Protoconnus minutissimus Franz

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2018, Revision of the Neotropical genus Protoconnus Franz (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4392 (1), pp. 41-82 : 61-62

Protoconnus minutissimus Franz

( Figs 39 , 100–101 )

Protoconnus minutissimus Franz, 1980: 198 .

Type material. Holotype: PERU (San Martin Province): ♀, three labels ( Fig. 100 ): "Umg.Tarapoto / Peru,lg.Franz" [white, printed], " Protoconnus / minutissimus / m. / det.H.Franz" [white, handwritten and printed], " Typus " [red, handwritten] ( NHMW).

Revised diagnosis. BL 0.53 mm; body moderately stout, elytra 1.57 times as broad as weakly transverse pronotum; frons in female between supraantennal tubercles flat; vertex unmodified, rounded; tempora 3 × as long as rudimentary eyes, each composed of 2 ommatidia; pronotal base with indistinct pits and distinct groove; lateral pronotal carinae indistinct; humeral carinae rounded.

Redescription. Body of female ( Fig. 39 ) strongly convex, light brown, setae yellowish; BL 0.53 mm.

Head broadest at rudimentary eyes, which are composed of two darkly pigmented ommatidia, HL 0.08 mm, HW 0.10 mm; tempora 3 × as long as eyes; vertex convex, rounded and unmodified; frons between small supraantennal tubercles flat. Punctures on frons and vertex inconspicuous; setae short, moderately dense and suberect. Antennae slender, AnL 0.20 mm, much less than half as long as body, club distinctly delimited; antennomeres I and II each about 1.5 × as long as broad; III–IX each strongly transverse, XI much longer than X, about as long as broad.

Pronotum weakly transverse, subtrapezoidal, broadest near posterior third; PL 0.15 mm, PW 0.18 mm. Anterior and posterior margins weakly convex, lateral margins weakly rounded in anterior half and strongly so posteriorly; lateral carinae indistinct; antebasal pits small and indistinct, transverse antebasal groove distinct. Punctures on pronotal disc inconspicuous; setae sparse, short, suberect.

Elytra much more convex than pronotum, oval, broadest in front of middle; EL 0.30 mm, EW 0.28 mm, EI 1.09; humeral carinae indistinct, rounded. Punctures and setae similar to those on pronotum.

Legs moderately long and slender, unmodified.

Male unknown.

Distribution. Northern Peru ( Fig. 101 ).

Remarks. This species is known from a single holotype female, and if similarly small-bodied male specimens are found, it may be difficult to unambiguously identify them as P. minutissimus . It is the smallest known Protoconnus , with the female BL only 0.53 mm and rudimentary eyes composed of two ommatidia (and consequently the tempora are three times as long as eyes). The second smallest species is P. minusculus known to occur in Costa Rica; it is distinctly larger and has different proportions of body parts.

Figures

FIGURE 101. Distribution of nominal Protoconnus species.

FIGURES 34–39. Dorsal habitus of Protoconnus species. Protoconnus araguanus Franz (34); P. paraguayanus Franz (35); P. peruensis Franz (36); P. robustus Franz (37); P. minutus Franz (38); P. minutissimus Franz (39).

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).