Nepalota daweiana, Assing, 2015

Assing, Volker, 2015, On the Nepalota fauna of China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Athetini), Linzer biologische Beiträge 47 (1), pp. 207-248 : 244-245

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.5414155
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6632429
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03EA87E2-3642-FF8E-28DB-FA76FE20952D
treatment provided by	Marcus
scientific name	Nepalota daweiana
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Nepalota daweiana View in CoL nov.sp.

( Figs 137-143 View Figs 137-144 , Map 6 View Map 6 )

Type material: Holotype ♂: " CHINA: Yunnan, SE Pingbian, 22°54'31''N, 103°41'44''E, 2100 m, / primary subtropical broad-leaved forest, litter sifted, 28.VIII.2014, leg. M. Schülke [CH14-22a] / Holotypus ♂ Nepalota daweiana sp.n. det. V. Assing 2015" ( cAss). GoogleMaps

Etymology: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from the name of the mountain (Dawei Shan) where the type locality is situated.

Description: Body length 4.6 mm; length of forebody 2.0 mm. Coloration: head blackish-brown; pronotum dark-brown; elytra brown, with the postero-lateral angles diffusely darker; abdomen brown, with segments VIII-X and the posterior margins of segments III-VII reddish, and with the anterior portions of segments VI-VII blackish; legs yellowish; antennae dark-brown, with antennomeres I-II reddish.

Head ( Fig. 137 View Figs 137-144 ) transverse, approximately 1.1 times as broad as long, widest behind eyes; dorsal surface with distinct microreticulation; punctation sparse and extremely fine, barely noticeable. Eyes moderately large and weakly convex, approximately as long as postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna ( Fig. 138 View Figs 137-144 ) slender, 1.6 mm long; antennomere distinctly IV oblong; preapical antennomeres as long as broad; antennomere XI apically acute, longer than the combined length of IX and X.

Pronotum ( Fig. 137 View Figs 137-144 ) approximately 1.2 times as broad as long and 1.35 times as broad as head; disc with distinct microreticulation; punctation rather dense and very fine, but slightly more distinct than that of head.

Elytra ( Fig. 137 View Figs 137-144 ) 0.95 times as long as pronotum; punctation very dense and moderately fine; interstices with microreticulation. Hind wings fully developed.

Abdomen with very shallow transverse microsculpture; punctation moderately dense on tergites III-VI, sparser on tergite VII; tergites III and VII without sexual dimorphism.

♂: tergite VIII ( Fig. 139 View Figs 137-144 ) with posterior margin obtusely angled in the middle, not crenulate; sternite VIII ( Fig. 140 View Figs 137-144 ) oblong, distinctly longer than tergite VIII, and strongly convex posteriorly; median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 141-142 View Figs 137-144 ) approximately 0.7 mm long; ventral process and internal structures of distinctive shapes; crista apicalis pronounced; paramere ( Fig. 143 View Figs 137-144 ) approximately as long as median lobe and with short apical lobe.

♀: unknown.

Comparative notes: This species is distinguished from its congeners particularly by the shapes of the median lobe of the aedeagus and of the male tergite and sternite VIII, from the similar N. martensi additionally by the unmodified male tergites III and VII and the smaller and less convex eyes ( N. martensi : eyes distinctly longer than postocular region in dorsal view). For comparison, the aedeagus of N. martensi is illustrated in Fig. 144. View Figs 137-144

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated in the Dawei Shan Virgin Forest Park, to the southeast of Pingbian, southern Yunnan ( Map 1 View Map 1 ). The holotype was sifted from leaf litter at an altitude of 2100 m, together with several other undescribed species of Staphylinidae . For a photograph of the type locality see Fig. 12 View Figs 9-15 in ASSING (2015).