Scaphoxium opacum Löbl 2021, nov.sp.
Creators: name: Löbl, Ivan
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Scaphoxium
Scaphoxium opacum

description: Scaphoxium opacum nov.sp. (Figs 1, 2)
M a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d: Holotype ♂, MALAYSIA – Sabah Kinabalu Nat. Park Poring H. Spr. 600 m 11.VII.92 Heiss (MHNG). Paratypes: 4♂♂, 8♀♀, with the same data as the holotype; 1♂, SABAH, Poring Hot Springs, 31.III.1983, B. Hauser (MHNG); 2♂♂, BRUNEI, Temburong, Kuala Belalong F.s.c., mixed Dipterocarp for. 16-20.IV.1993, E. Heiss (MHNG).
D e s c r i p t i o n: Length 1.35-1.43 mm, width 0.65-070 mm, dorsoventral diameter 0.65-0.76 mm. Head and most of body dark brown to blackish with reddish shine, prothorax and abdomen sometimes lighter than elytra, mesoventer and metaventer. Apical abdominal segments, antennae and tarsi light, yellowish. Femora and tibiae reddish brown, darker than tarsi and antennae. Length/width rations of antennomeres as: III 22/4: IV 20/4: V 27/5: VI 24/6: VII 40/7: VIII 36/6: IX 39/10: X 43/10: XI 52/10. Pronotal punctation very fine, hardly visible at 25 times magnification. Scutellum concealed. Elytral punctation distinct, punctures well delimited, fine and dense, clearly visible at 20 times magnification, sutural striae parallel, shortened, starting about 0.25 mm posterior of level of pronotal lobe. Adsutural areas flat. Hypomeron very finely punctate, with short stria delimiting inferior vertical surface. Mesoventrite with shallow median impression, lacking mesal ridge, bearing longitudinally striate microsculpture; latter distinct between procoxae and mesocoxae, absent laterally of coxal cavities. Mesocoxal process of mesoventrite notched. Median part of metaventrite flattened or hardly impressed, impunctate, with microsculpture consisting of short oblique striae. Lateral parts of metaventrite not microsculptured, each with patch of fairly coarse punctures absent from posterior surface. Submesocoxal lines angulate, with oblique inner and outer sections, punctate only along outer section. Submesocoxal areas 0.04-0.05 mm long, as halves or somewhat longer than halves of shortest intervals to metacoxae. Metanepisternum flat, parallel-sided, with straight, wide, shortened, and punctate suture. Abdomen apparently impunctate, with exposed segments bearing transversally striae microsculpture.
Male characters: Segments I to III of protarsi hardly widened. Aedeagus (Figs 1, 2) 0.59-0.66 mm long. Parameres narrow, each with rounded subapical lobe. Internal sac bearing pair of admesal, teeth-like sclerites, pair of narrow, weakly sclerotized basal filamentous structures, and broad apical vesicle covered by scales.
C o m m e n t s: This new species is likely related to S. taylori. It may be distinguished by the denser and more distinct elytral punctation, the strigulate microsculpture present on the mesoventrite, the metaventrite and the abdomen, the sides of the metaventrite bearing dense and coarse punctures, the internal sac of the aedeagus bearing two strongly sclerotized admesal tooth-like denticles and lacking a central sclerite.
E t y m o l o g y: The species epithet is a Latin adjective meaning dull.
description: Published as part of Löbl, Ivan, 2021, On the Bornean species of Scaphoxium LÖBL, 1979 (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scaphidiinae), pp. 85-89 in Linzer biologische Beiträge 53 (1) on page 86, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5643309