Orphnebius fuscapicalis Assing 2016, spec. nov.
Creators: name: Assing, Volker
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Orphnebius
Orphnebius fuscapicalis

description: Orphnebius fuscapicalis spec. nov.
(Figs 16, 27, 35, 216–219)
Type material: Holotype ♂: “ Lao-NE, Hua Phan prov., 20°12'N 104°01'E, Phu Phan Mt., ~ 1750 m, 17.v.–3.vi. 2008, Vít Kubáň leg. / Holotypus ♂ Orphnebius fuscapicalis sp. n., det. V. Assing 2015” (NHMB).
Etymology: The specific epithet is an adjective composed of the Latin adjectives fuscus (dark, blackish-brown) and apicalis. It alludes to the infuscate abdominal segment VIII.
Description: Body length 5.7 mm; length of forebody 2.3 mm. Coloration: forebody black; abdomen palereddish with segment VIII blackish-brown (Fig. 35); legs with blackish-brown femora, brown to dark-brown tibiae, and reddish tarsi; antennae blackish, with antennomeres I–III reddish and IV dark-brown; maxillary palpi with palpomeres III dark-brown and IV yellowish.
Head (Fig. 27) strongly transverse, nearly 1.4 times as broad as long; posterior angles completely obsolete; punctation fine and very sparse; median and posterior dorsal portions extensively impunctate; interstices without microsculpture. Eyes very large, reaching posterior margin of head, much longer than distance from posterior margin of eye to posterior constriction of head in dorsal view. Antenna (Fig. 26) 1.8 mm long, slender; antennomere IV distinctly oblong, approximately 1.5 times as long as broad; antennomeres V–VII weakly oblong, VIII approximately as broad as long, IX–X very weakly transverse, and XI conspicuously elongate, approximately four times as long as broad and nearly as long as combined length of VII–X.
Pronotum (Fig. 27) distinctly transverse, 1.25 times as broad as long and 1.14 times as broad as head, moderately convex in cross-section; posterior angles very obtusely marked; disc with an indistinct median pair of punctures, otherwise nearly impunctate; margins with additional punctures; lateral margins with three very long, stout, and erect black setae.
Elytra approximately 0.85 times as long as pronotum; suture distinctly gaping posteriorly; punctation sparse and very fine; pubescence pale, fine, long, and sub-erect to depressed. Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I slightly longer than the combined length of II and III.
Abdomen (Fig. 35): tergites III–VI with two lateral setiferous punctures on either side; tergite VI with four additional setiferous punctures at posterior margin; tergite VII with very dense striae and with a transverse row of setiferous punctures at posterior margin, posterior margin with palisade fringe; tergite VIII with two transverse rows of long black setae, posterior margin broadly convex; sternite VIII with broadly convex posterior margin.
♂: hemi-tergites IX and tergite X with extremely dense and long pubescence; median lobe of aedeagus (Fig. 216–217) 0.93 mm long; ventral process of moderate length and apically acute in ventral view; internal sac with large and strongly sclerotized structures; paramere (Fig. 218–219) 0.65 mm long, paramerite distinctly longer than condylite and subapically with short sclerotized process.
♀: unknown.
Comparative notes: Based on the modifications of the abdominal tergites IX and X, the shapes and chaetotaxy of tergite and sternite VIII, the coloration pattern of the body, the morphology of the aedeagus (large and bulbous capsule; shapes of internal structures), and particularly the shape of the paramere, O. fuscapicalis belongs to the O. hauseri subgroup. Among the species of this group, O. fuscapicalis is characterized by conspicuously slender antennae, very large eyes, a distinctly infuscate abdominal tergite VIII, as well as by the shapes of the median lobe and the parameres of the aedeagus.
Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated in Hua Phan province, North Laos, at an altitude of approximately 1750 m. The holotype was collected together with O. cernens, O. lunatus, O. fusicollis, O. spoliatus, and an unnamed species.
description: Published as part of Assing, Volker, 2016, On some Lomechusini of the Palaearctic and Oriental regions (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), pp. 13-111 in Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 66 (1) on page 49, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.66.1.13-111, http://zenodo.org/record/6421171