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

description: Zyras (Zyras) densihirtus spec. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: E47C7587-9B06-4CD1-821D-6074284CA5BB
(Figs 37, 77, 115, 250–254, Map 10)
Type material: Holotype ♂: “ INDONESIA: SULAWESI UTARA, Dumoga-Bone N.P., November 1985. / Plot B, ca 300 m, lowland forest / Malaise trap 2 / R. Ent.Soc. Lond., Project Wallace, B.M. 1985-10 / 29.123 / Holotypus ♂ Zyras densihirtus sp. n., det. V. Assing 2016” (BMNH). Paratype ♂: same data as holotype, but “ May 1985. / Plot C, ca 400 m, Lowland forest / Flight interception trap ” (cAss).
Etymology: The specific epithet (adjective) is composed of the Latin adjectives densus (dense) and hirtus (pubescent). It alludes to the dense punctation of the elytra and the hypothesized close relationship to Z. hirtus.
Description: Body length 7.3–7.5 mm; length of forebody 3.1–3.3 mm. Coloration (Figs 37, 77, 115): forebody black; abdomen blackish with the posterior margins of the segments and the paratergites partly paler brown; legs pale-yellowish with the profemora slightly darker and the apices of the meso- and metafemora narrowly infuscate; antennae black with the apical two antennomeres paleyellow; maxillary palpi brown to dark-brown, with the terminal palpomere paler.
Head (Fig. 77) moderately transverse, extensively impunctate along middle; lateral dorsal portions with rather dense and coarse punctation. Eyes large and bulging, much longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna (Fig. 37) approximately 2.2 mm long; antennomeres IV weakly oblong, V approximately as long as broad, VI–X of gradually increasing width and increasingly transverse, X more than 1.5 times as broad as long, and XI of conical shape, shorter than the combined length of VIII–X, or nearly so.
Pronotum (Fig. 77) weakly transverse, 1.03–1.05 times as broad as long and approximately 1.3 times as broad as head, broadest near anterior angles; lateral margins straight in posterior two-thirds (dorsal view); punctation coarse, dense, and regularly or slightly irregularly distributed, laterally with or without impunctate patch on either side; midline with or without narrowly impunctate band; lateral margins each with four long and erect black setae; anterior margin with one long and erect black seta on either side.
Elytra (Fig. 77) approximately 0.8 times as long as pronotum; punctation rather coarse and very dense, denser anteriorly than posteriorly. Hind wings fully developed. Legs very slender; metatarsomere I as long as the combined length of II–IV, or nearly so.
Abdomen (Fig. 115) narrower than elytra, with deep anterior impressions on tergites III–V; tergites III–V each with a transverse row of non-setiferous punctures in anterior impressions, those of tergite V dense, those of tergite IV less dense, and those of tergite III sparse; tergites III–V with a transverse row of four setiferous setae across middle and with 6–8 (tergites III–IV) or 8 setiferous setae (tergite V) at posterior margins; tergite VI with a transverse band of non-setiferous punctures anteriorly, with a transverse row of setiferous punctures across middle, and with approximately ten setiferous punctures at posterior margin; tergite VII with a broad transverse band of coarse non-setiferous punctures anteriorly and with two transverse rows of setiferous punctures posteriorly, posterior margin with palisade fringe; tergite VIII (Fig. 253) with numerous long and erect black setae in posterior third, posterior margin distinctly convex.
♂: sternite VIII (Fig. 254) with numerous long black setae in posterior half, posterior margin strongly convex; median lobe of aedeagus (Figs 250–251) 0.8–0.9 mm long; ventral process subapically abruptly angled; paramere (Fig. 252) as long as median lobe and with very small and flattened apical lobe with long setae.
Comparative notes: As can be inferred from the conical shape of antennomere XI, the shape of the ventral process of the aedeagus, and particularly by the short and flattened apical lobe of the paramere, Z. densihirtus is related to Z. hirtus and allied species. Among the species of this group, it is characterized particularly by the coloration, the dense and coarse punctation of the elytra, the punctation pattern of the abdomen, the rather sparse long setation of the forebody, and by the shape of the median lobe of the aedeagus.
Distribution and natural history: The type locality is identical to that of Z. densissimus and Z. titan (Map 10). The specimens were collected with a Malaise trap and a flight interception trap in lowland forest at altitudes of approximately 300 and 400 m.
description: Published as part of Assing, Volker, 2017, On Zyras sensu strictu in the East Palaearctic and Oriental regions, with a focus on the faunas of the Himalaya, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Sulawesi (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Lomechusini), pp. 117-192 in Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 67 (1) on pages 164-165, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.67.1.117-192, http://zenodo.org/record/5742363