Pomphopsilla kivuana Jałoszyński 2021, sp. n.
Creators: name: Jałoszyński, Paweł
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Pomphopsilla
Pomphopsilla kivuana

description: Pomphopsilla kivuana sp. n.
(Figs 3, 7, 13–14, 17)
Type material. Holotype: DR Congo (South Kivu Province): ♂, two labels: “AFRIKA/ Zaire / Prov. Kivu / Gebiet Mt. Kahuzi / Bambuswald 2200m / 27.5.1985 / leg. Mühle ” [white, printed]; “ POMPHOPSILLA / kivuana m. / P. Jałoszyński, ‘21 / HOLOTYPUS ” [red, printed] (MNHW). Paratypes (4 exx): ♀, same data as for holotype; ♀, “ Afrika / Zaire / Prov. Kivu / Mt.Kahuzi 2200m / 23.2.1985 / leg. Brachat ”; ♀, “ Afrika / Zaire / Prov. Kivu / Mt.Kahuzi 2300m / Bambuswald / 21.2.1985 leg. / V.u. C.Brachat ”; ♀, “Afrika/Zaire / Kivu / H.Kahvei / Bambuswald / 18.2.84 leg. Mühle ” (disarticulated, in Canada balsam). All paratypes with standard yellow “ PARATYPUS ” label (cPJ, MNHW).
Diagnosis. Only frons and vertex in both sexes with fine and sparse but distinct punctures, pronotum and elytra virtually impunctate; aedeagus in ventral view with subtrapezoidal apical region, median portion of its distal margin slightly projecting distad and broadly rounded; endophallus with conspicuously large median subapical group of dense needle-like sclerites; apices of parameres reaching apex of aedeagus.
Description. Body of male (Fig. 3) elongate, strongly convex, brown with slightly lighter setae. BL 1.00 mm.
Head broadest at large, strongly convex and coarsely faceted eyes, HL 0.13 mm, HW 0.25 mm; vertex strongly transverse, weakly convex, anteriorly confluent with subtriangular and similarly weakly convex frons; supraantennal tubercles small but distinct; punctures on frons and vertex fine but distinct, unevenly distributed, separated by spaces 1–2 times as wide as their diameters; setae very short and sparse, recumbent; frontal glands conspicuously convex and distinctly paler than surrounding cuticle, each situated behind supraantennal tubercle and near mesal margin of eye, twice as wide as single ommatidium. Antenna moderately long, with abruptly broadened club composed of two antennomeres, AnL 0.43 mm, antennomeres 1 and 2 elongate, 3–10 each about as long as broad, 11 slightly broader and longer than 10, indistinctly elongate.
Pronotum subrectangular with broadly rounded anterior corners, broadest near anterior third; PL 0.30 mm, PW 0.38 mm. Anterior margin strongly rounded; anterior corners in strictly dorsal view not visible; sides indistinctly sinuate or nearly straight in posterior half, distinctly convergent posterad, indistinctly microserrate; posterior corners obtuse-angled; posterior margin with broad and very shallow emargination in front of mesoscutellum, sides of posterior margin weakly concave and weakly converging posterad; pronotal base with two pairs of deep, distinct pits, distance between inner pair much wider than between each inner and outer pit. Punctures on pronotal disc fine and superficial, unremarkable; setae moderately dense, short and weakly suberect; those on lateral margins slightly longer and suberect.
Elytra oval, broadest between middle and anterior third; EL 0.58 mm, EW 0.45 mm, EI 1.28; humeral calli small but distinct, slightly elongate. Punctures as indistinct as those on head and pronotum; setae similar to those on pronotum. Hind wings well developed.
Legs moderately long and slender, unmodified.
Aedeagus (Figs 13–14) stout, subtrapezoidal, AeL 0.23 mm; diaphragm large and nearly circular; apex of ventral wall rapidly narrowed and its broad median portion forming short transverse lamina slightly projecting distad and with its distal margin nearly straight, apex of dorsal wall subtrapezoidal with its narrow median portion slightly projecting distad and weakly rounded; endophallus with large median subapical group of dense needle-like sclerites and median bell-shaped structure in submedian region; parameres slender, their apices reaching apex of aedeagus, each with one moderately long apical seta.
Female. Externally similar to male but with slightly smaller eyes (frontal glands as conspicuous as those in male). BL 0.95–0.98 mm; HL 0.13 mm, HW 0.24–0.25 mm, AnL 0.40–0.41 mm; PL 0.30 mm, PW 0.38 mm; EL 0.53–0.55 mm, EW 0.44–0.46 mm, EI 1.14–1.22. Internal pronotal ‘cavities’ (Fig. 7) drop-shaped, only slightly longer than procoxal cavities.
Distribution. Eastern part of DR Congo (Fig. 17).
Etymology. After the Kivu region in DR Congo.
Remarks. Adults of this species are externally unremarkable. The relatively large body (reaching or nearly reaching 1 mm); small but distinct punctures on frons and vertex; and large, pale and very well-visible frontal glands can be used only for preliminary identification that should be confirmed by examination of the unique aedeagus. The latter differs from aedeagi of remaining Pomphopsilla species in a conspicuously large median subapical group of needle-like sclerites and the shape of apical regions of ventral and dorsal walls of the median lobe.
description: Published as part of Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2021, Four new species of Pomphopsilla Jałoszyński in Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae), pp. 574-581 in Zootaxa 4985 (4) on pages 578-580, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4985.4.10, http://zenodo.org/record/4963997