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

description: Zyras (Zyras) latilobatus spec. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank. org:act: AD282BC4-9922-4004-97DE-0E84F5B8634F
(Figs 19, 57, 92, 161–165, Map 7)
Type material: Holotype ♂: “ INDIA: Kerala, Ponmudi hill resort, 30 km NE of Trivandrum, 77°06'E; 8°46"N [sic], 1400 m, 28–39. vi.99 [sic], Kejval & Tryzna lgt. / Holotypus ♂ Zyras latilobatus sp. n., det. V. Assing 2016” (NMP). Paratypes: 2 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀: same data as holotype (NMP, cAss).
Etymology: The specific epithet is a composed adjective and alludes to the broad (latus) ventral process of the aedeagus.
Description: Body length 4.3–5.0 mm; length of forebody 1.9–2.2 mm. Coloration (Figs 19, 57, 92): head black; pronotum pale-reddish; elytra reddish-yellow with the postero-lateral portion more or less extensively blackish (sometimes leaving only the scutellum and its vicinity, the anterior margin, and the humeral angles reddish-yellow); abdomen bicoloured with tergites II–V pale-reddish, tergite VI pale-reddish with the middle and the posterior portion extensively blackish, tergite VII black with the anterior margin and the antero-lateral portions reddish, segment VIII black, and segments IX–X yellowish; legs yellowish; antennae reddish to brown with the basal and apical antennomeres more or less extensively palereddish; maxillary palpi yellowish.
Head (Fig. 57) moderately transverse, median portion extensively impunctate; punctures in lateral portions rather sparse and fine. Eyes large, much longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna (Fig. 19) conspicuously slender, approximately 1.9 mm long; antennomeres IV distinctly oblong, V–VIII decreasingly oblong, IX–X approximately as long as broad or weakly oblong, and XI elongate, approximately three times as long as broad and as long as the combined length of VIII–X, or nearly so.
Pronotum (Fig. 57) slender, 1.04–1.07 times as broad as long and 1.1 times as broad as head, broadest near anterior angles; lateral margins straight (dorsal view); punctation not very coarse, rather dense, and regularly distributed, even along midline (i.e., median impunctate band absent). Elytra (Fig. 57) approximately 0.8 times as long as pronotum; punctation rather fine and dense, and regularly distributed, only slightly less dense posteriorly than anteriorly. Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I approximately as long as the combined length of II–IV.
Abdomen (Fig. 92) slightly narrower than elytra, with moderately deep anterior impressions on tergites III–V; anterior impressions of tergites III–V each with a transverse row of very coarse non-setiferous punctures; tergites III–IV with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side, and with four setiferous punctures at posterior margin; tergite V with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side, and with six setiferous punctures at posterior margin; tergites VI without non-setiferous punctation anteriorly, with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side, and with six setiferous punctures at posterior margin; tergite VII without non-setiferous punctation anteriorly, with two transverse series of fine setiferous punctures posteriorly, posterior margin with palisade fringe; tergite VIII (Fig. 164) with setiferous punctures in posterior third, posterior margin smoothly convex, without median concavity.
♂: sternite VIII (Fig. 165) with convex posterior margin; median lobe of aedeagus (Figs 161–162) of compact shape, approximately 0.45 mm long; ventral process of distinctive shape, short, basally broad, apically acute in ventral view, and apically truncate in lateral view; paramere (Fig. 163) slightly shorter than median lobe, with very short and apically truncate apical lobe.
Comparative notes: Zyras latilobatus differs from other species of similar coloration by numerous characters, particularly the conspicuously slender and pale-coloured antennae, a slender pronotum without an impunctate median band, the presence of rather coarse non-setiferous punctation in the anterior impressions of tergites III–V, but absence of such punctation in the anterior portions of tergites VI–VII, a smoothly convex posterior margin of tergite VIII (without median concavity), and particularly the distinctive shape of the ventral process of the aedeagus. It is readily distinguished from the similarly coloured Z. hastatus, whose male sexual characters are unknown, by smaller size and especially by much more slender antennae.
Distribution: This species is currently known only from the type locality in Kerala, South India (Map 7).
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 140-141, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.67.1.117-192, http://zenodo.org/record/5742363