Research Article |
Corresponding author: Kee-Jeong Ahn ( kjahn@cnu.ac.kr ) Academic editor: Volker Assing
© 2015 Yoon-Ho Kim, Kee-Jeong Ahn.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Kim Y-H, Ahn K-J (2015) Ashea megacephala Kim & Ahn (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae), a new gyrophaenine genus and species from Peru. ZooKeys 530: 91-99. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.530.6110
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Ashea megacephala, a new Peruvian genus and species is described. The specimens were collected on mushrooms and mushroom-associated trees. This genus can be readily distinguished from the other genera of the subtribe Gyrophaenina by the large head and the three indistinctly articulated labial palpomeres. A key to the known genera of Gyrophaenina is provided. A habitus photograph and illustrations of diagnostic characters are also presented.
Gyrophaenina , key, new genus, new species, Peru, Staphylinidae
The subtribe Gyrophaenina Kraatz contains 833 species in 21 genera worldwide (
During an ongoing worldwide revisionary study of the Homalotini, a series of small specimens were found in the Snow Entomological Museum Collection, Lawrence, USA, each with very large head. After detailed study of the specimens, we conclude that this is a new genus and species belonging to Gyrophaenina.
In this paper, Ashea megacephala gen. n. and sp. n. is described and a key to the known genera of Gyrophaenina is provided, as well as a habitus photograph with illustrations of diagnostic characters.
Specimens were dissected in water and mounted on sticky carbon tape. They were dried at 60 °C on a slide warmer for 24 h, sputter-coated with Pt/Pd nanoparticles using a sputter coater (208 HR, Cressington Scientific Instruments, Watford, Hertfordshire, UK), and examined with SEM (S-4800, Hitachi High-Technologies, Tokyo, Japan). Descriptive terms used here follow
Ashea megacephala sp. n.
Head (Fig.
Body (Fig.
Named after the late James S. Ashe in honor of his research on the subtribe Gyrophaenina. He was the first collector of these beetles.
Peru.
Ashea gen. n. can be distinguished from other gyrophaenine genera by the diagnostic characters presented above. Especially, the combination of the large head and indistinctly articulated three labial palpomeres clearly makes this new genus unique among all other Gyrophaenina.
Ashea gen. n. belongs to the “Gyrophaena” lineage (sensu
Tergite X provides useful characters in the study of the subtribe Gyrophaenina classification (
On the other hand, the genus Ashea gen. n. differs from Eumicrota by the following diagnostic characters: head very large, as wide as and distinctly longer than pronotum; right mandible with very large median tooth; labial palpus with three indistinctly separated palpomeres.
We have not had the opportunity to study any specimens of the following three gyrophaenine genera (Brachycantharus Bierig, Microbrachida Bierig, Neobrachychara Bierig) described from Central America by
Holotype, male, labeled as follows: Peru: Tambopata Prov., 15 km NE Pto. Maldonado, 6 July 1989, 200 m, J. Ashe, R. Leschen, #427, ex: Daedaleopsis; Holotype, Ashea megacephala Kim and Ahn, Desig. Y.-H. Kim and K.-J. Ahn 2015. Paratypes, 5♂♂4♀♀ (2♂♂1♀ on slides), same data as holotype; 1♀, Tambopata Prov., 15 km NE Pto. Maldonaldo, 13 July 1989, 200 m, J. Ashe, R. Leschen, #507, ex: rotten tree; 1♀, Tambopata Prov., 15 km NE Pto. Maldonado, 13 July 1989, 200 m, J. Ashe, R. Leschen, #508, ex: polypore; 1♀, Tambopata Prov., 15 km NE Pto. Maldonado, 13 July 1989, 200 m, J. Ashe, R. Leschen, #515, ex: Irpex-like; 1♀, Tambopata Prov., 15 km NE Pto. Maldonado, 9 July 1989, 200 m, J. Ashe, R. Leschen, #454, ex: Schizopora; 2♀♀, Tambopata Prov., 15 km NE Pto. Maldonado, 17 July 1989, 200 m, J. Ashe, R. Leschen, #537, ex: Thelephoraceae; 1♀, Tambopata Prov., 15 km NE Pto. Maldonado, 16 July 1989, 200 m, J. Ashe, R. Leschen, #86, ex: Auricularia auricula.
Body length 1.0–1.4 mm. Head. Very large, slightly transverse and flattened, as wide as and distinctly longer than pronotum; eye large, longer than temple, length ratio of eye to temple 1.56; antennomere 1 longest, about 2.8 times as long as wide, 2 about 1.5 times as long as wide and 1.5 times as long as 3, 3 about 1.4 times as long as wide, 4 about 1.4 times as wide as long, 5 about 1.1 times as wide as long, 6–7 about 1.2 times as wide as long, 8–9 about 1.3 times as wide as long, 10 about 1.36 times as wide as long, 11 about 1.4 times as long as wide (Fig.
Tambopata, Peru.
Named from the Greek mega meaning “large” and cephalus meaning “head”, which refers to large head.
Specimens were collected on mushrooms and/or mushroom associated trees in Peru.
1 | Pronotum (Fig. |
2 |
– | Pronotum ( |
3 |
2 | Head (Fig. |
Ashea gen. n. |
– | Head moderate in size, shorter than or as long as pronotum; right mandible with small median tooth; labial palpus with two palpomeres | Eumicrota Casey |
3 | Eyes extremely large ( |
Phanerota Casey |
– | Eyes moderate in size ( |
Gyrophaena Mannerheim |
We thank Z. Falin (