Thoracophorus zicsii, Irmler, Ulrich, 2015

Irmler, Ulrich, 2015, Four new species of the genus Thoracophorus Motschulsky, 1857 for the Neotropical region (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Osoriinae), Zootaxa 4039 (3), pp. 431-444 : 436

Thoracophorus zicsii n. sp.

Figs. 3 A, B, 9D

Type material. HOLOTYPE. male, Ecuador: Prov. Pichincha, 71 km from Quito to Santo Domingo, moss from lakeshore, near the fall, 24.4.1988, leg. Cs. Csuzdi & A. Ziksi ( NHMH).

Diagnosis. The species is intermediately sized compared to T. filum Sharp, 1887 and T. verhaaghi . In contrast to both species, colouration is light brown, but not mainly orange as in the last two species. It mostly resembles T. filum Sharp, 1887 in its slender shape, but the elytra are distinctly longer than wide, whereas they are approximately quadrate in T. filum Sharp, 1887 . The aedeagus also resembles that of T. filum Sharp, 1887 , but the base of the endophallus is more slender and not circular such as in T. filum Sharp, 1887 .

Description. Length: 1.6 mm. Colouration: totally light brown, head and abdomen slightly darker; legs and antennae slightly lighter, yellowish.

Head: 0.20 mm long, 0.26 mm wide; eyes large and prominent; twice as long as temples; temples shortly rounded to neck; neck distinctly separated from vertex; sides of fore-head margined; beginning at middle of eyes and continued to front margin of clypeus; space between margin slightly depressed; pair of central swelling indistinct, flat; without punctation; isodiametric microsculpture deep; surface matte.

Antenna slightly shorter than head and pronotum combined; first and second antennomere thicker than following four antennomeres and nearly equal in length; second antennomere oval; third conical antennomere approximately half as long as second; antennomeres four to six slightly increasing in width; each more or less quadrate; antennomeres seven to eleven distinctly wider than preceding antennomeres and increasing in width; seventh antennomere one forth wider than sixth; tenth antennomere nearly twice as wide as sixth; fivth to eleventh antennomere indistinctly pubescent.

Pronotum: 0.26 mm long, 0.29 mm wide; widest close to middle; slightly narrowed to anterior margin; anterior margin convex; anterior angles obtuse; sides in posterior half concave; deeply emarginate in front of rectangular posterior angles; lateral margin very indistinctly undulate; nearly smooth; central dorsal depression and swellings indistinct, flat; without punctation; isodiametric microsculpture deep; partly, meshes slightly elongate; surface matte.

Elytra: 0.44 mm long, 0.36 mm wide; parallel; shoulders distinct; shortly rounded to straight anterior margin; sides in posterior forth narrowed to posterior margin; posterior margin with short scaly setae; carinae very weakly developed; nearly absent; suture line nearly absent, too; without punctation; microsculpture deep; meshes slightly elongate; surface matte.

Abdomen with anterior segements depressed at base; microsculpture deep; meshes slightly elongate; slightly less matte than fore-body; each segment with few scaly setae in transverse line.

Aedeagus smoothly rounded between basal and apical lobe; apex obtuse; widely rounded; endophallus slender at base; ending in long filiform ductus; paramera only very shortly exceeding central lobe; apex with broad transparent area; diagonal row of sensillae at base.

Etymology. The species name derived from one of the collectors, A. Zicsi, who collected soil organisms on several expeditions to the Neotropics..

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 3. Thoracophorus filum (1: from Belize, 1 ’: from Costa Rica); T. verhaaghi (2); T. zicsii (3); aedeagus in lateral aspect (A), antenna (B); scale bar: 0.1 mm.