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

description: Zyras (Zyras) parvicollis spec. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 317676A6-1E6A-495F-9864-B7DFA85717F4
(Figs 33, 69, 104, 206–211, Map 10)
Type material: Holotype ♂: “W. THAILAND: 300 m., Thung Yai Wildlife Sanctuary. 15°28'N – 98°48'E. / Tak Province, Umphang District, Song Bae Stream. 18–27.iv. 1988. / Evergreen rain forest. M.J.D. Brendell. B.M. 1988- 183 / Holotypus ♂ Zyras parvicollis sp. n. det. V. Assing 2016” (BMNH). Paratypes: 3 ♂♂: same data as holotype (BMNH, cAss).
Etymology: The specific epithet (adjective) alludes to the relatively small and weakly transverse pronotum.
Description: Size highly variable: body length 5.8–6.8 mm; length of forebody 2.5–3.0 mm. Coloration (Figs 33, 69, 104): head and pronotum black; elytra dark-yellowish with the postero-lateral portion more or less extensively and rather sharply blackish; abdomen with tergites III–V dark-brown to blackish-brown with the posterior margins and the paratergites more or less extensively dark-reddish, tergite VI blackish-brown to black with the posterior margin and the paratergites dark-reddish, tergites VII–VIII and segments IX–X blackish-brown to black; legs pale-yellowish; antennae blackish with antennomeres I–II yellowish-brown to brown and the apex of antennomere XI dark-reddish; maxillary palpi reddish-brown to dark-brown, with the terminal palpomere yellowish to reddish.
Head (Fig. 69) distinctly transverse, broadly impunctate along middle, in lateral portions with sparse and moderately coarse punctation. Eyes large and bulging, much longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna (Fig. 33) slender, 2.1–2.3 mm long; antennomeres IV–V weakly oblong, VI approximately as long as broad; VII approximately as long as broad or weakly transverse; VIII–X weakly transverse, X approximately 1.5 times as broad as long, and XI distinctly elongate, approximately as long as the combined length of VIII–X.
Pronotum (Fig. 69) relatively small (in relation to head), approximately 1.2 times as broad as long and 1.10–1.18 times as broad as head, broadest near anterior angles; lateral margins straight or weakly convex in posterior two-thirds (dorsal view), strongly converging posteriad; surface smooth, without impressions; punctation coarse, moderately sparse, and moderately irregularly distributed; median line narrowly impunctate or anteriorly with scattered punctures.
Elytra (Fig. 69) 0.88–0.95 times as long as pronotum; punctation coarse and dense, somewhat sparser in posterior fourth. Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I slightly shorter than the combined length of II–IV.
Abdomen (Fig. 104) slightly narrower than elytra, with moderately deep anterior impressions on tergites III–V; anterior impressions of tergites III–V each with a row or with a transverse band of coarse non-setiferous punctures; tergite III with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side and with four setiferous punctures at posterior margin (median pair somewhat separated from margin); tergites IV and V with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side and with six setiferous punctures at posterior margin; tergite VI with a narrow transverse row of non-setiferous punctures at anterior margin, with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side, and with six setiferous punctures at or near posterior margin; tergite VII with a transverse band of non-setiferous punctures anteriorly, and with two transverse rows of setiferous punctures posteriorly, posterior margin with palisade fringe; tergite VIII with sparse long and black setae in posterior portion.
♂: posterior margin of tergite VIII (Fig. 206) with a median pair of blunt teeth; sternite VIII (Fig. 207) weakly transverse, posterior margin convex; median lobe of aedeagus 0.80–0.85 mm long and shaped as in Figs 208–211; paramere approximately 0.9 mm long and with moderately long apical lobe.
Comparative notes: Zyras parvicollis is distinguished from the similarly coloured Z. proximus by a pronotum without impressions and with less irregular punctation, by the presence of only two blunt teeth at the posterior margin of the male tergite VIII, by a transverse male sternite VIII, by the shape of the ventral process of the aedeagus, and by a shorter apical lobe of the paramere. From other sympatric species of similar habitus and punctation (Z. novinversus, Z. brevilobatus), it is readily separated by the different coloration of the abdomen alone.
Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated in West Thailand (Map 10). The specimens were collected in an evergreen rain forest at an altitude of 300 m, most likely with flight (Malaise?) traps, together with Z. proximus, Z. novinversus, Z. bettotanus, and Z. brevilobatus.
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 page 153, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.67.1.117-192, http://zenodo.org/record/5742363