Zyras (Zyras) pallipes PACE 1992
Creators: name: Assing, Volker
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Zyras
Zyras pallipes

description: Zyras (Zyras) pallipes PACE, 1992
(Figs 8, 47, 88, 136–139, Map 1)
Zyras (Zyras) pallipes PACE, 1992: 140.
Type material examined: Holotype ♂: “Damp mossy grassy earth in shade of trees & rocks / NEPAL: Bakhri Kharka. 84°7.5'E., 28°23'N. 5,500 ft. 24.vi.1954. K.H. Hyatt. / B.M. Nepal Expdt., B.M. 1954-540. / Holotypus Zyras pallipes m., det. R. Pace 1988 / Holotype / Zyras pallipes sp. n., det. R. Pace 1988” (BMNH).
Comment: The original description is based on a unique male holotype from “ Nepal, Bakhri Kharka, 87° 75' E–28° 234 N [sic]” (PACE 1992).
Additional material examined: Nepal: 1 ♀, Rolwaling Himal, Simigaon → Dugong Kharka, 2200–2600 m, 13.V.2000, leg. Schmidt (cKle); 1 ♂, Rolwaling Himal, Simigau vill., 2000 m, 2.VI.2000, leg. Schmidt (cAss); 1 ♀ [teneral], Kathmandu, Kakani, 2070 m, Malaise trap, 1–14.VII.1984 (BMNH).
Redescription: Body length 6.0– 7.5 mm; length of forebody 2.7–3.2 mm. Coloration (Figs 8, 47, 88): head and pronotum black; elytra reddish-yellow with the posterolateral portions blackish; abdomen bicoloured with tergites III–IV, anterior margin of V, and anterior half of VIII pale-reddish, tergites II, V–VII blackish, and posterior half of VIII brown to black; legs yellowish; antennae blackish-brown to black; maxillary palpi yellowish with palpomere III more or less distinctly infuscate.
Head (Fig. 47) distinctly transverse, median portion extensively impunctate; punctures in lateral portions moderately dense and moderately coarse. Eyes longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna (Fig. 8) 2.3–2.5 mm long and rather slender; antennomeres IV–V weakly oblong, VI approximately as long as broad, VII–X of gradually increasing width and increasingly transverse, X less than 1.5 times as broad as long, and XI approximately as long as the combined length of IX–X.
Pronotum (Fig. 47) rather weakly transverse, 1.10–1.15 times as broad as long and approximately 1.3 times as broad as head, broadest near anterior angles; punctation not very coarse, rather sparse, and slightly irregularly distributed, on either side of midline with impunctate patches; midline broadly impunctate; lateral setae broken off in all specimens examined.
Elytra (Fig. 47) approximately 0.75 times as long as pronotum; punctation rather coarse, dense, and defined, denser in anterior (especially near scutellum) than in posterior half, very sparse in postero-sutural portion. Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I approximately as long as the combined length of II–IV.
Abdomen (Fig. 88) narrower than elytra, with deep anterior impressions on tergites III–V; anterior impressions of tergites III–V each with a transverse row of rather coarse non-setiferous punctures; tergites III–IV with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side and with four setiferous punctures at posterior margins; tergite V with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side and with six setiferous punctures at posterior margin; tergite VI with a narrow transverse band of nonsetiferous punctures anteriorly, with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side, and with six setiferous punctures at posterior margin; tergite VII with a transverse band of non-setiferous punctures anteriorly and with sparse setiferous punctures arranged in two more or less irregular transverse rows posteriorly, posterior margin with palisade fringe; tergite VIII (Fig. 138) with sparse setiferous punctation only in posterior portion, posterior margin with a pair of two more or less pronounced projections in the middle.
♂: posterior margin of sternite VIII (Fig. 139) strongly convex, in the middle nearly trunctate; median lobe of aedeagus (Figs 136–137) approximately 1.0 mm long; ventral process somewhat constricted basally in ventral view; crista apicalis small; paramere approximately 1.2 mm long and with rather slender apical lobe.
♀: posterior margin of sternite VIII weakly concave in the middle.
Comparative notes: Aside from the coloration, especially that of the abdomen and the antennae, Z. pallipes is characterized particularly by the shape of the aedeagus, above all by the basally constricted ventral process. The possibility that Z. pallipes represents a colour morph of Z. championi cannot be ruled out. However, males from the vicinity of the type locality of Z. championi would be required to clarify this.
Distribution and natural history: The known distribution is confined to Central and East Nepal (Map 1). The altitudes range from 1680 to between 2200 and 2600 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 131-132, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.67.1.117-192, http://zenodo.org/record/5742363