Apatetica viridipennis FAUVEL, 1895

Assing, Volker, 2018, On some species of Apatetica WESTWOOD (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Apateticinae), Beiträge zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 68 (2), pp. 347-359 : 348-349

Apatetica viridipennis FAUVEL, 1895

( Figs 1–4 )

Apatetica viridipennis FAUVEL, 1895: 192 f.

Type material examined: Holotype ♂: “Darjeeling, Sikkim / viridipennis Fvl. / R.I.Sc.N.B. 17.479, Apatetica, Coll. et det. A. Fauvel / Type / Holotypus ♂ Apatetica viridipennis Fauvel , rev. V. Assing 2018” ( IRSNB).

Comment: The original description is based on “un seul ♂ ” from “ Sikkim, Darjeeling” ( FAUVEL 1895).

Redescription: Large species; bodylength 9.3 mm; length of forebody 7.3 mm. Other measurements: head width 1.7 mm; width of pronotum: 3.6 mm; length of pronotum 2.3 mm; length of elytra 3.6 mm; length of metatibia 2.7 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 1 . Coloration: body black, with the lateral margins of the pronotum broadly dark reddish-brown; elytra with moderate metallic greenish hue; legs partly blackish-brown to black with reddish tarsi; antennae red with antennomere Iweakly infuscate. Head ( Fig. 2 ) strongly transverse; vertex with extensive flat elevation, this elevation weakly pronounced, glossy, with micropunctation, posteriorly and laterally delimited by areas with very coarse and dense macropunctation; frons glossy and with micropunctation. Antenna very longand slender; antennomeres IV and Vfour times as long as broad; antennomere Xapproximately twice as long as broad.

Pronotum ( Fig. 2 ) approximately 1.5 times as broad as longand 2.1 times as broad as head, broadest at posterior third; median portion of disc strongly elevated (“domeshaped”); lateral margins broadly explanate, with shallow microsculpture predominantly composed of longitudinal striae, each with approximately ten coarse and few finer punctures; punctation of disc very coarse and very dense; along midline with impunctate median band interrupted by a cluster of moderately dense punctures only in the middle.

Elytra approximately 1.55 times as long as pronotum; each elytron with eight finely punctate striae; intervals flat and with dense micropunctation. Scutellum transverse. Legs very long and slender.

Abdomen with microsculpture composed of a mix of dense microgranules and of transverse meshes on tergite V and of transverse meshes on tergites VI–VIII; punctation of tergite Vfine and rather dense, that of tergite VI fine and sparse, that of tergite VII rather sparse, predominantly fine, and with some interspersed larger punctures, and that of tergite VIII rather dense and very coarse.

♂: protarsomeres I–IV strongly dilated and flat; tergite VIII wedge-shaped, apically pointed; aedeagus ( Figs 3–4 ) including parameres 2.2 mm long; ventral process long, slender, tapering apicad, and acute apically in ventral view; parameres slender, apically flattened and bent ventrad, slightly projecting beyond apex of ventral process.

♀: unknown.

Comparative notes: Among the congeners with metallic elytra from continental Asia, A. viridipennis is characterizedparticularly bythedome-shaped pronotumwithvery dense and coarse punctation, the coloration, very slender legs and antennae, and by the shape of the aedeagus.

Distribution: The type locality is situated in West Bengal, North India. Records from other regions (Assam, Manipur) require confirmation. Previous records from Myanmar refer to A. confusa .

Figures

Figs 1–10: Apatetica viridipennis (1–4) and A. glaucipennis (5–10): habitus (1, 5); head and pronotum (2, 6); aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (3–4, 8–9); male tergite VIII (7); female tergite VIII (10). Scale bars: 1, 5: 5.0 mm; 2–4, 6–10: 1.0 mm.