Neuraphes (Pararaphes) xilingensis

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 : 412-414

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

( Figs 2 , 7–9 , 12–13 )

Type material (1♂). Holotype: CHINA: ♂, labeled ‘ China: Sichuan, Dayi County (⋏DZ县), Xiling Xueshan (W ΚWNJ), 30°39′26′′N, 103°15′19′′E, mixed leaf litter, sifted, 1030m, 28.vii.2015, Jiang, Peng, Tu & Zhou leg.’.

Diagnosis. Small species, 1.74 mm in length, body uniformly black, appendages dark brown; each elytron with distinct apical impression located closer to suture than to posterior elytral margin; aedeagus with particularly elongate copulatory piece, its apical portion strongly narrowing distally and curved, with series of sclerotized structures located distally to base of copulatory piece.

Description. Body of male ( Fig. 2 ) strongly convex and elongate, with long appendages, BL 1.74 mm; body uniformly black, legs except tarsi and antennae dark 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, forming subtriangular area anteriorly connected to frons; supraantennal tubercles more convex than vertex; eyes large, strongly projecting laterally, coarsely faceted. Punctures on frons and vertex fine and sparse; setae on frons and vertex sparse, long and erect. Antennae ( Fig. 11 ) slender, AnL 0.83 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, all antennomeres elongate.

Pronotum in dorsal view subtrapezoidal, broadest near middle and indistinctly narrowing posteriorly, PL 0.46 mm, PW 0.41 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 1/5 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 1.01 mm, width 0.74 mm, EI 1.37. Humeri moderately distinct; basal fovea on each elytron large, located closer to scutellum than to humerus; each elytron with distinct apical impression ( Fig. 12 ) located closer to suture than to posterior elytral margin. Punctures more distinct than those on pronotum, small, shallow and diffused. Setae sparse, moderately long, suberect. Metathoracic wings welldeveloped.

Legs slender and long, unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Figs 7–9 ) 0.20 mm in length (measured from base to apical margin of median lobe, excluding extruded internal armature), gradually broadening from base to subapical region; with extremely long tubular copulatory piece strongly narrowing distally and curved, with series of sclerotized structures located distally to base of copulatory piece; parameres strongly elongate and broad, in lateral view rapidly bent at an obtuse angle.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. China, Sichuan.

Etymology. The species name refers to the mountain where the type locality of the new species lies.

Remarks. Neuraphes xilingensis is unique among all known species distributed in the Himalayas and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by its uniformly black body, which is only known in European congeners. The aedeagus with a remarkably elongate and strongly curved copulatory piece also makes N. xilingensis unusual among species of this region.

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 7 – 9. Aedeagus of Neuraphes xilingensis, in dorsal (7), ventral (8) and lateral (9) 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.