Hesperus babai Shibata, 1990

Cai, Yu-Jie, Li, Yue-Yang & Tang, Liang, 2024, New species group and two new species of the genus Hesperus from China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Philonthina), Zootaxa 5474 (5), pp. 550-562 : 560

Hesperus babai Shibata, 1990

(Chinese name: Ḽ场刃Ḇdzûà)

( Figs 9, 10 , 17, 23 )

Hesperus babai Shibata, 1990: 209 ; Li, Zhou & Schillhammer, 2010: 534.

Material examined. China: Taiwan: 1♀, Hualian County, Tailuge , alt. 700m, VIII.2006, XU leg. ( SHNU) .

Description. Measurements of female: BL: 11.55 mm, FL: 5.87 mm. HL: 1.40 mm, HW: 1.87 mm, EYL: 0.67 mm, TL: 0.55 mm, PL: 2.10 mm, PW: 1.80 mm, EL: 2.75 mm, EW: 2.82 mm. HW/HL: 1.34, TL/EYL: 0.81, PL/ PW: 1.17, EL/EW: 0.97.

Distribution. This species is only known from the island of Taiwan, China.

Diagnosis. Externally, H. babai is easily recognized among the species of the babai group, by the entire fore body pitchy black and abdomen with segment VIII entirely red.

Remarks. Hesperus babai was originally described as a member of the subgenus Hesperotropis Gridelli, 1924 based on almost straight, sharply carinate lateral sides of elytra ( Shibata 1990). However, this character is found only in males in several species groups of Hesperus and in other genera ( Schillhammer 2009; Cai & Tang 2022), and we therefore do not use this subgenus here.

Figures

FIGURES 7–12. Habitus. 7, 8—Hesperus watanabei; 9, 10—H. babai; 11, 12—H. pengi. Scale bars: 1 mm.

FIGURES 13–24. Characters of Hesperus. 13–18—antennae; 19–24—head; 13, 19—H. birmanus; 14, 20—H. flexibilis; 15, 21—H. susannekontrusae; 16, 22—H. watanabei; 17, 23—H. babai; 18, 24—H. pengi. Scale bars: 1 mm.