongly convergent posteriorly and confluent with posterior margin of vertex, post-ocular portion of head slightly longer than eye; vertex and frons confluent and distinctly convex; supraantennal tubercles small and feebly elevated. Eyes large, bean-shaped, strongly emarginate posteriorly, emargination forms a nearly right angle, eyes strongly projecting laterally and finely faceted ( Fig. 7 ). Punctures on vertex and frons fine and superficial, barely discernible; setae short and sparse, suberect. Antennae slender, weakly thickening distad, AnL 0.50–0.55 mm (mean 0.53 mm); scape and pedicel strongly elongate, antennomeres 3–10 each transverse (gradually more distinctly so toward apex), 11 indistinctly shorter than 9 and 10 combined, about 1.6 × as long as broad.

Pronotum broadest at base, PL 0.30–0.33 mm (mean 0.31 mm), PW 0.33–0.39 mm (mean 0.35 mm); lacking antebasal pits and transverse groove, covered with barely discernible, fine and shallow punctures, and with dense, suberect setae, sides also with dense, thick bristles.

Elytra together oval, broadest near middle, EL 0.73–0.80 mm (mean 0.75 mm), EW 0.60–0.63 mm (mean 0.61 mm), EI 1.21–1.28; humeral calli prominent, elongate; humeral and post-humeral region demarcated by sharp carinate subhumeral line as long as about 0.3 EL; punctures inconspicuous; setae dense, short, suberect.

Legs moderately long and slender, unmodified.

Aedeagus (Figs 16–19) stout and in ventral view suboval, AeL 0.15 mm; with broadly rounded apical region; endophallic structures with distinct C-shaped flagellum looped in its proximal region, and with elongate oblique plate truncated at apex, with its apical margin finely microserrate; parameres in lateral view with subtriangular apices, each with 2 or 3 long apical setae.

Female. Similar to male but with distinctly smaller eyes, stouter elytra, and antennae shorter in relation to body. BL 1.25–1.28 mm (mean 1.27 mm); HL 0.23 mm, HW 0.25 mm, AnL 0.48–0.50 mm (mean 0.48 mm); PL 0.30–0.33 mm (mean 0.32 mm), PW 0.35–0.38 mm (mean 0.36 mm); EL 0.73 mm, EW 0.60–0.63 mm (mean 0.61 mm), EI 1.16–1.21.

Distribution ( Fig. 36 ). North-western Venezuela.

Etymology. Named after Mérida State.

Remarks. Venezolanoconnus meridanus belongs to a group of species characterized by the presence of an elongate, obliquely oriented plate in the distal half of the aedeagus, well-visible in ventral view. This variously shaped, but approximately rectangular plate with indistinct proximal margin can be found in the aedeagus of V. andinus , V. sreeae , V. asserculatus , V. meridanus , V. colombianus , and V. ecuadoranus . The distal margin of this plate, situated just below the apical margin of median lobe or partly protruding beyond its apex, in each of these species has a different shape: truncate, straight and smooth in V. andinus ; trilobed, with three large symmetrical subtriangular projections (median one directed distad and the lateral pair directed laterodistad) in V. sreeae ; with two asymmetrical lateral projections in V. asserculatus ; truncate, nearly straight and microserrate in V. meridanus ; trilobed, with three asymmetrical subtriangular projections (in ventral view two small lateral on the left side and one large lateral on the right side) in V. colombianus ; and asymmetrical, convex and angulate, with (in ventral view) the left portion bearing several acute teeth, and the right portion finely microserrate in V. ecuadoranus .

Figures

FIGURE 36. Distribution of Venezolanoconnus.

FIGURES 1–5. Dorsal habitus of male. Venezolanoconnus meridanus sp. n. (1); V. minimus sp. n. (2); V. colombianus sp. n. (3); V. ecuadoranus sp. n. (4); V. bejumanus sp. n. (5).

FIGURES 6–15. Head of male in dorsal (top) and lateral (bottom) views. Venezolanoconnus meridanus sp. n. (6–7); V. minimus sp. n. (8–9); V. colombianus sp. n. (10–11); V. ecuadoranus sp. n. (12–13); V. bejumanus sp. n. (14–15).