Leptusa (Yunnaleptusa) cultellata Assing 2008, nov.sp.
Creators: name: Assing, V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2008
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Leptusa
Leptusa cultellata

description: Leptusa (Yunnaleptusa) cultellata nov.sp. (Figs 11-20, Map 1)
T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype 6: China: Yunnan [CH 07-28], Nujiang Lisu Aut. Pref., Gaoligong Shan, side valley 19 km NW Liuku, 25°59'02"N, 98°42'23"E, 2730 m, devast. prim. for., litter sifted, 9.VI.2007, M. Schülke / Holotypus 6 Leptusa cultellata sp.n. det. V. Assing 2007 (cAss).
D e s c r i p t i o n: 2.2 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 11. Coloration: head reddish brown; pronotum reddish; elytra brown, with the humeral angles and the posterior margins reddish; abdomen reddish, with segment VI and the anterior half of segment VII blackish; legs and antennomeres I-III and XI pale reddish; antennomeres IV-X dark brown.
Head approximately 1.15 times as wide as long; puncturation sparse and extremely fine, barely noticeable even at higher magnification; microsculpture indistinct. Eyes weakly projecting from lateral contours of head, approximately as long as postocular region in dorsal view (Fig. 12). Antennae (Fig. 13) distinctly incrassate apically; antennomere IV approximately as long as wide; V-X of increasing width and increasingly transverse; X more than twice as wide as long.
Pronotum strongly transverse, approximately 1.35 times as wide as long and 1.30 times as wide as head; maximal width appoximately in the middle; posterior angles rounded, weakly marked; puncturation moderately dense and fine, but distinct (much more so than that of head); microsculpture extremely shallow, barely noticeable (Fig. 12).
Elytra slightly (approximately 1.05 ✕) wider than and at suture almost as long as pronotum; humeral angles marked; puncturation moderately dense, weakly granulose, and fine; microsculpture extremely shallow, almost obsolete (Fig. 12). Hind wings apparently reduced. Metatarsomere I only slightly longer than II.
Abdomen approximately as wide as elytra, maximal width at segment V; segments III-V with moderately deep anterior impressions; segment VI without anterior impression; puncturation very fine and rather sparse; microsculpture shallow, more distinct on posterior than on anterior tergites; posterior margin of tergite VII with narrow rudiment of a palisade fringe (Fig. 14).
6: tergite VII unmodified; tergite VIII very shallowly concave in the middle (Fig. 15); sternite VIII moderately projecting posteriad in the middle (Fig. 16); median lobe of aedeagus of distinctive morphology, strongly curved in lateral view; apex of ventral process apically distinctly compressed, forming a sharp edge (Figs 17-18); paramere as in Figs 19-20.
♀: unknown.
E t y m o l o g y: The name (Latin, adjective: shaped like a small knife) refers to the shape of the apex of the ventral process of the aedeagus.
C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: See description of the subgenus and the key to species above.
D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d b i o n o m i c s: The species is known only from one locality to the northwest of Liuku, western Yunnan province, China (Map 1). The holotype was sifted from the leaf litter of a degraded primary forest at an altitude of 2730 m.
description: Published as part of Assing, V., 2008, Seven new species and additional records of Palaearctic Leptusa, primarily from Yunnan, China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), pp. 251-273 in Linzer biologische Beiträge 40 (1) on page 258, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4523588