Myrmechusa gabonensis, Roberto Pace, 2012

Roberto Pace, 2012, Aleocharinae from Gabon (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae), Tropical Zoology 25 (4), pp. 157-172 : 171

Myrmechusa gabonensis n. sp.

( Figures 35– 38 )

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, at light, leg. L. Bartolozzi and S. Taiti, num. mag. 1784, n. coll. 14813, MSNF.

Paratypes: 2 ♀♀, same data, n. coll. 14814 and n. coll. 14815, MSNF.

Description

Length 5 mm. Body shiny, reddish, head reddish-brown, sides of the pronotum yellowishred, antennae reddish, legs reddish with femora yellowish-red, with long black bristles. Eyes longer than the post-ocular region in dorsal view. Second antennomere shorter than the first, third as long as the second, fourth to ninth longer than wide and not compressed, tenth as long as wide, eleventh as long as the four preceding together. Body lacking reticulation. Head with some setigerous pores lined up near the eyes and in the occipital region. Puncturation of the pronotum fine and fairly dense. Granulation of the elytra fine. The three basal free tergites almost impunctate, the fourth and fifth with strong and dense puncturation. Sides of the body with long and rigid bristles ( Figure 35 ). Aedeagus: Figures 36 and 37 ; spermatheca: Figure 38 .

Comparative notes

Based on the paper on the genus Myrmechusa Wasmann, 1908 by Hláváč (2003), the new species is distinct from M. selindensis Hláváč, 2003 from Zimbabwe, in having the shorter antennae, but with eleventh antennomere as long as the four preceding antennomeres together, whereas in M. selindensis the eleventh antennomere is about as long as the two preceding antennomeres together. The aedeagus of the new species has a semi-elliptic dorsal pre-apical structure which is absent in the aedeagus of M. selindensis .

Figures

Figures 32 – 38. Habitus, aedeagus in lateral and ventral views and spermatheca. 32 – 34: Porus gabonensis n. sp.; 35 – 38: Myrmechusa gabonensis n. sp. Scale bars: 32: 4.2 mm; 35: 5.1 mm. Other scale bars: 0.1 mm.