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

description: Zyras (Zyras) perforatus (CHAMPION, 1921)
(Figs 6, 45, 86, 132–135, Map 3)
Myrmedonia (Zyras) perforata CHAMPION, 1921: 178 f.
Type material examined: Lectotype ♂, present designation: “Swal R Basin, Almora U.P., Feb´19. HGC / 2723 / Myrmedonia (Zyras) perforata Ch. / E.M.M., 1921, det. G.C.C. / 1921-141 / Type H.T. [curator label] / Syntype [curator label] / Lectotype ♂ Myrmedonia perforata Champion, desig. V. Assing 2016 / Zyras perforatus (Champion), det. V. Assing 2016” (BMNH). Paralectotype ♀: same data as holotype (BMNH).
Comment: The original description is based on type material from “Swal River Basin [type: ii.1919]” and an unspecified number of specimens from “W. Almora, and Nainital [var.], all in Kumaon” (CHAMPION 1921). The variety from Nainital was subsequently described as Z. championi by CAMERON (1939a). PACE (1992) reported three specimens of Z. perforatus from Nepal. Two of them were examined, but only one of them actually belongs to Z. perforatus, the other to Z. pindarae.
Two type specimens, a male and a female from Swal River Basin were located in the collections of the BMNH. One of them has a curator label stating “ Holotype ” attached to it, but neither of them was labelled by Champion himself as such. It is not clear whether Champion´s use of the term “type” refers to an individual specimen or to all the specimens (type as opposed to variety) collected in Swal River Basin. Since Champion did not label a specimen as the type, the latter is assumed to be the case and the male is designated as the lectotype.
Additional material examined: Nepal: 1 ♀, Annapurna, Sikles range, S Sikles, above Garlang, 1900–2500 m, 19–20.IV.1996, leg. Schmidt (SDEI); 1 ex., 20 km W Pokhara, Panchase mt., NW slope, 2400 m, 21.V.1997, leg. Jäger (SMTD); 1 ex., Annapurna, NE Pokhara, plateau N Sikles, 2200 m, 27.IV.1996, leg. Schmidt & Jäger (cAss); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Kathmandu, Shivapuri National Park, 2200 m, 24.V.2004, leg. Chaudary (cKle, cAss); 1 ♀, Kathmandu, Shivapuri Lekh, slope W of Bagmati river, 2000–2300 m, leg. Schmidt (NME); 1 ♀, Bagmati province, Pokhare NE Barahbise, 2700 m, 7.V.1981, leg. Löbl & Smetana (MHNG); 1 ♀, Rolwaling Himal, Simigaon to Dugong Kharka, 2200–2600 m, 13.V.2000, leg. Schmidt (cKle). India: 1 ♀, Arunachal Pradesh, Dirang env., 27°21'N, 92°13'E, 1700–1900 m, 8.–22.V.2006, leg. Pacholátko (BMNH).
Redescription: Relatively large species: body length 6.5–7.6 mm; length of forebody 3.2–3.6 mm. Coloration (Figs 6, 45, 86): forebody black, with the humeral portions of the elytra more or less extensively darkyellowish; abdomen: tergites II blackish-brown, III–IV pale-reddish, V pale-reddish with the middle usually more or less extensively infuscate, VI blackish with the paratergites and the narrow lateral portions reddish, VII blackish, VIII uniformly reddish (type material) or distinctly bicoloured with the anterior half reddishyellow and the posterior half black (material from Nepal), IX–X reddish-yellow, and sternite VIII of similar coloration as tergite VIII; legs yellow; antennae blackish-brown to blackish, with antennomeres I–II and the basal portion of III reddish-yellow and antennomere XI dark-reddish to brown; maxillary palpi dark-yellowish.
Head (Fig. 45) distinctly transverse, median portion extensively impunctate; punctures in lateral portions very sparse and moderately coarse. Eyes slightly longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna (Fig. 6) 2.5–2.7 mm long and slender; antennomeres IV weakly oblong, V–VI weakly oblong or as long as broad, VII approximately as long as broad, VIII–X weakly transverse, X less than 1.5 times as broad as long, and XI approximately as long as the combined length of IX and X.
Pronotum (Fig. 45) 1.10–1.15 times as broad as long and 1.25–1.30 times as broad as head, broadest in anterior half; disc with scattered and very irregularly distributed double punctation (i.e., with both coarse and fine punctures); midline broadly impunctate; lateral margins with four long black setae.
Elytra (Fig. 45) approximately 0.8 times as long as pronotum; punctation conspicuously sparse and irregularly distributed, less sparse near scutellum, posterior portion of disc only with scattered punctation and with large impunctate areas; pubescence pale and depressed. Scutellum with coarse and dense punctation. Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I approximately as long as the combined length of II–IV, or nearly so.
Abdomen (Fig. 86) approximately as broad as elytra, with rather shallow anterior impressions on tergites III–V; anterior impressions of tergites III–V each with a transverse row of not very dense and mostly weakly defined 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; tergite VI with a transverse row of non-setiferous punctures anteriorly, with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side, and with six setiferous punctures at posterior margin; tergite VII with a narrow transverse band of non-setiferous punctures anteriorly and with two more or less irregular transverse rows of setiferous punctures in posterior half, posterior margin with palisade fringe; tergite VIII (Fig. 134) with setiferous punctures only in posterior portion, posterior margin convex, in the middle concave, and on either side of this concavity obtusely produced.
♂: posterior margin of sternite VIII convex (Fig. 135); median lobe of aedeagus 1.0– 1.2 mm long and shaped as in Figs 132–133; paramere approximately 1.1 mm long, apical lobe of moderate length.
Comparative notes: Among the Himalayan representatives of the subgenus Zyras, Z. perforatus is most similar to Z. pallipes, from which it differs particularly by larger size, different coloration of the elytra (yellowish coloration confined to humeral portion) and of the abdomen (lateral portions of tergites V and VI reddish), much sparser punctation of the pronotum and the elytra, and by a larger aedeagus with a ventral process of different shape (especially in ventral view).
Distribution and natural history:This species has been recorded from several localities in North India and Nepal (Map 3). For additional records see Assing (2016b). The altitudes range from approximately 1800 to 2600 m. In several localities, Z. perforatus was found together with Z. pindarae.
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 129-130, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.67.1.117-192, http://zenodo.org/record/5742363