Protoconnus andicola Franz

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2018, Revision of the Neotropical genus Protoconnus Franz (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4392 (1), pp. 41-82 : 48-50

Protoconnus andicola Franz

( Figs 18 , 24–25 , 90 , 101 )

Protoconnus andicola Franz, 1967: 717 , Fig. 84a, b .

Type material. Lectotype (here designated): PERU (La Convención Province): ♂, three labels ( Fig. 90 ): "Sierra Garavito / b. Quillabamba, 1800 m / Nebelwald,Peru" with "Sa 84" on the reverse side [white, printed], " Protoconnus / andicola / m. / det.H.Franz" [white, handwritten and printed], "Typus" [red, handwritten] (NHMW). Paralectotypes: 1 ♂, 1 ♀, same data as for lectotype (NHMW).

Revised diagnosis. BL 1.08–1.13 mm; body stout, elytra 1.6 4–1.71 times as broad as strongly transverse pronotum; frons in male flat between supraantennal tubercles; vertex unmodified; pronotal base with distinct pits and groove; lateral pronotal carinae diffuse; humeral carinae indistinct, rounded; aedeagus in ventral view gradually narrowing from the broadest site of basal capsule to narrowly rounded apex; each paramere abruptly and strongly bent mesad in subapical region.

Redescription. Body of male ( Fig. 18 ) strongly convex, brown with indistinctly lighter stripe along elytral suture, covered with setae distinctly lighter than cuticle; BL 1.13 mm.

Head broadest at very large, strongly convex and coarsely faceted eyes, HL 0.18 mm, HW 0.25 mm; tempora in lateral view as long as 1/4 of the longest diameter of eye; vertex distinctly convex, its posterior margin slightly elevated, laterally confluent with evenly rounded tempora; frons flat between large supraantennal tubercles. Punctures on frons and vertex very fine and shallow but dense; setae short, sparse and suberect. Antennae slender, AnL 0.48 mm, less than half as long as body, club distinctly delimited; antennomeres I and II each about twice as long as broad; III–IX each about as long as broad or indistinctly transverse, X distinctly transverse, XI slightly longer than X, about 1.1 × as long as broad.

Pronotum strongly transverse, nearly semicircular, broadest at base; PL 0.28 mm, PW 0.35 mm. Anterior margin weakly convex, lateral margins strongly rounded in anterior half and nearly straight posteriorly; lateral carinae diffuse; transverse antebasal groove and five pits distinct. Punctures on pronotal disc slightly more distinct than those on frons and vertex but still inconspicuous, very shallow and diffuse; setae sparse, short, suberect.

Elytra much more convex than pronotum, oval, broadest in front of middle; EL 0.68 mm, EW 0.60 mm, EI 1.13; humeral carinae indistinct, rounded. Punctures and setae similar to those on pronotum.

Legs moderately long and slender, unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Figs 24–25 ) slender; AeL 0.18 mm; in ventral view basal capsule shorter than distal region, gradually narrowed distad; distal region laterally confluent with sides of basal capsule, slender, subtriangular, with narrowly rounded apex, in lateral view its distal half straight; in lateral view area above parameral bases forming an obtuse, blunt angle; parameres with apices strongly bent mesad and narrowed, each with one apical and one subapical seta of equal lengths.

Female. Similar to male but with slightly smaller eyes; tempora in lateral view about as long as 1/3 of the longest diameter of eye. BL 1.08 mm; HL 0.18 mm, HW 0.25 mm, AnL 0.50 mm; PL 0.25 mm, PW 0.35 mm; EL 0.65 mm, EW 0.58 mm, EI 1.13.

Distribution. Southern Peru ( Fig. 101 ).

Remarks. This species is externally unremarkable and the primary diagnostic character is the shape of the aedeagus; this is the only species with the median lobe in ventral view gradually narrowing toward narrowly rounded apex, also apices of parameres are uniquely bent, especially in lateral view ( Figs 24–25 ).

In the original description, Franz (1967) gives additional collecting data for the type series, not included in the labels: 0 4.09.1965.

Lectotype designation. Franz (1967) mentioned four specimens, but he did not fix the holotype. Three of these specimens are preserved in NHMW; two males and one female. The male illustrated in Fig. 18 bearing labels illustrated in Fig. 90 is here designated as a lectotype.

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).

FIGURES 84–85. Dorsal habitus of Protoconnus species. Protoconnus volcanbaru sp. n. (84); P. inexpectatus sp. n. (85).