Zyras (Zyras) hlavaci Assing 2017, spec. nov.
Creators: name: Assing, Volker
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Zyras
Zyras hlavaci

description: Zyras (Zyras) hlavaci spec. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: F5734436-CE49-4064-8A52-BC7DF9A0EE67
(Figs 13–14, 33, 48, 90–95)
Type material examined: Holotype ♂: “ MALAYSIA, Pahang state, Cameron Highlands, Tanah Rata, 1400– 1650 m, 4.– 11.4.2005, Martinů leg. / Holotypus ♂ Zyras lunatus sp. n., det. V. Assing 2017” (cAss). Paratypes: 1 ♀: “ MALAYSIA West, Pahang, Cameron Highlands, Tanah Rata, 1200–1500 m, 3.ii.–19.ii.2005, Cechovsky Petr leg.” (cHla); 2 ♂♂: “ MALAYSIA: Selangor, Ulu Gombak Field Studies Centre (250 m), 2–18.III.2004 (FIT), Maruyama M. et al.” (cMar, cAss).
Etymology: This species is dedicated to my friend and colleague Peter Hlaváč (Prague), who provided, or arranged the loan of, substantial material not only for the present study, but also for previous revisions of Palaearctic and Oriental Zyras sensu strictu, and to whom I owe the generous gift of the holotype of this species.
Description: Body length 6.9–8.5 mm; length of forebody 3.0– 3.5 mm. Coloration (Figs 13–14, 33, 48): forebody dark-brown to blackish; abdomen dark-reddish, with or without the antero-median portion of tergite VI diffusely infuscate and the antero-median portion of tergite VII indistinctly darker; legs yellowish to pale yellowish-brown; antennae brown to dark-brown; maxillary palpi reddishyellow to reddish with the apical palpomere yellowish.
Head (Fig. 33) distinctly transverse; punctation moderately coarse to coarse and rather dense, median dorsal portion extensively impunctate; pubescence long, suberect to erect, and pale to brown. Eyes moderately large, as long as postocular region in dorsal view, or slightly longer. Antenna (Figs 13–14) 2.0– 2.3 mm long; antennomeres IV approximately as long as broad or weakly oblong, V–X of gradually increasing width and increasingly transverse, X approximately twice as broad as long, and XI of conical shape and short, shorter than the combined length of IX and X.
Pronotum (Fig. 33) 1.14–1.15 times as broad as long and 1.21–1.25 times as broad as head, broadest in anterior half, moderately convex in cross-section; posterior angles obtusely marked; lateral margins weakly sinuate in posterior half in dorsal view; punctation coarse, dense, and somewhat irregularly distributed, laterally and near posterior margin with impunctate patches; midline narrowly to broadly impunctate; pubescence long, pale, and suberect; lateral and anterior margins with numerous longer, stouter, and distinctly erect dark setae.
Elytra (Fig. 33) 0.85–0.89 times as long as pronotum; punctation moderately dense and moderately fine to moderately coarse, nearly regularly distributed, and defined; pubescence long, pale, and sub-erect. Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I slightly shorter than the combined length of II–IV.
Abdomen (Fig. 48) nearly as broad as elytra, with moderately deep anterior impressions on tergites III–V; tergites III–V with non-setiferous punctation only in lateral portions of anterior impressions, with a transverse row of 4–8 setiferous punctures in posterior portions, with usually eight setiferous punctures at posterior margins, and with or without additional non-setiferous punctures on discs; tergite VI with dense and coarse non-setiferous punctation in anterior half, sparser nonsetiferous punctation in posterior half, with some lateral setiferous punctures, and with some setiferous punctures at posterior margin; tergite VII with dense non-setiferous punctation anteriorly, with sparser non-setiferous punctation on remainder of disc, and with two indistinct transverse rows of setiferous punctures posteriorly, posterior margin with palisade fringe; tergite VIII with setiferous punctures bearing a mix of yellowish and long black setae in posterior third and non-setiferous punctures in median third, posterior margin truncate or very weakly concave in the middle; all sternites with long and dense pubescence in posterior halves.
♂: sternite VIII with convex posterior margin; median lobe of aedeagus 0.83–0.90 mm long and shaped as in Figs 90–91, 93–94; ventral process slender and subapically distinctly angled; paramere (Figs 92, 95) approximately 0.9 mm long and with short apical lobe.
♀: posterior margin of sternite VIII weakly concave in the middle.
Intraspecific variation: The paratypes from Selangor are distinguished from the holotype by slightly smaller size, and by a slightly smaller aedeagus with an apically more acute ventral process (both in lateral and in ventral view) (Figs 90–91, 93–94). Since no additional evidence was found suggesting that the material from Pahang and from Selangor should represent distinct species, these differences are attributed to intraspecific variation.
Comparative notes: This species, too, belongs to the Z. hirtus group. It is distinguished from the similar Z. lunatus particularly by larger body size, darker coloration, by the punctation pattern of the abdomen (especially more extensive and denser non-setiferous punctation on the posterior tergites, also on tergite VIII), and by the more robust median lobe of the aedeagus with a more pronounced apex (ventral view). It differs from Z. flexus ASSING, 2016 (China: Fujian) by somewhat larger body size, uniformly dark antennae (Z. flexus: antennomere XI yellowish), the presence of an impunctate median band on the less convex pronotum, less dense punctation of the elytra, denser and more extensive non-setiferous punctation on the abdomen, and by a distinctly larger median lobe of the aedeagus (Z. flexus: 0.75 mm).
Distribution and natural history: The type specimens were collected in three localities in Pahang and Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia, at altitudes between 250 and 1650 m.
description: Published as part of Assing, Volker, 2017, On Zyras sensu strictu in the East Palaearctic and Oriental regions III, with a focus on the Southeast of Continental Asia and the Sunda Islands (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Lomechusini), pp. 213-246 in Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 67 (2) on pages 238-239, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.67.2.213-246, http://zenodo.org/record/5742339