Paederus brunneolus, Li, Xiao-Yan, Solodovnikov, Alexey & Zhou, Hong-Zhang, 2014

Li, Xiao-Yan, Solodovnikov, Alexey & Zhou, Hong-Zhang, 2014, Three new species of the genus Paederus Fabricius (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae) from China, Zootaxa 3765 (4), pp. 382-388 : 385

Paederus brunneolus sp. nov.

Figures. 2 A–F.

Type material. Holotype, ♂, China: Xinjiang, Lobu lake nature reserve, (40.31N, 91.97E) 1673 m (marsh), 2010,V.18, leg. Qiaozhe Lou and Chaohui Luo ( IZCAS); Paratypes, 2♀♀, ♂, same data as holotype ( IZCAS, ZMUC).

Description. Entire body length: 7.6 mm mean values are given, 4 specimens; forebody length 3.6 mm, width: 1.26 mm. Body brownish yellow except apical two segments of abdomen and 4th –11th antennomeres.

Head with HL/HW =0.83. Eyes big and slightly protruding laterally, HL/EL = 2.7, diameter of eye longer than gena and as long as temple (ratio, gena: eye: temple = 0.71: 1.00: 1.00). Surface of head dull with clear and dense microsculpture. Vertex glabrous, middle of frons and lateral portions of head with densely and irregularly distributed setiferous punctures of variable size, shallow and mostly small, denser around eyes and temporal areas. All punctures with black or blackish brown oblique setae of variable length.

Labrum with pair of teeth on both sides of median notch, anterolateral angle rounded. Median tooth of mandible with two separately acute teeth. Gular sutures with middle part narrow and blurred. Nuchal ridge long and almost straight, ending in lateral sides. Ventral aspect of neck with M-shaped ridge.

Pronotum oval, with PL/PW = 1.25. Middle surface with very shallow and small punctures and densely reticulate microsculpture. Scutellum longer than wide, with basal part broad and gradually narrowed posteriad and posterior part triangular. Surface dull with densely reticulate microsculpture and setiferous punctation on posterior part. Mesoventrite broad and dull with dense reticulate microsculpture and setiferous punctures on surface of anterior part; metaventrite with longitudinal groove in middle.

Elytra parallel, ELL\EW = 1.27, ESL/ELL = 0.81. Surface uneven with very dense reticulate microsculpture and setiferous punctation which larger, deeper and denser punctures than on head or pronotum, diameter of a puncture distinctly longer than interspaces between punctures, each puncture with an oblique brown seta.

Abdomen widest at segment VI (4th visible). Setiferous punctures on tergites fine and dense, base of each tergite without punctation. Tergite VII without pale margin. Tergite VIII with rounded apex. Sternites with punctation denser and finer than on tergites, base of each sternite with relatively sparse punctation.

Male. Median excision of sternite VIII with fine ridge in anterior part and gradually vanishing posteriad. Sternite IX with short and vague inner ridge in basal 1/3 of its length and with acute apex.

Aedeagus ( Figs. 2 B–D) 1.12 mm, with length/width = 3.83, symmetric and slender, wides in posterior 1/3 of its length, with sinuate lateral margins and acute, stick-like apex. Parameres thin and symmetrical with posterior part slightly curved ventrally in lateral view and rounded apices. Dorsal plate strongly sclerotized, triangular, sinuate in lateral view, not reaching apices of parameres. Internal sac ( Figs. 2 C) with one sclerotized thorn.

Female. Sternite VIII ( Fig. 2 E) with slightly rounded apico-lateral emarginations, apex broadly blunt but medially acute. Sternite IX ( Fig. 1 F) with broad base gradually narrowed posteriad, basal margin with deep and broad excision and posterior margin with shallow emargination, surface without distinct lateral borders.

Comparison. Externally Paederus brunneolus sp. nov. has no characters allowing its easy separation from the congeners. It resembles the Paederus subgenera Eopaederus Scheerpeltz , Anomalopaederus Scheerpeltz or Nepalopaederus Scheerpeltz based on the following characters: big eyes, labrum with pair of teeth on both sides of the median notch on anterior margin, parallel-sided elytra longer than pronotum ( Fig. 2 A), and the aedeagus with symmetric parameres and dorsal plate, without complex structures of the internal sac ( Figs. 2 B–C). An affiliation of P. brunneolus sp. nov. with the subgenus Eopaederus is also biogeographically plausible since that subgenus is widespread through Palearctic to the Oriental region. However, the color pattern of P. brunneolus sp. nov. differs from such in Eopaederus , and can be used to distinguish this new species from that subgenus. From both species representing the respective monotypic subgenera, P. (Anomalopaederus) lacordairei Perroud, 1864 from New Caledonia, and P. (Nepalopaederus) nepalensis Bernhauer, 1911 from Nepal and India, the new species can be separated by the symmetric aedeagus having slightly curved median lobe, parameres and the dorsal plate, and not serrated apex of the ventral plate ( Fig. 2 D; P. (Anomalopaederus) lacordairei —figure 3 in Scheerpeltz 1966; P. ( Nepalopaederus ) nepalensis— figure 3 in Scheerpeltz 1976).

Etymology. The species name is the Latin adjective meaning pale brown. It refers to the body coloration of the new species.

Distribution. Paederus brunneolus sp. nov. is known only from the type locality in the north of Xingjiang Province: Lobu lake nature reserve. According to the available label data, this species was collected in the wet ground of a marsh at the altitude of 1700 m. The examined specimens were collected in May.

Figures

FIGURES 1. Paederus bilobus sp. nov. from Hainan. A. habitus; B. aedeagus, ventral view; E. aedeagus, lateral view 1; D. aedeagus, dorsal view; E. sternite VIII, female; F. sternite IX, female; G. aedeagus, lateral view 2. Scale bars: A = 1 mm; B – E, G = 0.5 mm; F = 0.25 mm.

FIGURES 2. Paederus brunneolus sp. nov. from Xinjiang. A. habitus; B. aedeagus, dorsal view; E. aedeagus, lateral view; D. aedeagus, ventral view; E. sternite VIII, female; F. sternite IX, female. Scale bars: A = 1 mm; B – E = 0.5 mm; F = 0.25 mm.