Nudobius puetzi, Assing, 2007

ASSING, VOLKER, 2007, A new species of Nudobius from China (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae: Staphylininae, Xantholinini), Zootaxa 1413 (1), pp. 65-68 : 65-67

Nudobius puetzi sp. n.

( Figs. 1 –7 )

Type material. Holotype ♂: China — Sichuan, Daxue Shan, Hailuogou Glacier Park , above camp III, 3000 m, 30.V.1997, leg. A. Pütz / Holotypus ♂ Nudobius puetzi sp. n. det. V. Assing 2006 (cAss) . Paratype ♀: same data as holotype (cPüt) .

Description. Measurements (mm) and ratios (holotype, paratype): head length from anterior margin of clypeus (without anteclypeus) to posterior margin of head (HL) 1.12, 1.22; head width (HW): 0.94, 1.09; width of pronotum (PW): 0.80, 0.95; length of pronotum (PL): 1.21, 1.34; length of elytra at suture from apex of scutellum to posterior margin (EL): 1.01, 1.07; combined width of elytra (EW): 1.10, 1.19; length of metatibia (TiL): 0.69, 0.80; length of metatarsus without claws (TaL): 0.57, 0.60; length of aedeagus including parameres: 1.22, -; total length from apex of mandibles to apex of abdomen: 7.4, 8.5; HL/HW: 1.19, 1.13; PW/HW: 0.85, 0.88; PL/PW: 1.51, 1.41; EL/PL: 0.84, 0.80; EW/PW: 1.38, 1.25, TaL/TiL: 0.83, 0.75.

Habitus as in Fig. 1 . Coloration: body black, with anterior part of humeral angles of elytra, elytral suture, posterior margin of elytra, and posterior margins of abdominal segments yellowish to yellowish brown; legs brown to blackish brown, with tarsi yellowish to yellowish brown; antennae brown, with antennomere I blackish; maxillary and labial palpi rufous.

Head distinctly oblong (see ratio HL/HW), weakly dilated posteriad; puncturation rather coarse and dense, punctures somewhat oblong; interstices with distinct microsculpture; eyes approximately half as long as postocular region in dorsal view, or nearly so ( Figs. 2–3 ).

Pronotum distinctly narrower than head (see ratio PW/HW), widest near anterior angles; lateral margins shallowly sinuate in middle (dorsal view); dorsal series composed of 6–9 punctures; microsculpture transverse and distinct in anterior half, becoming gradually less distinct caudad, in posterior half indistinct or absent (particularly so near posterior margin) ( Fig. 3 ).

Elytra distinctly wider and at suture slightly shorter than pronotum (see ratios EW/PW and EL/PL); puncturation distinct and relatively fine; interstices broader than diameter of punctures; surface without distinct microsculpture. Hind wings apparently fully developed. Metatarsus slightly shorter than metatibia (see ratio TaL/TiL).

Abdomen finely and sparsely punctate; integument with shallow, but distinct transverse microsculpture everywhere.

♂: genital segments as in Fig. 4 ; aedeagus with long internal tube, this tube laterally bordered by numerous small sclerotised spines ( Figs. 5–6 ); parameres apically with short, but acute process ( Fig. 7 ).

Comparative notes. Nudobius puetzi is separated from all its congeners by the distinctive internal structures of the aedeagus (long tube with numerous spines) and by the shape of the parameres. It is additionally distinguished from other congeners occurring in China as follows:

From N. lentus by different coloration ( N. lentus : elytra and legs reddish), distinctly more slender head and pronotum, larger eyes, longer antennae, much coarser and denser puncturation of the head, and by coarser punctures on the pronotum;

From N. apicipennis by the absence of a metallic tinge on the elytra, and by the pale elytral suture;

From N. formosanus by smaller size ( N. formosanus : 10–11.5 mm), different coloration (for an illustration of the distinctive coloration pattern of N. formosanus see Fig. 394 in Bordoni (2002)), the posteriorly dilated head (in N. formosanus narrowed), the coarser puncturation of the head, the larger eyes, and the less transverse antennomeres VI–X;

From N. shan by the darker coloration of the pronotum, elytra, and abdomen, by the posteriorly dilated head, the coarser puncturation of the head, the larger eyes (for an illustration of the head of N. shan see Fig. 409 in Bordoni (2002)), and by the absence of distinct micropuncturation on the head and pronotum;

From N. nigriventris Zheng by more slender head and pronotum, coarser and more oblong puncturation of the head, less distinctly sinuate lateral margins of the pronotum (for an illustration of the forebody of N. nigriventris see Fig. 16 in Bordoni (2003a)), the dark coloration of the pronotum (in N. nigriventris at least partly reddish), the presence of microsculpture on head and pronotum, and by the much more slender male tergite IX;

From N. mirificus , whose male sexual characters are unknown, by larger eyes, the absence of a median sulcus on the head, the narrower, laterally less distinctly sinuate, and anteriorly less dilated pronotum (in N. mirificus approximately as wide as head; for an illustration of the forebody of N. mirificus see Fig. 2 in Bordoni (2002)), the uniformly blackish head and pronotum (in N. mirificus partly reddish), the almost uniformly dark pronotum (posterior halves of anterior tergites in N. mirificus reddish);

From N. sejunctus by the shorter antennomere XI (in N. sejunctus almost three times as long as antennomere X; for an illustration see Fig. 4 in Watanabe and Shibata (1965));

From N. pleuralis by the uniformly dark pronotum (in N. pleuralis with reddish posterior margin), the darker legs, the presence of microsculpture on the head, the absence of an impunctate median line on the head, the narrower pronotum (in N. pleuralis approximately as wide as head), the presence of microsculpture on the pronotum, the posteriorly dilated elytra, the irregularly distributed punctures on the elytra (in N. pleuralis arranged in rows), and by the more slen- der male tergite IX (for an illustration of tergite IX of N. pleuralis see Fig. 13 in Bordoni (1997));

From N. lemniscatus by darker coloration (body of N. lemniscatus reddish brown, except for the blackish head), larger eyes, and by the absence of an impunctate median line on the head.

For illustrations of the male genitalia of these species see Bordoni (1997, 2002, 2003 a, 2005) ( N. pleuralis , N. shan , N. formosanus , N. lemniscatus , N. nigriventris ), Watanabe and Shibata (1965) ( N. apicipennis , N. lentus , N. sejunctus ), and Zheng (1994) ( N. nigriventris ).

Etymology. The species is dedicated to my friend and colleague Andreas Pütz, who collected the types.

Distribution and bionomics. The type locality is situated in the Gongga Shan range, Sichuan, at approximately 29°34'N, 102°00'E. The types were collected at an altitude of 3000 m. Additional bionomic data are not available, but since Nudobius species are generally corticolous, the same may be true of N. puetzi .

Acknowledgements. My thanks are extended to Andreas Pütz for the generous gift of the holotype, to Arnaldo Bordoni (Firenze) for helpful comments, as well as to Benedikt Feldmann (Münster) for proof-reading the manuscript. In addition, I am grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions.

VOLKER ASSING Gabelsbergerstr. 2, D-30163 Hannover, Germany. E-mail: [e-mail]

Figures

FIGURES 1–7. Nudobius puetzi sp. n.: 1—habitus; 2—head and pronotum; 3—head; 4—male abdominal segments IX– X; 5—aedeagus; 6—internal tube of aedeagus; 7—parameres. Scale bars: 1–3: 1.0 mm; 4–7: 0.2 mm.