Short Communication |
Corresponding author: Zi-Wei Yin ( pselaphinae@gmail.com ) Academic editor: Adam Brunke
© 2022 Zi-Wei Yin, Tie-Xiong Zhao.
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-W, Zhao T-X (2022) An unusual species of Pseudophanias Raffray from West Tianmu Mountain, China (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Pselaphinae). ZooKeys 1129: 37-44. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1129.95245
|
The genus Pseudophanias Raffray includes 19 species distributed in the Oriental Region. Here, the first species from continental China, P. tianmuensis Yin & Zhao sp. nov., is described and illustrated from West Tianmu Mountain. This species can be readily separated from all congeners by the coarse vestiture, along with its male features. A previous key to Pseudophanias species of East and South Asia is modified to accommodate the new species.
East China, new species, Pseudophanias, taxonomy, Zhejiang
With greatly reduced maxillary palpi and often a C-shaped aedeagus, the genus Pseudophanias Raffray is an easily recognizable group among the Oriental genera of the ant-loving beetle tribe Tmesiphorini (Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae). After removing two species from former Chandleriella Hlaváč (now a junior synonym of Pseudophanias;
In 2006 an unidentified pselaphine collected by our friend Xiao-Bin Song from a decomposing log on West Tianmu Mountain was made available for study. At first look, the beetle hardly recalled a Pseudophanias because of its unusual coarsely punctate body surface, subquadrate elytra, and cylindrical antennal clubs which are unknown among all previously described members of the genus. In the following 12 years, two more specimens were collected in the same area; one was sifted from leaf litter, and the other was, again, found in dead wood with termites. This species is confirmed to belong to Pseudophanias and is formally described here.
The type material of the new species is deposited in the Insect Collection of Shanghai Normal University (SNUC), Shanghai, China. The label data of the material are quoted verbatim.
Dissected parts were mounted in Euparal on plastic slides pinned with the specimen. The habitus image of the beetle was photographed using a Canon 5D Mark III camera with Canon MP-E 65 mm f/2.8 1–5× macro lens, with a Canon MT-24EX Macro Twin Lite Flash as the light source. Images of the morphological details were produced using a Canon G9 camera mounted to an Olympus CX31 microscope under reflected or transmitted light. Zerene Stacker (v. 1.04) was used for image stacking. All images were modified and grouped into plates using Adobe Photoshop CC 2020.
Measurements were taken as follows: total body length was measured from the anterior margin of the clypeus to the apex of the abdomen; head length was measured from the anterior margin of the clypeus to the head base, excluding the occipital constriction; head width was measured across the eyes; the length of the pronotum was measured along the midline, the width of the pronotum equals pronotum’s maximum width; the length of the elytra was measured along the suture; the width of the elytra was measured as the maximum width across both elytra; the length of the abdomen is the length of the dorsally exposed part of the abdomen along its midline, the width is abdomen’s maximum width. Since one male paratype is completely disarticulated, only the holotype and the female paratype were measured. Abdominal tergites and sternites are numbered following
(3 exx.). Holotype: China: ♂, ‘China: Zhejiang, Linan District, West Tianmu Mountain, 1100 m, 23.viii.2014, Cryptomeria leaf, sift, Tie-Xiong Zhao leg., 浙江省临安市西天目山(此路不通)’ (in SNUC). Paratypes: China: 1 ♂ [completely disarticulated specimen], China: Zhejiang, Linan District, West Tianmu Mountain, 1150 m, 2.vii.2006, decomposing log, sift, Xiao-Bin Song leg., 浙江省临安市西天目山(停车场); 1 ♀, ‘China: Zhejiang, Linan District, West Tianmu Mountain, 1180 m, 18.viii.2019, decomposing log, sift, Zi-Wei Yin leg., 浙江省临安市西天目山(消防道)’ (both in SNUC).
Body length 2.8–2.9 mm; dorsal vestiture coarsely punctate and densely setose. Head subrounded at base, with small vertexal and frontal foveae; antennomeres moniliform. Elytra with discal and lateral longitudinal ridges, areas between ridges impressed. Tergite 1 (IV) longer than 2 (V) at middle but clearly shorter than 2 and 3 (VI) combined. Male: antennal clubs formed by apical four enlarged, cylindrical antennomeres. Aedeagus symmetric dorso-ventrally; median lobe C-shaped laterally; parameres thin and elongate, each with two long apical and one preapical seta.
Male. Body (Fig.
Head (Fig.
Pronotum (Fig.
Elytra much wider than long, length 0.96 mm, width 1.24 mm, truncate at bases; each elytron (Fig.
Mesoventrite (Fig.
Legs elongate; femora coarsely punctate; each tarsus (Fig.
Abdomen widest at lateral margins of tergite 1 (IV), length 0.86 mm, width 1.15 mm. Tergite 1 (IV) slightly less than twice as long as 2 (V), with broad, deep basal sulcus and two basolateral foveae at lateral ends of sulcus, 2 and 3 (VI) successively shorter, lacking basal sulcus nor fovea, 4 (VII), much longer than 3, narrowed posteriorly, with one pair of basolateral foveae; tergites 1–3 each with pair of quadrangular and 4 with pair of triangular paratergites, 5 (VIII) broadly rounded, with one pair of small basolateral foveae, posterior margin roundly emarginate at middle. Sternite 2 (IV) longest, with densely setose basal sulcus and pair of basolateral foveae at lateral ends of sulcus, 3 (V) and 4 (VI) each short at middle, combined approximately as long as 5 (VII), 3–5 lacking sulcus nor fovea at base, 6 (VIII) transverse, posterior margin slightly protruding at middle, 7 (IX) composed of pair of membranous lamellae.
Aedeagus (Fig.
Female. Similar to male in external morphology (Fig.
This species is unique among all known members of the genus in the coarsely punctate body surface, and a rather different type of the male antennal modifications.
The male holotype was collected by sifting Cryptomeria (Cupressaceae) leaves, while the other two individuals were found inside decomposing wood with termites. Although indicated by a set of morphological traits such as the compact body segments and moniliform antennomeres, it is still inconclusive as to whether the beetle has an obligate association with social insects, pending further observations in the field or at the laboratory.
East China: Zhejiang.
The specific epithet refers to West Tianmu Mountain, the type locality of this species.
To accommodate the new species, the key to East and South Asian species of Pseudophanias by
0 | Whole body surface roughly punctate and with dense, short setae; antennal club formed by enlarged, subcylindrical antennomeres 8–11; elytra roundly quadrate, broadly truncate at bases | Pseudophanias tianmuensis Yin & Zhao, sp. nov. (East China: Zhejiang) |
– | Body surface usually finely punctate (head with coarse punctation in P. excavatus Inoue, Nomura & Yin) and with moderately long pubescence; antennal club formed by antennomere 11 alone, or by variously modified antennomeres 5–11, 8–11, or 9–11; elytra roundly triangular, and more strongly constricted at bases | 1 |
We thank Xiao-Bing Song (宋晓彬) for providing the first male specimen and associated collecting data 16 years ago. Donald S. Chandler (University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA) and Shûhei Nomura (National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba, Japan) read the draft manuscript and provided helpful comments. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 31872965) granted to ZWY.