Stenopholea caeca, Assing, 2013

Assing, V., 2013, Two new species and a new record of Dolicaonina from Ecuador (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 45 (2), pp. 1541-1547 : 1546

Stenopholea caeca nov.sp. ( Figs 11-17 , Map 1 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype: " ECUADOR - Pichincha, 0°01.59'N, 78°41.42'W, 2300 m, 1.-20.IX.2012, leg. Dietl & Beck / Holotypus Stenopholea caeca sp.n. det. V. Assing 2013" (cAss).

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective: blind) refers to the almost completely reduced eyes.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Small species; body length 3.5 mm; length of forebody 1.5 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 9 . Coloration: body reddish; legs and antennae reddish-yellow.

Head ( Figs 9-10 ) oblong, 1.15 times as long as broad; punctation rather coarse and sparse; middle of dorsal surface without punctation; interstices with pronounced microreticulation and nearly matt. Eyes reduced to minute rudiments without pigmentation and without ommatidia. Antenna short, approximately 0.6 mm long, and distinctly incrassate apicad; antennomere III approximately as long as broad; IV weakly transverse; V-IX of increasing width and increasingly transverse; IX approximately twice as broad as long; X longer and less transverse than IX; XI approximately as long as combined length of IX and X.

Pronotum ( Fig. 10 ) slender, 1.3 times as long as broad and 1.05 times as broad as head, broadest behind middle; punctation and microsculpture similar to those of head; midline impunctate.

Elytra ( Fig. 10 ) short, approximately 0.5 times as long as pronotum; punctation fine and rather sparse; interstices without distinct microsculpture. Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen somewhat broader than elytra; segments III-VI with distinct paratergites; punctation fine and sparse; interstices with shallow microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

: sternites III-VI unmodified; sternite VII ( Fig. 12 ) moderately transverse, pubescence unmodified; sternite VIII ( Fig. 13 ) approximately as long as broad; posterior excision not very deep and nearly V-shaped, pubescence unmodified; aedeagus ( Figs 14-17 ) 0.44 mm long and distinctly asymmetric; ventral process completely separated into two slender processes in asymmetric position; dorsal plate long and distinctly exceeding beyond other apical structures; parameres slender and moderately long, connected to median lobe only at base.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: The only geographically close congener is S. papola HERMAN 1981 from Napo province in Ecuador. It is distinguished from the new species by the granulate ground sculpturing of the head and pronotum, the less reduced eyes, the deeper and much narrower posterior excision of the male sternite VIII, and by the completely different shape of the aedeagus. For illustrations of S. papola see HERMAN (1981).

D i s t r i b u t i o n: The type locality is situated in Pichincha province, Ecuador ( Map 1 ), at an altitude of 2300 m. Additional data are not available.

Figures

Map 1: Type localities of Gnathymenus rossii nov.sp. (triangle) and Stenolophea caeca nov.sp. (circle).

Figs 9-17: Stenopholea caeca nov.sp.: (9) habitus; (10) forebody; (11) median dorsal portion of head; (12) male sternite VII; (13) male sternite VIII; (14) aedeagus in lateral view; (15-16) aedeagus in ventral view; (17) apical portion of dorsal plate in ventral view. Scale bars: 9: 1.0 mm; 10: 0.5 mm; 11-17: 0.2 mm.