Research Article |
Corresponding author: Zi-Wei Yin ( pselaphinae@gmail.com ) Academic editor: Jan Klimaszewski
© 2015 Zi-Wei Yin, Jia-Wei Shen, Li-Zhen Li.
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:
Yin Z, Shen J, Li L (2015) A remarkable new Awas Löbl from southern China (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Pselaphinae). ZooKeys 522: 153-158. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.522.6109
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A new distinctive species of the rare Oriental goniacerine genus Awas Löbl, A. gigas sp. n., is described and illustrated, based on three males and fourteen females taken at the Daoyao Shan Natural Reserve in the southern Chinese province of Guangxi. All specimens were collected from colonies of the ant genus Pachycondyla F. Smith nesting in decomposing woods.
Awas , new species, myrmecophile, Pachycondyla , Oriental region
The genus Awas Löbl currently contains six described species scattered throughout the Malay Peninsula, Taiwan, and continental China (
All Awas species are rare in scientific collections, known from one (A. giraffa Löbl, A. sinicus Yin & Li, A. kayan Yin & Li, A. loebli Yin & Li), four (A. rajah Nomura & Idris), and five (A. shunichii Nomura) specimens (additional records for A. rajah and A. shunichii provided in
In July 2014, our team collected two males and two females of an additional species from a colony of a Pachycondyla ant at the Dayao Shan Natural Reserve in the southern Chinese province of Guangxi. With the knowledge of the host ant, a second survey in the same locality was conducted in May 2015, and another thirteen specimens (one male, twelve females) were found in several colonies of the same ant species. Based on the above material, a new species is formally described, and compared to the known congeners. This species is distinct in having the largest body size of more than 5.0 mm.
All material treated in this paper is housed in the Insect Collection of Shanghai Normal
A slash is used to separate different labels. Authors’ notes are included in brackets. Each type specimen bears a following label: ‘HOLOTYPE (red), or PARATYPE (yellow), ♂ (or ♀), Awas gigas sp. n., det. Zi-Wei Yin, 2015’.
The following abbreviations are applied: AL – length of the abdomen along the midline; AnL – length of the antenna; AW – maximum width of the abdomen; EL – length of the elytra along the sutural line; EW – maximum width of the elytra; HL – length of the head from the anterior clypeal margin to the occipital constriction; HW – width of the head across eyes; PL – length of the pronotum along the midline; PW – maximum width of the pronotum. Length of the body is a combination of HL, PL, EL, and AL.
(3 ♂♂, 14 ♀♀). Holotype (in SNUC): CHINA: ♂, labeled ‘China: Guangxi, Jinxiu Hsien (金秀县), Dayao Shan N. R. (大瑶山自然保护区), 16 km (16公里), 24°08'11"N, 110°14'28"E, Fagus forest, rotten woods, colony of Pachycondyla ant, 1100 m, 17.vii.2014, leg. Z. Peng’. Paratypes (in SNUC): CHINA: 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀, same label data as the holotype; 1 ♀, same locality, ‘16 km, 24°08'25"N, 110°15'38"E, 960 m, colony of Pachycondyla ants, 01.vi.2015, leg. J.-W. Shen & Z. Peng’; 1 ♂ (antennomeres VII–VIII closely conjoint, deformed status), 11 ♀♀, also Dayao Shan N. R., ‘Laoshan Station (老山林场), 24°07'02"N, 110°11'51"E, 950 m, Pachycondyla ant, 31.v.2015, leg. J.-W. Shen & Z. Peng’.
Body large-sized, length 4.79–5.12 mm; head with a greatly elongate postocular region; pronotum relatively stout, basolateral margins moderately incised at level of antebasal sulcus, lacking distinct setal tufts; elytra lacking basal fovea. Female has a relatively larger abdomen than male.
Male (Fig.
Female (Fig.
At first glance Awas gigas is very distinct from other species in the genus by possessing a large body size. It shares with A. giraffa and A. rajah the lack of two pairs of setose tufts on the basolateral margins of the pronotum, and lack of a distinct basal elytral fovea, but can be separated from both by the relatively stouter pronotum. Awas kayan also lacks distinct pronotal setose tufts, but has each elytron possessing a well-defined basal fovea, and the elytra are broader at basal third.
All individuals of Awas gigas were collected from colonies of a Pachycondyla ant nesting inside or under decomposing woods in broad-leaved forests (Fig.
Southern China: Guangxi.
The specific epithet indicates the large body size of the new species.
Jan Klimaszewski (Quebec, Canada) and one anonymous reviewer critically read the manuscript. The present study was supported by the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (No. 15YF1408700) and National Science Foundation of China (No. 31172134).