Atheta (Microdota) clarata, Assing, 2021

Assing, Volker, 2021, New species, synonymies, combinations, and records of micropterous Athetini from China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 71 (1), pp. 87-101 : 98

Atheta (Microdota) clarata spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:EE3C4E47-FEAB-413A-81C7-A063529A5235

(Figs 7, 33–38)

Type material: Holotype : “P. R. CHINA, Yunnan, E slope N Gaoligongshan, N 27°47'22.1" E 98°32'17.7", 24.v.2010, 3027 m, sifting20, V. Grebennikov / Holotypus  Atheta clarata sp. n., det. V . Assing 2020 ” ( CAS). Paratypes: 1 , 1 : same data as holotype ( CNC, cAss) .

Etymology: The specific epithet is the past participle of the Latin verb clarare (to tint) and alludes to the pale colouration.

Description: Body length 1.7–2.3 mm; length of forebody 0.7–0.9 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 7. Colouration: head reddish to brown; pronotum and elytra dark-yellowish to reddish; abdomen reddish to reddishbrown with tergite VI usually somewhat darker; legs yellow; antennae brown with the basal three antennomeres yellowish.

Head approximately as broad as long; punctation extremely fine; interstices with distinct microreticulation. Eyes small and flat, composed of approximately eight ommatidia. Antennae incrassate; antennomeres IV transverse, V–X of increasing width and increasingly transverse, X approximately twice as broad as long.

Pronotum 1.15–1.20 times as broad as long and 1.15– 1.20 times as broad as head; punctation similar to that of head, but somewhat denser; interstices with pronounced microreticulation.

Elytra little more than half as long as pronotum; punctation extremely fine; interstices with shallow microsculpture. Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen broader than elytra; punctation very fine, moderately dense on anterior tergites and sparse on posterior tergites; interstices with microreticulation composed of predominantly transverse meshes on anterior tergites and of isodiametric meshes on posterior tergites; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe; tergite VIII ( Fig. 35 ) without evident sexual dimorphism, posterior margin weakly convex.

: sternite VIII ( Fig. 36 ) moderately transverse, posterior margin strongly convex; median lobe of aedeagus 0.25 mm long and shaped as in Figs 33–34 .

: posterior margin of sternite VIII with pronounced median incision and with moderately modified setae ( Fig. 37 ); spermatheca ( Fig. 38 ) with long and slender proximal portion.

Comparative notes: Atheta clarata is distinguished from the other two pale-coloured micropterous Microdota species known from China, A. geostiboides and A. bicoloricornis , by the primary and secondary sexual characters and additionally as follows:

- from A. geostiboides by slightly smaller size, significantly shorter and darker antennae, much finer punctation on the male head, the absence of a median sulcus and less fine punctation on the less transverse pronotum, finer punctation on the elytra, the shape of the male sternite VIII (more oblong and posterior margin truncate in A. geostiboides ), and by a much smaller aedeagus;

- from A. bicoloricornis by a less strongly microsculptured and consequently less matt head and pronotum, less distinctly bicoloured antennae, a less transverse pronotum, a convex posterior margin of the male tergite VIII (truncate in A. bicoloricornis ), and by a smaller aedeagus of different shape. For illustrations of A. geostiboides and A. bicoloricornis see ASSING (2004, 2009).

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is identical to that of Bellatheta aucticeps and situated in the northern Gaoligong Shan, West Yunnan. The type material was sifted at an altitude of approximately 3030 m.

Figures

Figs 33–46: Atheta clarata (33–38) and A. minica (39–46). 33–34, 39–41 – median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view; 35 – male tergite VIII; 36, 42 – male sternite VIII; 37, 44 – female sternite VIII; 38, 45–46 – spermatheca; 43 – female tergite VIII. Scale bars: 35–37, 42–44: 0.2 mm; 33–34, 38–41, 45–46: 0.1 mm.