Leiochrotella lequettei Hlaváč & Kocian, 2018

Hlaváč, Peter & Kocian, Matúš, 2018, Synopsis of Pselaphinae (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) of the Mascarene Islands, with description of a new species of Leiochrotella Jeannel, 1953 from Réunion, Zootaxa 4486 (3), pp. 376-382 : 377-379

Leiochrotella lequettei Hlaváč & Kocian , sp. n.

( Figs. 1–5 )

Material studied: 1♂, HOLOTYPE: La Réunion, 11–22.II.2018, La Grande Montée, 1600m, Col de Bellevue , sifting, - 21.166106 S, 55.590797 E, Hlaváč P. & Kocian M. lgt. NMPC . PARATYPES, 1♀: the same data as holotype ( CPH) .

Description. Body ( Figs 1–2 ) shiny, pale yellowish-brown, maxillary palpi, antennae and legs slightly lighter, yellow. Body length: 1.58–1.66 mm, width 0.59–0.62 mm, dorsum smooth, impunctate, with fine, short and sparse pubescence.

Head dorsally flattened, lacking frontal fovea, with well-defined vertexal foveae, temples long, more than twice as long as length of eyes; eyes very small, weakly protuberant; clypeus long, with about ten long, golden setae; maxillary palpi small, palpomere I pedunculate, about as long as palpomere III, II short, semitriangular, III elongate, about twice as long as wide, apical pseudosegment seta-like, minuscule. Antennae about 0.70 mm long, scape cylindrical, about 1.3 times as long as wide and slightly longer than pedicel, more robust, pedicel about 1.6 times as long as wide, slightly longer than III, antennomere III 1.50 times as long as IV, antennomere V and VI elongate, equal in length, 1.35 as long as IV, antennomere VII elongate, slightly longer than VIII, later quadrate, IX quadrate, as long as VII, more robust than VIII, antennomere X transverse, about 1.2 times as wide as long, terminal antennomere pointed at apex, almost twice as long as wide, three times as long as X and 1.85 times as long as scape. Relative length of antennomeres: 1.0: 0.9: 0.8: 0.5: 0.7: 0:6: 0.4: 0.4: 0.4: 0.6: 1.9.

Pronotum slightly transverse, about 1.05–1.15 times as wide as long and about 1.08 – 1.13 times as long as head, widest before middle, slightly convergent to base, with two minuscule lateral foveae and minuscule median antebasal fovea, lacking antebasal sulcus.

Venter with short prosternum, prosternal process pointed, prosternal cavities contiguous, hypomerae separated from median part of prosternum by hypomeral carinae, mesoventrite shorter than metaventrite, mesoventrite process pointed, mesocoxae closely separated by narrow isthmus, two mesoventrite carinae present, anterior part of mesoventrite with setae, anterior metaventrite process pointed, posterior metaventrite process wide, concave, disc of metaventrite convex with sparse setae.

Elytra about 1.30–1.35 times as wide as long, lacking basal foveae, lacking sutural striae, discal striae welldefined in anterior half, humeri absent.

Abdomen slightly shorter than elytra, about 1.15 times as wide as long, first visible tergite (IV) slightly longer than second (V), all visible tergites lacking foveae or carinae. First ventrite long, about as long as all other ventrites combined, second ventrite slightly longer than third, fourth and fifth ventrites equal in length, about half length of sixth ventrite.

Legs in male robust with strongly enlarged femora, mesotibiae with preapical spur.

Aedeagus as in Figs 3, 4 .

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Sexual dimorphism. Female ( Fig. 2 ) similar to male, but with slender legs, femora not enlarged, mesotibiae lacking preapical spur.

Differential diagnosis: L. lequettei is readily distinguished from its congeners from Madagascar by 1) the presence of minuscule lateral and median pronotal foveae, 2) the absence of basal elytral foveae, 3) the different shape of the aedeagus.

Biology: Both specimens of L. lequettei were collected by sifting leaf-litter in a very wet, primeval forest ( Fig. 5 ).

Etymology: Patronymic, named after Benoît Lequette, Le Chef du Service Etudes et la Patrimoine, Parc national de la Réunion, who allowed our collecting trip to Réunion to be possible.

Distribution: Réunion

Figures

FIGURE 5. Leiochrotella lequettei, habitat.

FIGURES 1–4. Leiochrotella lequettei, male, 1—habitus, 3—aedeagus, dorsal view, 4—aedeagus. Leiochrotella sp., female, 2—habitus.