Alloraphes iyonolanus, Jałoszyński, 2020

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2020, Four new species and new records of the Neotropical genus Alloraphes Franz (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4810 (2), pp. 335-343 : 338-341

Alloraphes iyonolanus sp. n.

( Figs 5–6 , 17–20 )

Type material. Holotype: SAINT LUCIA: ♂, two labels: “ANTILLES: Santa Lucia / Quilesse Reserve 200-350m / 500m de Mt St Esprit / Jaccoud-de Roguin VI79 ” [white, printed]; “ Alloraphes / iyonolanus m. / P. JAŁOSZYŃSKI, 2020 / HOLOTYPUS ” [red, printed] ( MHNG).

Diagnosis. Male: frons confluent with vertex; eyes conspicuously small, in dorsal view width of eye comparable to 1/4 width of frons; pronotum with arcuate antebasal transverse groove and indistinct median pit; elytra modified, elytral apices rapidly, almost step-wise impressed; aedeagus in ventral view with strongly asymmetrical apex of median lobe; parameres slender, largely parallel-sided in lateral view, all three parameral setae subapical, thin and short.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 5 ) moderately convex, light brown, covered with yellowish vestiture; BL 1.00 mm.

Head ( Fig. 6 ) broadest at conspicuously small, strongly convex and moderately coarsely faceted eyes, HL 0.15 mm, HW 0.20 mm; vertex indistinctly convex, anteriorly confluent with flattened frons; supraantennal tubercles feebly elevated. Punctures on frons and vertex virtually absent; setae short, sparse, and recumbent. Antennae slen- der, AnL 0.40 mm; antennomeres I and II each about 1.7 × as long as broad, III about as long as broad, IV slightly elongate, V–X each about as long as broad, XI much shorter than IX and X combined, about 1.5 × as long as broad, with rounded apex.

Pronotum broadest near anterior fourth; PL 0.28 mm, PW 0.25 mm. Anterior and posterior margins weakly rounded; sides in anterior third strongly rounded; sides distinctly narrowing posterad, strongly concave in posterior third; antebasal transverse groove distinct and arcuate, with barely discernible median pit, distinctly deepened at each end. Punctures on pronotal disc inconspicuous, fine and sparse; setae moderately dense, long and suberect, lateral bristles sparse but well visible.

Elytra together oval, slightly flattened, broadest between middle and anterior third; EL 0.58 mm, EW 0.41 mm, EI 1.39; subhumeral lines relatively sharply marked and nearly as long as 0.3 EL; elytral apices separately rounded, together abruptly, nearly step-wise impressed. Punctures on elytra only slightly more distinct than those on pronotum but still inconspicuous; setae long, sparse and suberect. Hind wings well developed.

Legs long and slender, unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Figs 17–20 ) slender and lightly sclerotized; AeL 0.28 mm; in ventral view apical region of median lobe strongly asymmetrical, with shallow transverse emargination and long ventral apical projection shifted laterad; median apical projection nearly rod-like; parameres in lateral view slender, largely parallel-sided, each with three thin subapical setae of which proximal one is the longest.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. Lesser Antilles: Saint Lucia ( Fig. 25 ).

Etymology. After Iyonola, the name of Saint Lucia used by indigenous pre-Columbian inhabitants.

Remarks. The aedeagus of A. iyonolanus is very similar to that of A. peruanus Franz, 1980 ( Peru) , both in apical structures and parameres. However, adults of these species differ markedly in external structures, including the general body form and proportions of body parts, but first of all, in the conspicuous modifications of elytral apices in A. iyonolanus , whereas the elytra in A. peruanus are unmodified.

This is the first Alloraphes known to occur on the Lesser Antilles.

Figures

FIGURE 25. Distribution of nominal Alloraphes species.

FIGURES 1–8. Dorsal habitus (1, 3, 5, 7) and head in dorsal view (2, 4, 6, 8). Alloraphes opticus sp. n. (1–2), A. cayennensis sp. n. (3–4), A. iyonolanus sp. n. (5–6), and A. ecuadoranus sp. n. (7–8).

FIGURES 17–24. Aedeagus in ventral (17, 19, 21, 23) and lateral (18, 20, 22, 24) views. Alloraphes iyonolanus sp. n. (17–20), and A. ecuadoranus sp. n. (21–24).