Neuraphes (Pararaphes) shu

Zhou, De-Yao & Li, Li-Zhen, 2016, Contribution to the knowledge of the genus Neuraphes Thomson (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae) in China, Zootaxa 4097 (3), pp. 409-415 : 410-412

Neuraphes (Pararaphes) shu D.- Y. Zhou & L.-Z. Li, new species

( Figs 1 , 4–6 , 11 )

Type material (1♂, 2 ♀♀). Holotype: CHINA: ♂, labeled ‘ China: Sichuan, Xiaojin County (†±县), Dishui Village (ae*U), 30°58′33′′N, 102°42′24′′E, mixed leaf litter, sifted, 2900m, 18.vii.2015, Jiang, Peng, Tu& Zhou leg.’ Paratypes: China: 2♀♀; same data as holotype.

Diagnosis. Small species, 1.69–1.72 mm in length, bicolorous: head and pronotum dark brown, elytra and appendages lighter brown; head with shallow pair of pits; pronotum with median longitudinal carina equal to about 1/3 of PL; elytra unmodified; ventral plate of aedeagus gradually broadening from base to apex.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 1 ) strongly convex and elongate, with long appendages, BL 1.69 mm; head and pronotum dark brown, nearly black, elytra, legs except tarsi and antennae lighter brown, maxillary palps and tarsi nearly yellowish.

Head subtriangular, broadest at eyes, HL 0.26 mm, HW 0.30; tempora short and strongly bent mesally; vertex convex; frons with shallow pair of pits located behind convex supra-antennal tubercles; eyes large, strongly expanding laterally, coarsely faceted. Punctures on frons and vertex fine and sparse; setae on frons and vertex sparse, long and erect. Antennae ( Fig. 10 ) slender, AnL 0.72 mm, relative lengths of antennomeres: 1.0: 1.0: 0.5: 0.6: 0.6: 0.6: 0.7: 0.8: 0.8: 0.8: 1.3., only antennomeres VIII, IX and X distinctly transverse, antennomere VII about as long as width, antennomeres I–VII and XI distinctly elongate.

Pronotum in dorsal view subtrapezoidal, broadest slightly behind anterior third but indistinctly narrowing posteriorly, PL 0.43 mm, PW 0.39 mm; anterior margin and sides in anterior third rounded, lateral margin in posterior half nearly straight, posterior corners obtuse-angled and with acute tips, posterior margin arcuate; base with distinct transverse impression connected at each side to large subtriangular lateral impression and interrupted at middle by distinct median longitudinal carina equal to about 1/3 of PL. Punctures on pronotal disc fine, sharply marked. Setae on pronotal disc long, sparse and suberect.

Elytra oval, broadest slightly anterior to middle, length 0.99 mm, width 0.65 mm, EI 1.51. Humeri moderately distinct; basal fovea on each elytron large, located closer to scutellum than to humerus; suture slightly raised only between basal elytral impressions. Punctures more distinct than those on pronotum, small, shallow and diffused. Setae sparse, moderately long, suberect. Metathoracic wings well-developed.

Legs slender and long, unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Figs 4–6 ) 0.22 mm in length, gradually broadening from base to subapical region and with subtrapezoidal apical part; dorsally with long tubular copulatory piece strongly narrowing distally; ventral plate subtrapezoidal and elongate, its base indistinguishably fused with surrounding membranes; lateral plates in dorsal view curved, in lateral view with rounded apical parts; parameres broad, with obtuse-angled apices.

Female. Externally differs from male only in distinctly shorter antennae in relation to body length (evident only when measured); BL 1.71–1.72 mm; HL 0.26–0.28 mm, HW 0.29–0.31 mm, AnL 0.70 mm, relative lengths of antennomeres: 1.0: 1.0: 0.5: 0.6: 0.7: 0.6: 0.7: 0.7: 0.7: 0.7: 1.3.; PL 0.43 mm, PW 0.37–0.40 mm; EL 1.00– 1.01 mm, EW 0.66–0.70 mm, EI 1.41–1.52.

Bionomics. All three specimens of the type series were collected from a moist leaf litter layer under stone and bush in a dry mixed forest of Dishui Village ( Fig. 13 ).

Distribution. China, Sichuan.

Etymology. The Chinese character ‘ Shu () ’ is the historical epithet of Sichuan Province, where the holotype was collected.

Remarks. Among Himalayan and eastern Tibetan species of Neuraphes , N. shu sp. n. shares with N. sichuanus Jałoszyński, 2015 b and N. tuyuhun Jałoszyński, 2015 b the following combination of characters: the body bicolorous, the lateral plates of the aedeagus distinctly bent, with their apical portions projecting laterally in the ventral or dorsal view, the base of the ventral plate fused with surrounding membranes, and the ventral plated broadening apically. However, the new species can be unambiguously distinguished from N. tuyuhun by its relatively large body (1.70 mm in average vs. <1.50 mm in N. tuyuhun ); and distinguished from N. sichuanus by its moderately elongate pronotum and distinctly elongate antennomeres III–VII.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 3. Habitus of Neuraphes species. N. shu, male (1); N. xilingensis, male (2); N. sp., female (3). Scale bars: 0.5 mm.

FIGURES 4 – 6. Aedeagus of Neuraphes shu, in dorsal (4), ventral (5) and lateral (6) view; photographed (a) and schematic (b). Scale bars: 0.1 mm.

FIGURES 10 – 13. Diagnostic characters of Neuraphes species: Right antenna of N. shu, in dorsal view (10); right antenna of N. xilingensis, in dorsal view (11); right elytral apex of N. xilingensis (12), and habitat of N. shu in Dishui Village (13). Scale bars: 11, 12 = 0.2 mm; 13 = 0.4 mm.