Iratiquedius amabilis (Smetana, 1971) Brunke, 2022

Brunke, Adam J., 2022, A world generic revision of Quediini (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Staphylininae), part 1. Early diverging Nearctic lineages, ZooKeys 1134, pp. 129-170 : 129

publication ID	https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1134.87853
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:C79C5E40-D9C6-4E3B-816F-0201713DBA77
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/E35D008D-421E-5A10-861E-FB0A1EF660D5
treatment provided by	ZooKeys by Pensoft
scientific name	Iratiquedius amabilis (Smetana, 1971)
status	comb. nov.

Treatment

Iratiquedius amabilis (Smetana, 1971) comb. nov.

Figs 2A, B View Figure 2 , 3C, E View Figure 3 , 4A, B View Figure 4 , 6A, B, E, F, H, I View Figure 6 , 9A View Figure 9 , 11A (map) View Figure 11

Quedius (Raphirus) amabilis Smetana, 1971: 205.

Quedius (Raphirus) amabilis : Smetana 1990 (distributional records).

Quedius amabilis : Brunke et al. 2021 (member of 'Clade A’, non- Raphirus ).

Type locality.

Near Strawberry, El Dorado County, California, United States.

Type material.

Holotype (male, CNC): N.r. Strawberry, Eldorado Co. Cal., 16-17.61 [handwritten label] / #67, 45 [illegible, 'mi camp’?] [handwritten label] /R. Schuster Collector [printed label] / HOLOTYPE Quedius amabilis Smetana 1968, CNC No. 10876 [red printed label] / CNC935809 [identifier label].

The aedeagus of the male holotype was never fully dissected by A. Smetana and was glued to the point with the specimen. For the present study, the aedeagus was relaxed, photographed and placed in glycerin within a genitalia vial.

Non-type material.

United States: California: Sierra Co.: 14 mi E Sierra City, Yuba Pass, 6,700' [2,042 m], 26.VI.1976, L. & N. Herman (1 male, CNC); same except 26-28.VI.1976 (2 females, CNC).

Diagnosis.

Iratiquedius amabilis may be recognized within the genus by a combination of the evenly punctate elytra, the lack of golden setae or impressions at the base of the abdominal tergites and the distinctly impressed micropunctures on the anterior angles of the pronotum. The species most closely resembles I. mutator and can be distinguished from it by the distinct micropunctures of the anterior angles of the pronotum, the shorter apex of the median lobe in lateral view in males or broader, more densely setose apex of female tergite X.

Redescription.

Measurements ♂ (n = 2): HW/HL 1.21-1.22; PW/PL 1.29-1.32; EW/EL 1.28-1.31; ESut/PL 0.83; PW/HW 1.16-1.33; forebody length 3.3-3.4 mm.

Measurements ♀ (n = 2): HW/HL 1.18-1.21; PW/PL 1.17-1.24; EW/EL 1.45-1.59; ESut/PL 0.60-0.69; PW/HW 1.22-1.27; forebody length 2.9-3.0 mm.

Dark brown with pronotum becoming slightly to distinctly paler toward margin, elytra variably paler at base, sides and apically, in some individuals only scutellar area darkened, pale areas varying from brownish red to yellowish red or brownish yellow; antennomeres 1-3 sometimes slightly darker than remaining segments, which are brownish yellow to dark brown; pro- and mesofemora paler, yellowish brown; abdominal tergites narrowly paler apically, sternites with broader pale area at apex.

With distinct macropterous and brachypterous morphotypes (Fig. 2A, B View Figure 2 ). Head distinctly transverse, temples extremely short, immediately converging to neck posteriad of eyes; disc of head with microsculpture intermediate between transverse waves and transverse meshes, meshes becoming tighter on frons; posterior frontal puncture located at posterior fourth of eye; interocular punctures present or absent; labrum short, strongly transverse, forming two lobes; area between anterior frontal punctures with broad, transverse and shallow impression, encompassing interocular punctures, if present; antennomeres 1-5 (macropterous) or 1-4 (brachypterous) clearly elongate, segments becoming shorter toward apex, 8-10 weakly to moderately transverse; pronotum strongly (macropterous) to moderately (brachypterous) transverse; disc with microsculpture of transverse waves, often changing direction, becoming isodiametric meshes on anterior angles, anterior angles with distinct, shallow micropunctures, strongly (macropterous) (Fig. 4A View Figure 4 ) to moderately (brachypterous) impressed (Fig. 4B View Figure 4 ); elytra moderately (macropterous), to strongly transverse (brachypterous), at suture moderately (macropterous) to markedly (brachypterous) shorter than pronotum at midline, disc without microsculpture, punctation sparse, most punctures separated by about one puncture width (brachypterous) to slightly denser, with several punctures touching each other laterally (macropterous); abdomen with dense microsculpture of transverse waves, punctures slightly (macropterous) to distinctly (brachypterous) denser on bases of segments.

Male. Sternite VIII with distinct, wide V-shaped emargination; tergite X triangular, with short, rounded apex; sternite IX overall narrow, with long asymmetrical basal part and narrow, minutely emarginate apex; median lobe in ventral view with short tooth, subparallel, with slight expansion subapically, before converging to narrow, truncate apex bearing slight to distinct emargination (Fig. 6E, F View Figure 6 ); median lobe in lateral view arcuate ventrad, with moderately long apical area, wide tooth and narrow, rounded apex (Fig. 6A, B View Figure 6 ); paramere subparallel, slightly expanded subapically, converging to moderately narrow, rounded apex, with or without small emargination, peg setae arranged in dense marginal row (Fig. 6H, I View Figure 6 ).

Female. Tergite X narrowly triangular, with apex slightly attenuate, with dense marginal setae (Fig. 9A View Figure 9 ).

Distribution.

United States: CA.

This species is known only from two rather close localities in the Sierra Nevada of California.

Bionomics.

Nothing specific is known about this species’ microhabitat preferences, though it probably lives in moss along the margins of springs and spring-fed creeks.

Comments.

Smetana (1971) described Quedius amabilis and Q. mutator as the only members of the Amabilis group of Quedius (Raphirus) . The former was known from one male and one female, both macropterous and collected from the Sierra Nevada, while the latter was only known from a single, brachypterous female collected at a different locality in the northern Coast Range mountains to the west. In addition to elytral and wing size, Smetana (1971) cited differences in the punctation of the abdominal tergites, shape of the antennomeres, elytral punctation and pronotum shape. Nothing was reported for many years until Smetana (1990), reported two brachypterous female specimens as Q. mutator and four macropterous males (one studied here) as Q. amabilis , both collected on Yuba Pass, California (Sierra Nevada) on different dates. He considered the possibility that Q. mutator may simply be a brachypterous morph of Q. amabilis .

A macropterous male from Yuba Pass was dissected and its aedeagus closely resembles that of the holotype of I. amabilis (Fig. 6A, B View Figure 6 ). The apical emargination of the median lobe in ventral view is less pronounced in the holotype compared to the non-type, and the paramere is slightly emarginate in the holotype, but these differences are considered to be intraspecific variation. In lateral view, the two specimens are nearly identical. The specimens are also similar externally and I agree with Smetana (1990) that they are conspecific. The two brachypterous females differ from the macropterous male in all other characters (antennae, pronotum, elytra, punctation of abdominal tergites) previously used to differentiate I. amabilis and I. mutator . One male and one female from the Yuba Pass series were sequenced and their half-length (325 bp) barcodes were only 0.34% divergent (Fig. 10 View Figure 10 ). This result suggests that the two morphotypes collected together on Yuba Pass are conspecific, correspond to I. amabilis and they are here treated as such. The existence of a macropterous female (the unstudied allotype), if it is indeed a female, indicates that females of I. amabilis are wing dimorphic.

However, the female holotype of I. mutator differs from the Yuba Pass females by the even shorter elytra, shorter antennomeres 4-10 and the distinctly different apex of tergite X (Fig. 2D View Figure 2 ). This suggests that I. mutator is a valid species and that macropterous and brachypterous morphotypes confusingly exist in both species. All characters used previously to differentiate the two species are here considered to be associated with wing-dimorphism. Two fully winged males from the Central Valley of California were recently found in the FMNH collection (see below) and differ both externally (micropunctation of pronotum) (Fig. 2C View Figure 2 ) and in male genitalia from the known males of I. amabilis . One specimen was sequenced and its partial barcode was found to be 11.3% different from the Yuba Pass specimens (Fig. 10 View Figure 10 ). Instead, these two males more closely resemble the female holotype of I. mutator in external morphology, and the concept of I. mutator is expanded below.