Pella feldmanni, Assing, 2019

Assing, Volker, 2019, On the Lomechusini fauna of the Palaearctic and Oriental regions. XXVI. New species, a new synonymy, and additional records (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 69 (1), pp. 33-70 : 36-37

Pella feldmanni spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:E98B0247-7020-4845-B7B3-7FB5946DCA24

( Figs 2 , 80–83 )

Type material: Holotype: “ China, Sichuan, NW Heishui, 3428 m, 32°11'29"N, 102°39'30"E, 14–20.VI. 2018, leg. Reuter / Holotypus Pella feldmanni sp. n., det. V. Assing 2018” (cAss).

Etymology: This species is dedicated to Benedikt Feldmann (Münster), who made the holotype available and who generously granted permission to retain it.

Description: Body length 6.7 mm; length of forebody 2.9 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 2 . Coloration: head black; pronotum and elytra black with weak metallic hue; abdomen blackish with the posterior margins of the segments reddish; legs dark-reddish with the femora slightly darker; antennae reddish-brown.

Head transverse, 1.25 times as broad as long, with sexual dimorphism; punctation very fine and dense, somewhat sparser in antero-median portion; interstices with distinct microreticulation. Eyes longer than postocular region and moderately convex in cross-section. Antenna barely 2.0 mm long; antennomeres IV–V moderately transverse, VI approximately 1.5 times as broad as long, VII–X approximately twice as broad as long, and XI longer than the combined length of IX and X, but shorter than the combined length of VIII–X.

Pronotum 1.33 times as broad as long and 1.37 times as broad as head; posterior angles very weakly marked, nearly obsolete; disc with an oblique impression in postero-lateral portion on either side; punctation fine and dense; interstices with shallow microreticulation.

Elytra 0.83 times as long as pronotum; punctation distinctly denser and finer than that of pronotum.

Abdomen nearly as broad as elytra; tergites III–VII nearly impunctate in anterior halves, sparsely punctate in posterior halves, and with numerous fine setiferous punctures at posterior margins; tergal discs with fine microsculpture composed of transverse meshes; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

: head sharply angled posteriorly (best visible in lateral view); posterior margin of tergite VIII broadly concave and finely crenulate ( Fig. 82 ); posterior margin of sternite VIII truncate in the middle ( Fig. 83 ); median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 80–81 ) 0.88 mm long; ventral process very thick in lateral view and apically regularly convex in ventral view.

Comparative notes: Based on the similar external characters and particularly on the similar modifications of the male head and on the morphology of the aedeagus, P. feldmanni is closely allied to P. cognata MÄRKEL, 1824 (West Palaearctic), P. puetzi ASSING, 2009 ( China: Yunnan), and P. maoershanensis SONG & LI, 2013 ( China: Guangxi) of the P. cognata group, which was previously represented in China by four species: P. puetzi , P. maoershanensis , P. kishimotoi MARUYAMA, 2006 ( China: Hunan), and P. sichuanensis ZHENG & ZHAO, 2014 ( China: Sichuan). The new species is distinguished from them as follows:

from P. puetzi by much shorter antennae with much more transverse antennomeres IV–X ( P. puetzi : antennomeres IV–VII weakly oblong or as long as broad; VIII–X weakly transverse), less pronounced modifications of the male head, a relatively smaller and more convex (cross-section) pronotum, and a larger aedeagus with a much stouter and differently shaped ventral process;

from P. kishimotoi by uniformly dark coloration ( P. kishimotoi : humeral portions of elytra and abdominal segments III–V reddish-brown), the modifications of the male head (unmodified in P. kishimotoi ), and the differently shaped ventral process of the aedeagus;

from P. sichuanensis by uniformly dark coloration, a transverse antennomere IV, a relatively smaller pronotum, shorter elytra, and an aedeagus with a stouter ventral process in lateral view;

from P. maoershanensis by apically more strongly incrassate antennae, a less strongly modified male head, shorter elytra, a posteriorly less broadly concave male tergite VIII, and an aedeagus with a much smaller crista apicalis and with a ventral process of completely different shape.

For illustrations of P. puetzi , P. kishimotoi , P. sichuanensis , and P. maoershanensis see ASSING (2009), MARUYAMA (2006), SONG & LI (2013), and ZHENG & ZHAO (2014).

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated in North Sichuan, China. The holotype was collected with pitfall traps in a young moist secondary forest at an altitude of approximately 3430 m.

Figures

Figs 1–15:Myrmoecia urartu (1), Pella feldmanni (2), Orphnebius taurus (3–5), O. fortesetosus (6–7), O. morulus (8–9), O. globifer (10–11), andO. elevatus (12–15): habitus (1–3); head and pronotum (4–5); forebody (6, 8, 10, 12–13); abdomen (7, 9, 11); anterolateral portion of abdomen (14); tergites VII–VIII (15). Scale bars: 1–3: 1.0 mm; 4–15: 0.5 mm.

Figs 79–95: Myrmoecia urartu (79), Pella feldmanni (80–83), Orphnebius cachemiricus (84–86), O. fortesetosus (87–90), and O. taurus(91–95): spermatheca (79); median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (80–81, 84–85, 87–88, 92–93); male tergite VIII (82, 91); male sternite VIII (83); paramere (86, 89, 95); apical portion of paramere (90); apical portion of median lobe of aedeagus (94). Scale bars: 79–93, 95: 0.2 mm; 94: 0.1 mm.