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

description: Quedius (Raphirus) hegesias sp. n.
(Figs. 22–26)
Type locality. People’s Republic of China: Yunnan: Lincang Pref., Xue Shan, 48 km N Lincang 24°19ʹ0 3ʺN 100°07ʹ13ʺE 2070 m.
Type material. Holotype (male): China: CHINA (Yunnan) Lincang Pref., Xue Shan, 48 km N Lincang 2070 m 24°19ʹ0 3ʺN 100°07ʹ13ʺE (slope close to small pond, in loamy soil/plant roots) 12.IX. 2009 D.W. Wrase [45]. In the Smetana collection, Ottawa, Canada.
Description. Head black, pronotum piceous, elytra testaceo-brunneous; head, pronotum and elytra with faint metallic bronze lustre, abdomen iridescent; both maxillary and labial palpi, antennae and legs uniformly testaceous. Head rounded, wider than long (ratio 1.15); eyes very large and convex, tempora very short, considerably shorter than length of eyes seen from above (ratio 0.19); no additional setiferous punctures between anterior frontal punctures; posterior frontal puncture touching posteriomedian margin of eye, one puncture between it and posterior margin of head; temporal puncture touching posterior margin of eye; surface of head with moderately coarse, dense microsculpture of transverse and oblique waves gradually becoming coarser and changing into meshes on middle of clypeus. Antenna moderately long, segments 2 and 3 subequal in length, segments 4–7 longer than wide, gradually becoming shorter, segments 8–10 about as long as wide, segment 11 as long as two preceding segments combined. Pronotum vaguely longer than wide (ratio 1.07), widely rounded basally, indistinctly narrowed anteriad, evenly transversely convex; left dorsal row with two, right one with three punctures; sublateral rows each with three punctures, posterior puncture situated behind level of large lateral puncture; surface of pronotum with very fine and very dense microsculpture of transverse waves, finer and denser than those on head. Scutellum with numerous punctures, surface with very fine, dense microsculpture of transverse striae. Elytra relatively long, at suture about as long as, at sides slightly longer (ratio 1.15) than pronotum at midline; punctation fine and dense; transverse interspaces between punctures about as large as diameters of punctures; pubescence dense, dark testaceous; surface between punctures without microsculpture. Wings apparently fully developed. Abdomen with tergite 7 (fifth visible) with whitish apical seam of palisade setae; tergite 2 (in front of first fully visible tergite) entirely impunctate; visible tergites one through five, each with impression at each side laterad of midline, impressions becoming gradually less distinct toward apex of abdomen, those on tergite seven becoming indistinct; punctation of tergites finer than that on elytra, rather sparse on entire first visible tergite, on following tergites rather dense on bases of tergites, but becoming sparse to very sparse toward apical margins of tergites, with tendency to become denser in impressions, and in general becoming sparser toward apex of abdomen; pubescence pale brownish, becoming denser and yellowish in tergal impressions; surface between punctures with excessively fine microsculpture of transverse striae.
M a l e. First four segments of front tarsus moderately dilated, subbilobed, each with tenent setae ventrally, segment two slightly narrower than apex of tibia (ratio 0.90); segment 4 narrower than preceding segments. Sternite 8 with two long setae on each side, apical margin with wide and deep, obtusely triangular, medioapical emargination, large triangular area before emargination flattened and smooth (Fig. 22). Genital segment with tergite 10 narrow, markedly narrowed toward narrowly arcuate apex, setose as in Fig. 23. Sternite 9 with short basal portion, apical portion with notched, truncate apex, with weakly differentiated apical setae at each side, otherwise sparsely setose (Fig. 24). Aedoeagus (Figs. 25, 26) large, rather robust, median lobe anteriorly narrowed into short apical portion with subacute apex, on face adjacent to paramere, when paramere removed, with short median carina forming a fine hook in lateral view. Paramere robust, of characteristic shape, with narrowly arcuate apex not quite reaching apex of median lobe; four fine setae at apical margin, medial setae markedly longer than minute lateral ones, two similar setae at each lateral margin below apex; sensory peg setae on underside of paramere quite numerous, forming two characteristic groups, as in Fig. 26.
F e m a l e. Not known.
Length 5.5 mm.
Geographical distribution. Quedius hegesias is at present known only from the type locality in south-central Yunnan.
Bionomics. The holotype was taken in loamy soil with plant roots on a slope close to a small pond.
Recognition and comments. Quedius hegesias is a species quite distinctive by the numerous impressions on abdominal tergites, as well as by the characteristic shape of the aedoeagus, particularly that of the paramere. It cannot be confused with any other species of the muscicola -group.
Etymology. The specific epithet is the name of Hegesias, - ae, m, a Cyrenaic philosopher, 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 50-52, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3156.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/210515