Bellatheta aucticeps, Assing, 2021

Assing, Volker, 2021, New species, synonymies, combinations, and records of micropterous Athetini from China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 71 (1), pp. 87-101 : 91-96

Bellatheta aucticeps spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:1A3E6AAA-2C3C-44B8-A911-4F1246774075

(Figs 4–5, 24, Map 1 )

Type material: Holotype : “P. R. CHINA, Yunnan, E slope N Gaoligongshan, N 27°47'22.1" E 98°32'17.7", 24.v.2010, 3027 m, sifting20, V. Grebennikov / Holotypus  Bellatheta aucticeps sp. n., det. V . Assing 2020 ” ( CAS).

Etymology: The specific epithet is an adjective composed of the Latin adjective auctus (enlarged) and the suffix -ceps (of the head). It alludes to the large head in relation to the pronotum and elytra.

Description: Body length 2.6 mm; length of forebody 1.0 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 4. Colouration: forebody pale-reddish; abdomen brown with yellowish apex; legs yellow; antennae reddish-yellow.

Head (Fig. 5) 1.1 times as broad as long, large in relation to pronotum; median dorsal portion impressed and with Figs 1–14: Bellatheta qiliana (1–3), B. aucticeps (4–5), Atheta peinantamontis (6), A. clarata (7), A. minica (8), A. qinlingica (9–10), and A. biformis (11–14; 11-12, 14: male; 13: female). 1–2, 4, 6–9, 11 – habitus; 3, 5, 10, 12–13 – forebody; 14 – abdomen. Scale bars: 1–2, 4, 6–9, 11: 1.0 mm; 3, 5, 10, 12–14: 0.5 mm.

Figs 15–32: Bellatheta qiliana (15–23), B. aucticeps (24), Atheta miriapex (25–26), and A. peinantamontis (27–32). 15–16, 27–28 – median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view; 17, 29 – male sternite VIII; 18 – female tergite VIII; 19, 25, 30 – female sternite VIII; 20–24, 26, 31–32 – spermatheca. Scale bars: 17–19, 25, 29–30: 0.2 mm; 15–16, 20-24, 26–28, 31–32: 0.1 mm.

pronounced microreticulation; punctation extremely fine; interstices with distinct microreticulation. Eyes small and flat, composed of eight ommatidia, situated dorso-laterally (i.e., both fully visible when viewed from above). Antennae moderately incrassate; antennomeres IV moderately transverse, V–X of increasing width and increasingly transverse, X approximately twice as broad as long.

Pronotum (Fig. 5) 1.15 times as broad as long and as broad as head, broadest in anterior half; punctation very fine, but slightly more distinct than that of head; interstices with microreticulation.

Elytra (Fig. 5) barely half as long as pronotum; punctation fine and rather sparse; interstices with pronounced microsculpture. Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen broader than elytra; punctation fine and rather sparse; interstices with shallow microreticulation composed of predominantly transverse meshes on anterior tergites and of isodiametric meshes on posterior tergites; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

: unknown.

: tergite VIII with convex posterior margin; spermatheca (Fig. 24) with coiled proximal portion and with large and deep apical cuticular invagination.

Comparative notes: Bellatheta aucticeps is so distinctive based on external characters alone that a description based on a female appears justified. With no males available, however, the generic assignment should be considered tentative. The new species differs from all other micropterous representatives of the genus by its conspicuously large head, the position of the eyes, pale colouration, and by the shape of the spermatheca. For illustrations of other micropterous Bellatheta species reported from China see PACE (2004) and ASSING (2002,

2009, 2011).

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated in the northern Gaoligong Shan, West Yunnan ( Map 1 ). The holotype was sifted at an altitude of approximately 3030 m.

Figures

Map 1: Distributions of micropterous Bellatheta species in China:B. qiliana (black circles); B. proiecta (black diamond); B. daxuensis (white circles); B. aucticeps (black triangle); B. smetanai (white triangles); B. excaecata (white diamond); B. diacangica (black star).