Neosmectonia gabonensis, Roberto Pace, 2012

Roberto Pace, 2012, Aleocharinae from Gabon (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae), Tropical Zoology 25 (4), pp. 157-172 : 167

Neosmectonia gabonensis n. sp.

( Figures 23– 27 )

Holotype ♂, Gabon, Forêt de la Mondah, 0°36/26//N, 9°19/0 3//E, 10 m a.s.l., Cap Esterias, about 20 km N of Libreville, 6-16.XII.1995, leg. L. Bartolozzi and S. Taiti, num. mag. 1784, n. coll. 14814.

Paratype: 1 ♀, same data, n. coll. 14815, MSNF.

Description

Length 2.9 mm. Body shiny, reddish, including antennae and legs. Eyes as long as the post-ocular region in dorsal view. Second antennomere shorter than the first, third longer than the second, fourth to ninth transverse and oval. Body devoid of reticulation except on the pronotum on which is very weak. Puncturation of the head dense and weak, absent on the longitudinal median band of the head and near the eyes, that of the pronotum dense and weak, grouped to the sides of the impunctate longitudinal median band, with some very weak and very fine punctures on the sides. Granulation of the elytra very fine and very weak, absent on the abdomen. Pronotum with a weak posterior median impression. Aedeagus: Figures 24 and 25 ; male sixth free tergite: Figure 26 ; spermatheca: Figure 27 .

Comparative notes

The new species is attributable to the genus Neosmectonia Jacobson and Kistner, 1983 , and is distinguished from N. angusticollis ( Eppelsheim, 1885) from the Gold Coast, by the short antennae, with transverse intermediary antennomeres, whereas these are elongate in N. angusticollis. The aedeagus of the new species has a well-developed ‘crista apicalis’, which is absent in the aedeagus of N. angusticollis. The present comparison is based on the revision, including an illustration of the aedeagus of N. angusticollis, given by Jacobson and Kistner, 1983.

Figures

Figures 23 – 31. Habitus, aedeagus in lateral and ventral views, male sixth free tergite and spermatheca. 23 – 27: Neosmectonia gabonensis n. sp.; 28 – 31: Zyras (Camonia) librevillensis n. sp. Scale bars: 23, 2.9 mm; 28, 6.8 mm. Other scale bars: 0.1 mm.