Scaphisoma hui Löbl 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Löbl, Ivan
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Scaphisoma
Scaphisoma hui

description: Scaphisoma hui sp. nov.
Holotype male: TAIWAN: Nantou county Huisun Forest res. Wading trail, 24.8921N, 121.0297836E, 700 m 28.ii.2021; Hu & Chen lgt. / Stony forest on slope small leaf accumulation / Duplicate to voucher 21-03HS121 (NMNS).
135 Paratypes, 2 males, 2 females with same data as holotype; 1 female, TAIWAN: Nantou county Huisun Forest res. Wading trail, 24.892139N, 121.0297836E, 700 m, 28.ii.2021, Hu & Peng lgt / Stony forest on slope small leaf accumulation / DNA voucher 21-03HS121 OTU2; 1 male, TAIWAN: Nantou county Huisun Forest reserve, track to Xiaochushan Mt., 24.0847025N, 121.0274161E, 1000 m 1.iii.2021 Fikáček, Hu & Peng lgt / mixed conifer/broadleaf forest + sparse broadleaf forest on the slope. Sifting / DNA voucher 21-03HS310 (all MHNG).
Description. Length 1.47-1.56 mm, width 0.96- 1.01 mm. Head and most of body light reddish-brown, apical quarter of elytra and apex of abdomen lighter, yellowish, legs light reddish-brown, antennae yellowish. Length/width ratios of antennomeres: III 12/7: IV 26/5: V 40/5: VI 35/5: VII 41/10: VIII 35/8: IX 43/10: X 40/10: XI 52/12. Pronotum and elytra lacking microsculpture. Pronotum with lateral margins arcuate; lateral margin carina concealed in dorsal view, punctate; discal punctation very fine, hardly visible at 30 times magnification, rather sparse, puncture intervals much larger than puncture diameters. Exposed tip of scutellum minute. Elytron moderately narrowing apicad, with lateral margin arcuate, lateral margin carina visible in dorsal view, punctate; apical margin truncate, with very fine crenulation; inner apical angle situated posteriad of level of outer angle; sutural margin not raised; sutural stria starting at side of pronotal lobe, moderately deep, slightly converging apicad; adsutural area flat, ca. 0.05 mm wide shortly posteriad of scutellar tip, irregularly punctate in basal third; discal punctation sparse and fine, coarser than pronotal punctation, puncture intervals in middle of disc mostly about two to five times as large as puncture diameters, sparser near base. Hind wings fully developed. Hypomeron smooth. Mesanepisternum extremely finely and sparsely punctate. Mesoventrite with few fine punctures in middle, densely and rather coarsely punctate along lateral margins. Mesepimeron about 5 times as long as wide and 1.5 times as long as interval between its tip and mesocoxa. Metaventrite lacking microsculpture, flattened in middle, lacking impressions, with punctation on apicomedian area rather coarse and conspicuously dense, distinct at 20 times magnification, becoming sparse and extremely fine anteriad and laterad; antecoxal puncture rows absent; submesocoxal areas ca. 0.06-0.07 mm long, about as long as half of shortest interval between its margin and metacoxa; submesocoxal lines convex, appearing impunctate. Metanepisternum lacking microsculpture, flat, hardly narrowing anteriad, suture not impressed, straight with slightly rounded angles. Tibiae straight. Exposed tergites and ventrites with strigulate microsculpture. Pygidium not notched. Ventrite I sparsely and very finely punctate; submetacoxal areas 0.07 mm long, somewhat longer than half of shortest interval between its margin and apical margin of ventrite; submetacoxal lines convex, coarsely punctate.
Male. Protarsomeres I to III slightly widened, with short tenent setae, protarsomere I narrower than apex of protibia. Mesotarsomeres I to III widened. Ventrite VI with apical lobe 0.08 mm long.Aedeagus (Figs 1 -4) 0.77-0.79 mm long.
Etymology. The species is named after one of its collectors, Fang-Shuo Hu of Yilan, Taiwan.
Comments. This new species is very similar to the syntopic S. asper Löbl, 1982. Males may be distinguished by the aedeagal characters, notably by the shape of the parameres. The females are distinguished by the metaventrite lacking an antecoxal puncture row in S. hui while it is present, although very fine, in S. asper. The aedeagal characters suggest close relationships of S. hui to S. pseudasper Löbl, 2019 and S. wrasei Löbl, 2019 known from Yunnan and Zhejiang respectively. Scaphisoma pseudasper may be distinguished by the narrow parameres lacking lobes, and by the metavetrite bearing antecoxal puncture rows and strigulate microsculpture. Scaphisoma wrasei is larger, 1.8-2.2 mm long, possessing antemetacoxal puncture rows, with parameres apically narrowing and the apical process of the median lobe lacking a dorsal denticle.
description: Published as part of Löbl, Ivan, 2023, New species and records of Scaphidiinae (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) from mainland China and Taiwan, pp. 135-142 in Vernate 42 on pages 135-136, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10452458