Sciacharis (Maorinus) tasmaniensis Franz, comb. n.
Creators: name: Jałoszyński, Paweł
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Sciacharis
Sciacharis tasmaniensis

description: Sciacharis (Maorinus) tasmaniensis (Franz) comb. n.
(Figs. 174–182, 198)
Horaeomorphus tasmaniensis Franz, 1975: 142, Fig. 118.
Type material studied. Holotype: AUSTRALIA: ♂: seven labels (Fig. 188): "Griffith Collection Id. by A. M. Lea" [white, printed], "moss" [white with red margins, typed], " Horaeomorphus / tasmaniensis m. / det. H. Franz" [white, handwritten and printed], " Typus " [red, handwritten], " SAMA Database / No. 25-037013" [white, printed], " SAMA Digital Image / 14. 8. 2013 " [green, printed and handwritten], " SCIACHARIS (MAORINUS) / tasmaniensis (Franz, 1975) / det. P. Jałoszyński, 2014" [white, printed] (SAM).
Additional material (7 exx.). 3 ♂♂, Tasmania, Bathurst Harbour, closed forest, flight intercept trap, 7.xii.1990 - 15.i.1991, leg. E. Nielsen & T. Edwards; 1 ♂, same data except for 15.i. - 20.ii.1991, leg. A. Calder & W. Dressler; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Tasmania, 4 km SE Weldeborough, pantrap, 13.i. - 7.ii.1983, leg. I. Naumann & J. Cardale; 1 ♂, Tasmania, Mount Victoria Forest reserve, leaf litter, 3.ii.1992, leg. T. Gush; (ANIC and cPJ).
Revised diagnosis. Male and female: elytra with strongly waving pattern of setae. Male: each elytron with variously distinct small flattening or impression in subapical region near suture, covered with recumbent setae directed posteromesally; aedeagus in ventral view moderately stout, with rapidly narrowing subtriangular apical region and complicated internal armature containing two submedian lateral groups of hair-like sclerites broadly separated in middle and subapical groups of similar sclerites connecting in middle.
Redescription. Body of male (Figs. 185–186) strongly convex, elongate and slender, with long appendages, BL 2.23–2.45 mm (mean 2.33 mm); cuticle glossy, head pronotum and elytral suture reddish-brown (in some specimens also median parts of sides of elytra indistinctly darkened), remaining body parts light brown; vestiture yellowish.
Head (Figs. 174, 185–186) elongate, broadest at eyes, HL 0.48–0.50 mm (mean 0.50 mm), HW 0.38–0.40 mm (mean 0.40 mm); tempora nearly three times as long as eyes, strongly curving posteromesally; vertex convex and slightly projecting dorsocaudad; frons subtrapezoidal. Eyes moderately large and nearly hemispherical, strongly protruding laterally from the head silhouette, finely faceted. Punctures on head dorsum distinct and dense but obscured by dense and moderately long suberect setae posteriorly gradually replaced by dense thick bristles covering tempora and nearly entire vertex. Antennae (Figs. 185–186) slender, AnL 1.03–1.25 mm (mean 1.14 mm); antennomeres I–II strongly elongate, III–VI about as long as broad, VII–X slightly but distinctly transverse, XI nearly as long as IX–X together, twice as long as broad, indistinctly pointed at apex.
Pronotum (Figs. 179, 185–186) elongate, broadest near anterior third, PL 0.55–0.65 mm (mean 0.61 mm), PW 0.48–0.53 mm (mean 0.50 mm); anterior margin slightly concave; lateral margins in anterior half rounded; posterior margin distinctly bisinuate; base of pronotum with distinct sublateral carinae, two pairs of distinct pits (external located in large shallow impressions and internal) and short distinct median longitudinal carina. Punctures on pronotal disc fine and inconspicuous; entire pronotum covered with moderately dense suberect to erect bristles, dorsally with admixture of thin setae.
Elytra (Figs. 185–187) oval, broadest distinctly anterior to middle, EL 1.15–1.33 mm (mean 1.23 mm), EW 0.80–0.90 mm (mean 0.86 mm), EI 1.34–1.52 (mean 1.43); basal impressions short but distinct; narrow adsutural area slightly impressed so that suture is raised; each elytron in subapical region near suture with small nearly round flattening or indistinct impression (setal patch; Fig. 187) covered with fine coarse microgranulation; elytral apices separately rounded. Punctures on elytral disc distinct and dense but shallow, with slightly raised margins so that surface of elytra appears slightly coarse; setae moderately dense, long and suberect, forming a waving pattern; setae on subapical impressions recumbent and directed posteromesally. Hind wings well developed, about twice as long as elytra.
Legs (Figs. 185–186) moderately long and slender, without modifications.
Aedeagus (Figs. 189–192) in ventral view moderately stout, AeL 0.43 mm, with rapidly narrowing subtriangular apical region forming thick plate; internal armature complicated and partly darkly sclerotized, with two paired groups of hair-like sclerites and lightly sclerotized, large subapical lobes; parameres slender, each with numerous apical and subapical setae. In erected condition (Figs. 191–192) subapical lobes fully extended laterodistally and forming large 'rabbit ear'-like projections and hair-like sclerites forming two longitudinal and one arcuate transverse rows on the surface of erected endophallus.
Female. Similar to male, differs in elytra without subapical impressions; BL 2.38 mm, HL 0.50 mm, HW 0.40 mm, AnL 1.05 mm; PL 0.65 mm, PW 0.53 mm; EL 1.23 mm, EW 0.90 mm, EI 1.36.
Distribution (Fig. 198). South-eastern Australia: Tasmania.
Remarks. In Tasmania at least one highly similar species occurs, also with a waving setal pattern on the elytra, but differing in proportions of the antennomeres (especially the antennomere XI is distinctly shorter) and stouter aedeagus. Australian Maorinus will be revised separately; in the present paper only Sciacharis tasmaniensis, previously misplaced in Horaeomorphus, is dealt with.
description: Published as part of Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2014, ' The curse of Horaeomorphus ': taxonomy of misplaced Australian Cyrtoscydmini (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae), pp. 1-76 in Zootaxa 3828 (1) on pages 71-72, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3828.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/286513