Orphnebius cernens, Assing, 2016

Assing, Volker, 2016, On some Lomechusini of the Palaearctic and Oriental regions (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 66 (1), pp. 13-111 : 46-47

Orphnebius cernens spec. nov.

( Figs 2, 24 , 202–206 )

Type material: Holotype ♂: “ Lao-NE , Hua Phan prov., 20°12'N 104°01'E, Phu Phan Mt. , ~ 1750 m, 17.v.–3.vi. 2008, Vít Kubáň leg. / Holotypus ♂ Orphnebius cernens sp. n., det. V. Assing 2015” ( NHMB).

Paratypes: 5 ♂♂, 1 ♀, 3 sex?: same data as holotype ( NHMB, cAss) .

Etymology: The specific epithet is the present participle of the Latin verb cernere (to see) and alludes to the large eyes.

Description: Body length 3.6–4.2 mm; length of forebody 1.5–1.7 mm. Coloration: head black; pronotum and elytra blackish-brown to black; abdomen pale-reddish; legs with reddish to dark-brown femora and reddish tibiae and tarsi; antennae with antennomeres I–IV reddish and V–XI dark-brown to blackish-brown, V and X rarely paler; maxillary palpi brown to dark-brown with yellowish terminal palpomere.

Head ( Fig. 24 ) transverse, 1.3 times as broad as long; posterior angles completely obsolete; posterior margin of disc convex; punctation fine and sparse; median dorsal portion extensively impunctate; interstices without microsculpture. Eyes very large, reaching posterior margin of head. Antenna ( Fig. 2 ) approximately 1.1 mm long, moderately incrassate, and moderately asymmetric; antennomere IV small and weakly transverse; antennomeres V–X asymmetric, of gradually increasing width, and increasingly transverse; X nearly twice as broad as long; XI strongly elongate, slightly longer than the combined length of VIII–X.

Pronotum ( Fig. 24 ) moderately transverse, 1.25– 1.30 times as broad as long and 1.10–1.15 times as broad as head, moderately convex in cross-section; posterior angles weakly marked; disc with a median pair of punctures, otherwise nearly impunctate; margins with additional punctures; lateral margins each with three long, stout, and erect black setae.

Elytra ( Fig. 24 ) approximately 0.85 times as long as pronotum; suture distinctly gaping posteriorly; punctation moderately sparse and fine; pubescence pale, fine, long, and sub-erect or depressed on disc. Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I approximately as long as the combined length of II and III.

Abdomen: tergites III–VI with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side and with four setiferous punctures at posterior margin (individual punctures may be missing); tergite VII with oblong non-setiferous punctation across median portion, anterior and posterior portions without such punctation, with a transverse row of setiferous punctures near posterior margin, posterior margin with palisade fringe; tergite VIII with a marginal and a submarginal row of long setae, posterior margin broadly convex; sternite VIII with broadly convex posterior margin.

♂: hemi-tergites IX and tergite X with extremely dense and long pubescence ( O. hauseri type); median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 202–203 ) approximately 0.65 mm long; ventral process straight in lateral view and of subtriangular shape in ventral view; internal sac with large and strongly sclerotized structures; paramere ( Figs 204–205 ) approximately 0.6 mm long, condylite distinctly shorter than paramerite, stout, curved, and with very short velum. ♀: spermatheca ( Fig. 206 ) of similar shape as in other species of the O. hauseri subgroup.

Comparative notes: Among the species of the O. hauseri subgroup, O. cernens is most similar to O. dishamatus ASSING, 2015 ( China: Yunnan) both in external and in sexual characters. It is distinguished from that species by larger and more bulging eyes, a distinctly longer antennomere XI with parallel margins ( O. dishamatus : with weakly convex margins), and by the morphology of the aedeagus ( O. dishamatus : ventral process slightly shorter and with a less distinctly marked apex in ventral view; condylite of paramere straight). For illustrations of O. dishamatus see ASSING (2015e).

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated in Hua Phan province, North Laos, at an altitude of approximately 1750 m. Orphnebius lunatus , O. fuscapicalis , O. fusicollis , O. spoliatus , and an unnamed species were collected in the same locality.

Figures

Figs 1–26. Antenna (1–21) and forebody (22–26) of Orphnebius spp. of the O. hauseri group: spinans (1, 23), cernens (2, 24), lunatus (3, 25), bakeri (4, 26), breviceps (5), extensus (6), serratus (7), integer (8), bicuspis, Laos (9), bicuspis, NE India (10), fusicollis (11), retunsus (12), fodens (13), opticus (14), dilatatus (15), fuscapicalis (16), grandicollis (17, 22), reductus (18), biformis, male (19), biformis, female (20), effeminatus (21). Scale bars: 22–26: 1.0 mm; 1–21: 0.5 mm.

Figs 197–215. Orphnebius spinans (197–201), O. cernens (202–206), O. lunatus (207–210), and O. grandicollis (211–215): male segments IX–X (197); median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (198–199, 202–203, 208–209, 212); ventral process of aedeagus in ventral view (200, 214); paramere (201, 204, 210, 215); apex of paramere (205); spermatheca (206); tergite VIII (207, 211); ventral process of aedeagus in lateral view (213). Scale bars: 0.2 mm.