Syndicus birmanicus, Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2014

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2014, Two new species and new records of Syndicus Motschulsky (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae) from SE Asia and Australia, Zootaxa 3873 (2), pp. 165-177 : 166-168

Syndicus (s. str.) birmanicus sp. n.

( Figs. 1 , 3 , 9–10 , 15–17 , 26 )

Type material. Holotype: MYANMAR: ♂, three labels: "Carin / Asciuii Chebà / 1200–1300 m. / L. Fea. I - 88 [i.e., 1888]" [white, printed], "Museo Civico / di Genova" [grayish, printed], " SYNDICUS (s. str.) / birmanicus m. / det. P. Jałoszyński, '14 / HOLOTYPUS " [red, printed] ( MSNG).

Diagnosis. Male: pronotum in dorsal view elongate subtrapezoidal with weakly rounded sides, in lateral view much more convex than elytra; punctures on head and pronotum inconspicuous; metafemora with distal clavate parts not expanded ventrally but with long ventral setae; central complex of aedeagus with darkly sclerotized elongate lateral structures narrowly separated in middle, with distal vesicle slightly narrower than central complex and proximal vesicle much smaller than distal one. Female and its diagnostic characters unknown.

Description. BL 3.38 mm. Body of male ( Fig. 1 ) strongly convex, slender, dark brown, legs and palpi slightly lighter; vestiture slightly lighter than cuticle.

Head broadest at moderately large, finely faceted eyes, HL 0.50 mm, HW 0.73 mm; tempora in strictly dorsal view regularly rounded and slightly longer than eyes; vertex strongly transverse, convex and confluent with frons, which is only slightly convex between prominent supraantennal tubercles. Dorsum of head with inconspicuously fine and unevenly distributed punctures; setae sparse, moderately long, erect. Antennae distinctly longer than body, indistinctly thickening distally, AnL 2.13 mm, relative lengths of antennomeres: 2: 1: 1.75: 2.13: 2.25: 2.25: 2.25: 2.13: 2.13: 2.50: 0.75.

Pronotum elongate, broadest near anterior fourth; PL 1.10 mm, PWb 0.45 mm, PWm 0.83 mm; in dorsal view subtrapezoidal, in lateral view extremely convex, higher than elytra; anterior margin weakly arcuate; sides weakly rounded in anterior half, strongly narrowing toward indistinct constriction located in basal 1/6; pronotal base with transverse row of four deep dorsal pits, vertical sides of pronotum anterior to dorsal pits with one large and one small shallow circular impressions; posterior margin of pronotum weakly arcuate. Disc glossy and covered with punctures as inconspicuous as those on frons and vertex, sides of posterior 'collar' covered with coarse and dense punctures nearly adjacent one to another; pronotal setae longer, denser and slightly thicker than those on head, suberect to erect.

Elytra less convex than pronotum, broadest distinctly anterior to middle, EL 1.78 mm, EW 1.15 mm, EI 1.54; humeral calli distinct but short; basal impression on each elytron barely marked; punctures larger and more distinct than those on pronotum, shallow and with diffused margins, on anterior half of elytra separated by spaces about 1.5x their diameters, laterally and posteriorly punctures reducing in diameters and becoming gradually sparser; setae similar to those on pronotum but slightly longer and thicker, suberect. Hind wings well developed.

Legs long and slender with abruptly expanded femoral clava; dorsal femoral grooves sharply marked on entire clava and with glandular opening located in distal third; metafemoral clava with long setae along ventral margin; all tibiae slightly curved near base.

Aedeagus ( Figs. 9–10 , 15–17 ) elongate, AeL 0.68 mm; sclerotized structures of endophallus in ventral view with large central complex showing two dark and elongate lateral halves; distal vesicle large and slightly narrower than central complex; proximal vesicle small and thick-walled; parameres with several tiny subapical setae.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution ( Fig. 26 ). Central Myanmar, Karen Hills.

Etymology. Locotypical, after the Latinized country name Burma.

Remarks. Syndicus birmanicus has the aedeagus most similar to that of S. paeninsularis Schaufuss, 1889 , S. himalayanus Franz, 1975 , S. lombokensis Jałoszyński 2009 and S. schawalleri Jałoszyński, 2009 ; all these species have elongate and darkly sclerotized halves of the endophallic central complex, easily recognizable in the ventral view. Males of S. paeninsularis have raised and modified clypeus, a character not found in S. birmanicus , which differs also in significantly larger and darker body and strikingly convex pronotum, which in lateral view is higher than the elytra. The latter character also differentiates S. birmanicus from S. himalayanus , which has the pronotum and elytra similarly convex. Syndicus lombokensis has a much broader pronotum with strongly rounded sides in anterior half, also S. schawalleri has the pronotum distinctly broader.

The long setae present in S. birmanicus on the ventral margin of the male metafemoral clava ( Fig. 3 ) can also be found among other species occurring in the same or adjacent areas: S. puncticollis Jałoszyński, 2004 ( Fig. 4 ) and S. difficilis Jałoszyński, 2004 ( Fig. 5 ), but not in S. saketianus Jałoszyński, 2004 ( Fig. 6 ). The ventral margins of metafemoral clava in S. birmanicus are not expanded ventrally, in contrast to those of S. puncticollis and S. difficilis .

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 2. Habitus of males. Syndicus (s. str.) birmanicus sp. n. (1); Syndicus (s. str.) puncticollis Jałoszyński (2).

FIGURES 3 – 6. Left metafemoral clava of males in posterior view. Syndicus (s. str.) birmanicus sp. n. (3); Syndicus (s. str.) puncticollis Jałoszyński (4); Syndicus (s. str.) difficilis Jałoszyński (5); Syndicus (s. str.) saketianus Jałoszyński (6).

FIGURES 9 – 14. Aedeagus in ventral (9, 11, 13) and lateral (10, 12, 14) views. Syndicus (s. str.) birmanicus sp. n. (9 – 10); Syndicus (s. str.) puncticollis Jałoszyński (11 – 12); Syndicus (Semisyndicus) chiangmaianus sp. n. (13 – 14).

FIGURES 15 – 20. Aedeagus in ventral (15, 18) and lateral (16, 19) views and apical portion of paramere in ventral view (17, 20). Syndicus (s. str.) birmanicus sp. n. (15 – 17); Syndicus (s. str.) puncticollis Jałoszyński (18 – 20).

FIGURES 26 – 29. Distribution of Syndicus (s. str.) birmanicus sp. n. (26); Syndicus (s. str.) puncticollis Jałoszyński (27); Syndicus (s. str.) difficilis Jałoszyński (28); Syndicus (s. str.) saketianus Jałoszyński (29).