Platydomene shavrini, Assing, 2014

Assing, V., 2014, A new species of Platydomene from North India (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 46 (2), pp. 1147-1150 : 1148-1150

Platydomene shavrini nov.sp. ( Figs 1-7 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype: "N INDIA Uttarakhand, 13- 15.04.2012, Uttarkashi distr. , N30°57'41.57'', E78°41'54.75'', left tributary of Bhagirathi riv. / Holotypus Platydomene shavrini sp. n., det. V. Assing 2014" (coll. Assing).

E t y m o l o g y: This species is dedicated to Alexey Shavrin (Daugavpils), who collected the holotype.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 7.2 mm; length of forebody 3.9 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 1 . Coloration: forebody brown, with the posterior half of the elytra diffusely reddish; abdomen bicolored: segments III-VI blackish and segments VII-X reddish; legs reddishbrown; antennae brown.

Head ( Fig. 2 ) 1.13 times as long as broad and of oval shape, posterior angles practically obsolete; punctation moderately coarse and dense; interstices distinctly narrower than diameter of punctures, without microsculpture in median dorsal portion and with very shallow, barely noticeable microsculpture in posterior and lateral portions. Eyes not projecting from lateral contours of head, approximately one-fourth as long as distance from posterior margin of eye to neck. Antenna ( Fig. 3 ) 3 mm long and slender, all antennomeres distinctly oblong.

Pronotum ( Fig. 2 ) 1.42 times as long as broad and 0.80 times as broad as head; punctation similar to that of head, but slightly sparser; interstices without microsculpture; impunctate midline complete and rather broad.

Elytra ( Fig. 2 ) 0.85 times as long as pronotum; punctation coarser than that of head and pronotum; interstices without microsculpture. Hind wings not examined, but probably present. Metatarsomere I as long as II.

Abdomen ( Fig. 1 ) broadest at segment VI, distinctly broader than elytra; punctation fine and dense; interstices with distinct microsculpture predominantly composed of transverse meshes; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe; posterior margin of tergite VIII strongly convex.

: sternite VII ( Fig. 4 ) strongly transverse and with strongly concave posterior margin, pubescence unmodified; sternite VIII ( Fig. 5 ) weakly transverse and with narrow impression along middle, this impression with numerous strongly modified short and stout black setae, posterior margin truncate and with small median excision; aedeagus 1.0 mm long, shaped as in Figs 6-7.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: The new species is distinguished from all its congeners by the male primary and secondary sexual characters (morphology of the aedeagus; shape and chaetotaxy of the male sternite VIII). The shape of the ventral process of the aedeagus is somewhat similar, but not identical, to those of P. stoeckleini (KOCH, 1937) from Iran and Iraq and of P. lanugo ASSING, 2003 from Turkey. These species, however, have a more transverse male sternite VIII with a much shorter median impression and a much shorter median cluster of modified setae. For illustrations of P. stoeckleini and P. lanugo see ASSING (2003).

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d n a t u r a l h i s t o r y: Itstypelocalitysituatedinthe northwest of Uttarakhand, Northwest India, P. shavrini is currently the sole

representative of the genus in the Himalaya. The holotype was apparently collected on a river bank.

Figures

Figs 1-7: Platydomene shavrini nov.sp.: (1) habitus; (2) forebody; (3) antenna; (4) male sternite VII; (5) male sternite VIII; (6-7) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view. Scale bars: 1-3: 1.0 mm; 4-7: 0.5 mm.