Quedius (Raphirus) meilixue, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Smetana, Aleš
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Quedius
Quedius meilixue

description: Quedius (Raphirus) meilixue sp. nov.
(Figs. 62–68)
Type locality. People’s Republic of China: N-Yunnan Diqing Tibet. Aut. Pr. Deqin Co. Meili-Xue Shan E-side 12 km SW Deqin 28°25.30ʹN 98°47.48ʹE 2890m.
Type material. Holotype (male) and allotype (female): China: N-Yunnan Diqing Tibet. Aut. Pr. Deqin Co. Meili-Xue Shan E-side 12 km SW Deqin 2825.30ʹN 9847.48ʹE 2890m 9.VI.2005 A. Smetana [C156]. In the Smetana collection, Ottawa, Canada (to be eventually deposited at the Muséum d’histoire naturelle, Genève, Switzerland).
Paratypes: [Yunnan]: same data as holotype [31] (ASC, MSC, NMW); same data as holotype but [C160] and date 13.VI.2005 [31] (ASC); same data as holotype, but "small creek valley, mixed forest with bamboo, leaf litter, moss, dead wood, sifted, 9.VI.2005, leg.M.Schulke [C 2005-07]", [11] (ASC, MSC).
Description. Black, head, pronotum and elytra with slight metallic lustre, pronotum black in female, dark brown becoming paler toward lateral margins in male; abdomen iridescent. Palpi, antennae and legs pale testaceous, medial faces of hind tibiae darkened. Head rounded, wider than long (ratio 1.25); eyes very large and convex, tempora very short, considerably shorter than length of eyes seen from above (ratio 0.10); no additional setiferous punctures between anterior frontal punctures; posterior frontal puncture touching posteriomedial margin of eye, one puncture between it and posterior margin of head; temporal puncture minute, touching posterior margin of eye; anterior portion of disc of head almost always with variable number of indefinite, irregular, superficial impressions; surface of head with dense, very fine microsculpture of transverse and oblique waves. Antenna moderately long, segments 2 and 3 subequal in length, segments 4 and 5 longer than wide, segment 6 vaguely longer than wide, segments 7–10 about as long as wide, last segment as long as two preceding segments combined. Pronotum as long as wide, broadly arcuate basally, evenly transversely convex, vaguely narrowed anteriad; dorsal rows each with three punctures; sublateral rows each with one or two punctures, with posterior puncture situated before level of large lateral puncture; surface of pronotum with microsculpture similar to that on head, but finer and denser. Scutellum with microsculpture of rudimentary waves, entirely punctate and pubescent. Elytra relatively long, at suture vaguely (ratio 1.06), at sides distinctly (ratio 1.25) longer than pronotum at midline; punctation coarse, very dense, particularly toward posterior margin, transverse interspaces between punctures mostly as large as diameters of punctures, punctures almost confluent on posterior third of length of elytra; surface between punctures without microsculpture; pubescence yellowish-golden. Wings folded twice under elytra, probably non-functional. Abdomen with tergite 7 (fifth visible) with distinct whitish apical seam of palisade setae; tergite 2 (in front of first fully visible tergite) with a few very fine, scattered punctures; first two visible tergites each with inconspicuous impression at each side; punctation of tergites considerably finer than that on elytra, moderately dense, but becoming markedly sparser toward apical margin of each tergite, and in general toward apex of abdomen; pubescence piceous, but each tergite with patch of not dense yellowish-golden hairs on either lateral portion, golden-yellowish hairs becoming more extensive on visible tergites four and five; surface between punctures with excessively fine and dense microsculpture of striae.
M a l e. First four segments of front tarsus markedly dilated, sub-bilobed, each densely covered with tenent setae ventrally, segment 2 slightly wider than apex of tibia (ratio 1.15), segment 4 narrower than preceding segments. Sternite 8 with two long setae on each side, with deep and wide medioapical emargination (Fig. 62), small triangular area before emargination flattened and smooth. Genital segment with tergite 10 narrowly triangular, narrowly arcuate apically, with two long setae at apical margin, otherwise sparingly setose (Fig. 63); sternite 9 with acute basal portion, apical portion with slightly differentiated subapical seta at each side before arcuate apex (Fig. 64). Aedoeagus (Figs. 65–67) very narrow, elongate, median lobe in almost straight line attenuated into extremely narrow apical portion with quite acute apex, on face adjacent to paramere, when paramere removed, with minute medial carina way below apex (Fig. 66), appearing as minute dent in lateral view; paramere large, shaped as in Figs. 65, 67, covering almost entire median lobe, with arcuate apex not reaching apex of median lobe; four quite minute setae at apical margin, two similar setae at each lateral margin below apex, secondary setae at each lateral margin quite numerous and relatively long (Fig. 67); sensory peg setae on underside of paramere numerous, forming two long, irregular rows situated at each side of midline (Fig. 67).
F e m a l e. First four segments of front tarsus not appreciably dilated. Tergite 10 of genital segment relatively narrow, with narrowly arcuate apex, with four long setae near apex, otherwise sparingly setose (Fig. 68).
Length 4.0– 4.8 mm.
Geographical distribution. Quedius meilixue is at present known only from the type locality in Meilixue Shan, just west of Mekong river in northern Yunnan.
Bionomics. Most specimens of the original series were taken by sifting moist to wet moss on rocks and tree trunks in the spray zone of a small waterfall in a small creek in a short, open valley in a mixed forest. Specimens of Quedius torrentum Smetana, 2009 were taken together with Q. meilixue.
Recognition and comments. Quedius meilixue may be easily recognized by the coarse, very dense punctation of the elytra, in combination with the yellowish golden pubescence of the elytra, the pubescence pattern of the abdominal tergites, and by the pale testaceous legs with medial faces of hind tibiae darkened. The aedoeagus with the very narrow, elongate, median lobe attenuated in almost straight line into extremely narrow apical portion with quite acute apex is also characteristic (Figs. 65, 66).
The sexually dimorphic coloration of the pronotum in this species is a rare occurrence, but it is not unique. Similar dimorphic coloration, affecting even the head, occurs in Q. tikta Smetana, 1975 and Q. tonglu Smetana, 1988, both occurring in the Himalaya, as well as apparently in the Chinese Q. chion Smetana, 2011 from Yulongshan in Yunnan.
Etymology. The specific epithet is the name of the mountain range, in which the species occurs, in apposition.
description: Published as part of Smetana, Aleš, 2012, Contributions to the knowledge of the Quediina (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Staphylinini) of China. Part 42. Genus Quedius Stephens, 1829. Subgenus Raphirus Stephens, 1829. Section 10, pp. 43-68 in Zootaxa 3156 on pages 60-63, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3156.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/210515