Megalopinus puthzi, Jałoszyński, 2020

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2020, A new species and new records of Malagasy Megalopinus Eichelbaum (Coleoptera Staphylinidae, Megalopsidiinae), with notes on the sperm pump in rove beetles, Zootaxa 4768 (3), pp. 425-434 : 426-428

Megalopinus puthzi sp. n.

( Figs 1–6 )

Type material. Holotype: CE Madagascar: ♂, two labels: “ Madagascar ( CE) [ MDG#7 ] / -18.80/48.43, 950 m / ANDASIBE NP., MANTADIA / Eulophia trail, 6.4.2019 / leg. P. Jałoszyński ” [white, printed]; “ MEGALOPINUS / puthzi m. / det. P. Jałoszyński, 2020 / HOLOTYPUS ” [red, printed] ( MNHW).

Diagnosis. Male with eyes much shorter than length of head, tempora short but distinct; head with eyes slightly narrower than pronotum; head and pronotum black, elytra with pattern of brown and black spots, with humeri and posterolateral corners brown, abdominal tergites nearly black anteriorly and reddish-brown posteriorly; frons and vertex with deep, large, dense and evenly distributed punctures; smooth convexities on pronotal disc weakly elevated; each elytron with two dorsal rows each composed of at least 8 punctures, sublateral row vestigial; aedeagus stout, with darkly sclerotized elongate and paired components of endophallus, sub-basal pair approximately drop-shaped and broadest distally, sub-median pair convex mesally, each sub-median sclerite with subapical lateral tooth.

Description. Body of male ( Figs 1–3 ) relatively darkly pigmented; head, prothorax and pterothorax ventrally pitch black, with dark reddish supraantennal tubercles, anterior and posterior margins of pronotum; elytra predominantly brown, each with pattern of black, diffuse spots: large posterolateral spot (distant from posterior elytral margin, so that posterolateral corners of elytra are brown), small lateral posthumeral spot (poorly visible in dorsal view), moderately large basal spot between scutellum and inner discal row of punctures, and adsutural region darkened; also all rows of punctures, epipleura, lateral elytral carinae and scutellar shield are distinctly darkened; abdominal segments dark brown basally and reddish-brown posteriorly, borders between differently pigmented zones diffuse; mouthparts and legs brown. BL 3.85 mm.

Head ( Figs 1–3 ) together with eyes indistinctly narrower than pronotum, HL 0.45 mm, HW 0.85 mm; tempora in dorsal view short but well-visible; vertex and frons confluent, together trapezoidal and narrowing anterad, between eyes evenly convex, between distinct supraantennal tubercles flattened. Eyes relatively small, nearly circular, situated closer to mandibular bases than to posterior margin of tempora. Punctures on frons and vertex large and dense, evenly distributed, except for impunctate supraantennal tubercles and frontoclypeal region, distances be- tween punctures shorter than their diameters or (on median area) subequal to their diameters. Antennae in the only known specimen broken off.

Pronotum ( Figs 1−3 ) broadest near posterior third; PL 0.73 mm, PW 0.90 mm. Anterior and posterior margins weakly and evenly rounded; lateral margins rounded and distinctly convergent toward base, each with four robust rounded denticles. Disc with four transverse arcuate rows of large, deep and densely distributed punctures disrupted at middle by large area irregularly covered with similar punctures; impunctate cuticle smooth and glossy, forms one broad anterior stripe and three pairs of lateral elongate (two first) and short oval (posterior) weakly elevated convexities, oval convexity near each hind angle bears one large puncture near middle.

Elytra ( Figs 1−3 ) quadrangular and together weakly transverse, broadest distinctly behind middle; EL 0.88 mm, EW 1.18 mm, EI 0.74. Lateral and posterior margins rounded, humeral calli prominent, each with tiny humeral denticle; areas of cuticle between punctate rows weakly convex and mostly smooth, except for adsutural region in posterior half of each elytron covered with fine oblique wrinkles. Each elytron with narrow and sharply marked continuous adsutural groove extending from posterior mesoscutellar margin up to posterior elytral margin; with shallow basal fovea and short groove running from fovea lateroposterad; and with three rows of deep but somewhat diffuse punctures: dorsal row ( Figs 2−3 ; dsr) of 8–10 punctures; subhumeral row ( Figs 2−3 ; shr) of 10–11 punctures; and sublateral row ( Figs 2−3 ; slr) of two punctures; additionally, 3–4 punctures are situated along posterior margin of each elytron between adsutural groove and posterior end of discal row, and about 10 tiny and unevenly distributed punctures are situated in sublateral groove above lateral marginal carina of each elytron, with distinct gap in posterior third.

Hind wings long and functional.

Abdomen broader than head; AbL 1.80 mm; all exposed abdominal tergites with three pairs of shallow impressions along anterior margins, also anterior area of each paratergite impressed; surface glossy.

Aedeagus ( Figs 4–6 ) relatively stout; AeL 0.15 mm; median lobe drop-shaped, broadest near basal fourth and strongly, almost evenly narrowing toward subtriangular and slightly asymmetrical apex, endophallus in ventral view ( Fig. 6 ) with two symmetrical pairs of darkly sclerotized structures; sub-basal pair approximately drop-shaped with broad distal portions, sub-median pair curved, each sub-median sclerite mesally convex and narrowing from middle to both ends, distal portion with distinct lateral tooth; parameres slender, each with 4–5 apical and subapical setae.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. CE Madagascar.

Etymology. This species is dedicated to Volker Puthz, who significantly contributed to the knowledge of world Megalopsidiinae .

Remarks. Adults of M. puthzi differ from all Malagasy congeners in the unusually, conspicuously small eyes, so that the head is not broader but indistinctly narrower than the pronotum.Among Malagasy species with illustrated aedeagi (including M. lemur , for the first time illustrated in the present paper; and M. cribriceps , whose aedeagus was examined and illustrated by V. Puthz and his unpublished sketch was made available to me), the male copulatory organ of M. puthzi is most similar to that of M. cribriceps . These two species have a similar endophallus, composed of two pairs of elongated sclerites in the sub-basal and sub-median region of the aedeagus. In M. cribriceps , however, the aedeagus is distinctly slenderer, similar in shape to that illustrated here for M. lemur ( Fig. 10 ). Moreover, M. cribriceps has large eyes typical of most species of Megalopinus , and consequently the head clearly (by 1/4, as described by Fauvel (1904)) broader than the pronotum, and elytra together strikingly transverse, with three dark spots that cover the subscutellar area, the humerus and the posterolateral region, the latter spot is the largest and adjacent to the posterior elytral margin; additionally, the adsutural region is not darkened. In M. puthzi , the elytra are much less transverse, each with the humerus and the posterolateral corner brownish, not black, and with the adsutural area distinctly darkened. Among Malagasy species whose aedeagi remain unknown, M. hova differs from M. puthzi (and from all other species) in entirely black elytra; M. pauliani in the elytra predominantly black, each with four elongate orange spots (in M. puthzi the elytra are not predominantly black, and lightly pigmented areas do not form four elongate spots); M. fisheri differs in a pattern of two black spots, one on the humerus and one on the posterolateral corner (in M. puthzi these areas are lightly pigmented); and M. wardi in the head and pronotum dark reddish brown (almost entirely black in M. puthzi ), and the elytra with only one reddish lateral posthumeral spot on a black background (in M. puthzi the light pigmented areas on elytra occupy over half of the surface).

Figures

FIGURES 1–6. Megalopinus puthzi sp. n., male. Dorsal habitus (1); head, pronotum and elytra in dorsal (2) and lateral (3) views; aedeagus in dorsal (4) and lateral (5) views; close-up of endophallic structures (6). Abbreviations: dsr, dorsal row; spp, sperm pump; shr, subhumeral row; slr, sublateral row.

FIGURES 7–12. Megalopinus lemur Puthz, male. Dorsal habitus (7); head, pronotum and elytra in dorsal (8) and lateral (9) views; aedeagus in dorsal (10) and lateral (11) views; close-up of endophallic structures (12).