ZooKeys 404: 113–116, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.404.7276
A new species of genus Tetrasticta Kraatz (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae) from Xishuangbanna, Southwest China
Dan-Lin Zheng 1,†, Mei-Jun Zhao 1,‡
1 Department of Biology, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, 100 Guilin Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai 200234, P. R. China

Corresponding author: Mei-Jun Zhao (mjzhao@shnu.edu.cn)

Academic editor: J. Klimaszewski

received 17 February 2013 | accepted 21 March 2014 | Published 24 April 2014
(C) 2014 Dan-Lin Zheng. 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.
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Citation: Zheng D-L, Zhao M-J (2014) A new species of genus Tetrasticta Kraatz (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae) from Xishuangbanna, Southwest China. ZooKeys 404: 113–116. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.404.7276

Abstract

Tetrasticta bobbii Zheng & Zhao, sp. n., collected in Nangongshan, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, is described and illustrated.

Keywords

Aleocharini, first record, Tetrasticta, Yunnan, Xishuangbanna

Introduction

The aleocharine genus Tetrasticta Kraatz, 1857 (Aleocharini) contains 13 species worldwide (Maruyama and Sugaya 2002; Maruyama 2004; Pace 2000, 2008, 2013b; Yamamoto and Maruyama 2013). Pace (2010) synonymized Creochara Cameron, 1931 with Tetrasticta and repeated this arrangement in his recent paper (Pace 2013a). According to Yamamoto and Maruyama (2013), the synonymization of Tetrasticta by Pace (2010) does not provide sufficient evidence and should not be consider as valid. Currently, no species of this genus has been reported from Mainland China. In 2003, our colleagues Jia-Yao Hu ad Liang Tang surveyed the staphylinid fauna of Nangongshan (Yunnan, Southwest China), and collected a small series of Tetrasticta specimens. A closer examination of this material revealed that the species was undescribed.

Material and methods

All the types are deposited in the Insect Collection of Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China (SNUC).

Specimens were killed with ethyl acetate and preserved in 75% ethanol before dissection; photos of habitus were taken with a Canon EOS 7D with an MP-E 65mm macro photo lens.

The following abbreviations are applied in the text: BL – body length, from the anterior margin of the head to the posterior margin of the abdominal tergite VIII; FBL – forebody length, from the clypeal anterior margin to the posterior margin of elytra; HD – head length, from the clypeal anterior margin to the occipital constriction; PL – length of the pronotum along the midline; HW – width of the head across the eyes; PW – maximum width of the pronotum.

Taxonomy
Type material.

Holotype: China: ♂, labelled ‘CHINA: Yunnan Prov., Xishuangbanna, Mengla County (勐腊县), Nangongshan (南贡山), alt. 800–1000 m, 7.VII.2003, Hu & Tang leg. / HOLOTYPE [red], Tetrasticta bobbii sp. n., Zheng & Zhao det. 2014, SNUC’. Paratypes: China: 1 ♂, 1 ♀ (preserved in a small tube filled with 75% ethanol), same data as holotype, both bearing the following label: ‘PARATYPE [yellow], Tetrasticta bobbii sp. n., Zheng & Zhao det. 2014, SNUC’.

Description.

Body (Fig. 1A) shining. Coloration: head black; antennae and pronotum reddish brown; elytra reddish brown with anterior margin reddish yellow; legs reddish yellow; abdomen with tergites II–IV reddish yellow, tergites VI–VII black.

Figure 1.

Tetrasticta bobbii sp. n. A male habitus, in dorsal view B female head, in dorsal view C male head, in dorsal view D antennomere I–V E mentum F male tergite VIII G male sternite VIII H female tergite VIII I median lobe of aedeagus, in lateral view J ditto, apical part, in ventral view K apical lobe of paramerite, in lateral view L spermatheca. Scales (mm): A = 1; B, C = 0.5; D = 0.3; E = 0.05; F, G, H, I = 0.2; J, K, L = 0.05.

Head (Figs 1B, C) almost 1.05 times as wide as long; slightly narrower than pronotum; surface sparsely covered with yellow setae; eyes large. Antennae (Figs 1A, D) with segment I long, as long as combined length of segments II–III; segments II and III about one-half of segment I; segment IV extremely short, much wider than long; segments IV–V almost as wide as long; segments VI–X wider than long. Mandibles long, slender. Mentum distinctly transverse, about 3.62 times as wide as long; shaped as in Fig. 1E. Pronotum wider than long, about 1.38 times as wide as long; surface moderately covered with yellow setae; disc with three shallow depressions; shaped as in Fig. 1A. Elytra wider than long; surface moderately covered with yellow setae. Abdomen flattened, with subparallel lateral margins, widest at segments IV–V; tergite VIII with six pairs of macrosetae; sternite VIII (Fig. 1G) generalized in shape, posterior margin convex in the middle, with eight pairs of macrosetae.

Male: postocular margins straight for a short distance and then narrowed posteriorly (Fig. 1C); posterior margin of tergite VIII (Fig. 1F) broadly convex; median lobe of aedeagus (Figs 1I, J )slightly narrowed apically in lateral view; inner sac with flagellum coiled five times; apical lobe of paramerite (Fig. 1K) slightly dilated, apically with four setae.

Female: postocular margins immediately narrowed behind eyes (Fig. 1B); tergite VIII shaped as in Fig. 1H; spermatheca shaped as in Fig. 1L.

Distribution.

Southwest China: Yunnan.

Measurements.

Male: BL: 3.81–4.00; HL: 0.79–0.82; HW: 0.83–0.85; PL: 0.64–0.65; PW: 0.88–0.90; HW/HL: 1.05–1.06; PW/PL: 1.37–1.38; HW/PW: 0.94–0.95. Female: BL: 3.62; HL: 0.70; HW: 0.74; PL: 0.61; PW: 0.85; HW/HL: 1.06; PW/PL: 1.40; HW/PW: 0.87.

Remarks.

Tetrasticta bobbii is most similar to Tetrasticta gnatha in overall body shape, relatively long mandibles, but can be readily distinguished form it by the distinctly long antennal segments II–III, the different shape of abdominal tergite VIII and the form of aedeagal median lobe.

Etymology.

Named after the Pomeranian dog of senior author.

Acknowledgements

We thank Jia-Yao Hu and Liang Tang (both Shanghai, China) for collecting and providing the materials treated in this study. We thank Jan Klimaszewski (Quebec, Canada) for useful comments on a previous draft. We thank Munetoshi Maruyama (Fukuoka, Japan) and Roberto Pace (Verona, Italy) for sending us the reprints for our study. Two anonymous reviewers critically read the manuscript and provided helpful advice. The study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31101659 and No. 31172134, 31201734) and Shanghai Normal University (DZL125).

References
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