Protoconnus venezolanus Franz

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2018, Revision of the Neotropical genus Protoconnus Franz (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4392 (1), pp. 41-82 : 50-51

Protoconnus venezolanus Franz

( Figs 19–20 , 26–27 , 91 , 101 )

Protoconnus venezolanus Franz, 1986: 17 , fig. 14.

Type material. Holotype: VENEZUELA (Aragua State): ♂, three labels ( Fig. 91 ): "Entre Cata y Anayagua, 400 m / Cord. de la Costa b. Maracay / Venezuela, lg. Franz" with "SA 253" on the reverse side [white, printed], " Protoconnus / venezolanus / m. / det.H.Franz" [white, handwritten and printed], "Holotypus" [red, handwritten] (NHMW). Paratypes: 2 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀ and one incomplete, largely damaged ex., same data as for lectotype, each with a standard yellow "Paratypus" label; 1 ♀, "Rancho Grande / b. Maracay, Vene- / zuela, lg. Franz" with "SA 251" on the reverse side [white, printed], and a standard yellow "Paratypus" label (NHMW).

Additional material studied: 2 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀, "Entre Cata y Anayagua, 400 m / Cord. de la Costa b. Maracay / Venezuela, lg. Franz" with "SA 254" on the reverse side [white, printed]; 1 ♀, "Rancho Grande / b. Maracay, Vene- / zuela, lg. Franz" with "SA 248" on the reverse side [white, printed] (all in NHMW) .

Revised diagnosis. BL 1.00– 1.11 mm; body stout, elytra 1.57–1.69 times as broad as strongly transverse pronotum; frons in male slightly impressed between supraantennal tubercles; vertex in both sexes with distinctly elevated, sharp ridge along posterior margin, shallowly but distinctly emarginate at middle; pronotal base with very small, indistinct pits but distinct groove; lateral pronotal carinae diffuse; humeral carinae indistinct, rounded; aedeagus in ventral view rapidly narrowed near middle, then gradually and evenly narrowing toward apex, which is rapidly broadened, with nearly straight apical margin; each paramere strongly bent laterad in subapical region.

Redescription. Body of male ( Figs 19–20 ) strongly convex, brown with variously distinct lighter stripe along elytral suture, setae distinctly lighter than cuticle; BL 1.00– 1.04 mm (mean 1.02 mm).

Head broadest at very large, strongly convex and coarsely faceted eyes, HL 0.16–0.18 mm (mean 0.17 mm), HW 0.23 mm; tempora in lateral view as long as about 1/4 of the longest diameter of eye; vertex distinctly convex, posterior margin of vertex demarcated from the 'neck' region by sharp and distinctly elevated ridge slightly but distinctly emarginated at middle; tempora posteriorly abruptly bent mesad, forming a distinct angle; frons indistinctly impressed between prominent supraantennal tubercles. Punctures on frons and vertex inconspicuous; setae short, sparse and suberect. Antennae slender, AnL 0.43–0.45 mm (mean 0.44 mm), less than half as long as body, club distinctly delimited; antennomeres I and II each about twice as long as broad; III–VIII each indistinctly transverse or about as long as broad, IX–X each slightly transverse, XI slightly longer than X, about as long as broad.

Pronotum strongly transverse, nearly semicircular, broadest at base or equally broad in posterior third; PL 0.25–0.28 mm (mean 0.26 mm), PW 0.33 mm. Anterior margin weakly convex, lateral margins strongly rounded in anterior half and nearly straight posteriorly; lateral carinae diffuse and rounded; transverse antebasal groove distinct, lateral pair of pits distinct, remaining pits very small and barely discernible. Punctures on pronotal disc inconspicuous; setae sparse, short, suberect.

Elytra much more convex than pronotum, oval, broadest in front of middle; EL 0.58–0.60 mm (mean 0.59 mm), EW 0.53–0.55 mm (mean 0.54 mm), EI 1.09–1.14; humeral carinae developed as elongate and rounded protuberances. Punctures and setae similar to those on pronotum.

Legs moderately long and slender, unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Figs 26–27 ) moderately slender; AeL 0.20 mm; in ventral view basal capsule about as long as distal region, narrowed distad; distal region laterally delimited from sides of basal capsule by a stepwise broadening, broad, subtriangular, with apex broadened and forming a small subtriangular plate with a nearly straight apical margin, in lateral view its distal half is weakly curved dorsad; in lateral view area above parameral bases forming a long projection with sinuate margins; parameres with apices rapidly bent laterad at a nearly right angle, each with one long apical and one short subapical seta.

Female with eyes indistinctly smaller than those in males and with indistinctly shallower median emargination of the vertex. BL 1.03–1.11 mm (mean 1.06 mm); HL 0.18–0.20 mm (mean 0.18 mm), HW 0.23–0.25 mm (mean 0.24 mm), AnL 0.45–0.48 mm (mean 0.45 mm); PL 0.25–0.30 mm (mean 0.27 mm), PW 0.33–0.36 mm (mean 0.35 mm); EL 0.58–0.63 mm (mean 0.61 mm), EW 0.55–0.58 mm (mean 0.56 mm), EI 1.05–1.14.

Distribution. North-central Venezuela ( Fig. 101 ).

Remarks. This species can be easily identified on the basis of the emarginate posterior margin of the vertex which in both sexes is elevated, and the unusually shaped apex of the aedeagus.

In the original description, Franz (1986) gives additional collecting data for the type series, not included in the labels: 19.04.1982. Franz (1986) mentioned ten specimen included in the type series, of which the holotype seems to have been properly fixed (the term " Holotypus " was used and the collecting and label data are sufficient to identify this specimen). The holotype is in a poor condition ( Fig. 19 ) and lacks the aedeagus, but the head is preserved and the uniquely emarginate posterior margin of the vertex appears identical as that in all remaining specimens identified by Franz as P. venezolanus . In NHMW only eight specimens labeled as paratypes are preserved, together with seven additional specimens apparently collected together with the type series (judging from the same labels), but for some reason not mentioned by Franz (1986) and not labeled as paratypes.

Figures

FIGURE 101. Distribution of nominal Protoconnus species.

FIGURES 18–23. Dorsal habitus of Protoconnus species. Protoconnus andicola Franz (18); P. venezolanus Franz, holotype (19) and paratype (20); P. bolivianus Franz (21); P. comarapae Franz (22); P. princeps (Franz) (23).

FIGURES 24–33. Aedeagi of Protoconnus species. Protoconnus andicola Franz (24–25); P. venezolanus Franz (26–27); P. bolivianus Franz (28–29); P. comarapae Franz (30–31); P. princeps (Franz) (32–33).

FIGURES 90–100. Original labels of primary type specimens of previously described Protoconnus species. Protoconnus andicola Franz (90); P. venezolanus Franz (91); P. bolivianus Franz (92); P. comarapae Franz (93); P. princeps (Franz) (94); P. araguanus Franz (95); P. paraguayanus Franz (96); P. peruensis Franz (97); P. robustus Franz (98); P. minutus Franz (99); P. minutissimus Franz (100).