Alloraphes ecuadoranus, Jałoszyński, 2020

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2020, Four new species and new records of the Neotropical genus Alloraphes Franz (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4810 (2), pp. 335-343 : 341-342

Alloraphes ecuadoranus sp. n.

( Figs 7–8 , 20–24 )

Type material. Holotype: ECUADOR (Pichincha Prov.): ♂, two labels: “ Ecuador: Pichin / Tinalandia , 800 m / 7.11.1983 / leg. L. Huggert ” [white, printed]; “ Alloraphes / ecuadoranus m. / P. JAŁOSZYŃSKI, 2020 / HOLO- TYPUS ” [red, printed] ( MHNG).

Diagnosis. Male: frons confluent with vertex; eyes conspicuously large, in dorsal view width of eye only slightly smaller than width of frons; pronotum with arcuate antebasal transverse groove and indistinct median pit; elytra unmodified; aedeagus in ventral view with strongly asymmetrical apex of median lobe; parameral apices in ventral view recurved, broadened and with subapical denticles, one parameral seta apical, two remaining subapical, thin.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 7 ) moderately convex, light brown with slightly darker head, covered with yellowish vestiture; BL 1.00 mm.

Head ( Fig. 8 ) broadest at conspicuously large, strongly convex and coarsely faceted eyes, HL 0.18 mm, HW 0.23 mm; vertex at middle strongly convex, anteriorly confluent with flattened frons; supraantennal tubercles feebly elevated. Punctures on frons and vertex virtually absent; setae short, sparse, and recumbent. Antennae slender, AnL 0.43 mm; antennomeres I and II each about 1.7 × as long as broad, III–V each indistinctly elongate, V–X each about as long as broad or indistinctly transverse, XI nearly as long as IX and X combined, about twice as long as broad, with rounded apex.

Pronotum broadest near anterior fourth; PL 0.28 mm, PW 0.23 mm. Anterior and posterior margins weakly rounded; sides in anterior third strongly rounded; sides distinctly narrowing posterad, strongly concave in posterior third; antebasal transverse groove distinct and arcuate, with barely discernible median pit, distinctly deepened at each end. Punctures on pronotal disc inconspicuous, fine and sparse; setae moderately dense, long and suberect, lateral bristles sparse but well visible.

Elytra together oval, slightly flattened, broadest between middle and anterior third; EL 0.55 mm, EW 0.40 mm, EI 1.38; subhumeral lines diffuse, about as long as 0.2 EL; elytral apices separately rounded, unmodified. Punctures on elytra only slightly more distinct than those on pronotum but still inconspicuous; setae long, sparse and suberect. Hind wings well developed.

Legs long and slender, unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Figs 21–24 ) slender and relatively darkly sclerotized; AeL 0.23 mm; in ventral view apical region of median lobe strongly asymmetrical, with deep transverse emargination and short ventral apical projection shifted laterad; median apical projection nearly rod-like, extremely long and directed dorsad at a 90° angle in relation to the long axis of aedeagus; parameres in lateral view slender but with strongly broadened apices, in ventral view distal region of each paramere strongly broadened, curved mesad so that apices meet at middle, and with acute denticles on distal margin; each paramere with three thin setae, of which proximal one is the longest.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. North-eastern Ecuador ( Fig. 25 ).

Etymology. After the country name Ecuador.

Remarks. The shape of the median lobe and broad, apically dentate parameres make A. ecuadoranus similar to A. dentatus Jałoszyński, 2013 ( Peru) . In A. ecuadoranus , the apical sclerite protruding from the ostium and directed dorsad is straight, whereas it is strongly curved and its apex directed distad in A. dentatus . The shape of parameral apices is also clearly different; those in A. dentatus are much broader in relation to the width of median lobe. These species differ also in external characters, inducing a slenderer body form and larger eyes in the male of A. ecuadoranus .

This is the first Alloraphes species reported to occur in Ecuador.

Figures

FIGURE 25. Distribution of nominal Alloraphes species.

FIGURES 1–8. Dorsal habitus (1, 3, 5, 7) and head in dorsal view (2, 4, 6, 8). Alloraphes opticus sp. n. (1–2), A. cayennensis sp. n. (3–4), A. iyonolanus sp. n. (5–6), and A. ecuadoranus sp. n. (7–8).

FIGURES 17–24. Aedeagus in ventral (17, 19, 21, 23) and lateral (18, 20, 22, 24) views. Alloraphes iyonolanus sp. n. (17–20), and A. ecuadoranus sp. n. (21–24).