Zyras (Zyras) gardneri Cameron 1939
Creators: name: Assing, Volker
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Zyras
Zyras gardneri

description: Zyras (Zyras) gardneri CAMERON, 1939
(Figs 40, 62, 96, 174–177, Map 7)
Zyras (Zyras) gardneri CAMERON, 1939a: 538.
Type material examined: Holotype ♂: “ Darjeeling 6000, Bengal., J.C.M. Gardner. IX.1929. / Z. Gardneri Cam Type / M. Cameron. Bequest. B.M. 1955-147 / Holotype / Holotype Zyras gardneri Cam., 1939, det. R.G. Booth 2016 / Holotypus Zyras gardneri Cameron, rev. V. Assing 2016” (BMNH).
Comment: The original description is based on a unique male holotype from “Darjeeling, alt. 6000 feet ” (CAMERON 1939a).
Additional material examined: Nepal: 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Tama Koshi valley, Chet Chet, 1300 m, 3.VI.2000, leg. Schmidt (cKle, cAss). India: 1 ♀, Uttarakhand, Uttarkashi district, Naluna Sainj env., 30°45'N, 78°34'E, wet litter, 10.–12.IV.2012, leg. Shavrin (cAss); 1 ♂, 4 ♀♀, Meghalaya, Khasi Hills, Mawsynram, 25°18'N, 91°29'E, 700–900 m, 5.–9.VI.2006, leg. Pacholátko (BMNH, cAss).
Redescription: Large species: body length 6.7–8.3 mm; length of forebody 3.5–3.9 mm. Coloration (Figs 40, 62, 96): head black; pronotum brown to blackish-brown; elytra reddish to reddish-brown, with the postero-lateral portions diffusely darker; abdomen more or less distinctly bicoloured; tergites II–IV reddish to dark-brown, V–VII (except for the anterior margin of V) dark-brown to blackish, and VIII brown to dark-brown; legs yellowish; antennae bicoloured, blackish-brown with antennomeres IX–XI yellowish; maxillary palpi dark-brown with palpomere IV yellowish to yellowish-brown.
Head (Fig. 62) distinctly transverse, median portion extensively impunctate; punctures in lateral portions moderately sparse and moderately coarse. Eyes much longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna (Fig. 40) 2.7–3.0 mm long and rather slender; antennomeres IV–VI oblong, VII approximately as long as broad, VIII–X weakly transverse, X much less than 1.5 times as broad as long, and XI short, shorter than the combined length of IX and X.
Pronotum (Fig. 62) moderately transverse, approximately 1.15 times as broad as long and approximately 1.3 times as broad as head, broadest in anterior half; punctation rather fine and moderately dense, almost regularly distributed; midline narrowly impunctate; anterior margin and anterior half of lateral margins with numerous long brown setae.
Elytra (Fig. 62) 0.85–0.90 times as long as pronotum; punctation moderately coarse, very dense, and defined, regularly distributed; whole disc with dense and sub-erect brown pubescence. Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I approximately as long as, or shorter than, the combined length of II–IV.
Abdomen (Fig. 96) approximately as broad as elytra, with moderately deep anterior impressions on tergites III–V; anterior impressions of tergites III–V each with a transverse row of moderately coarse non-setiferous punctures; tergites III–V with sparse micropunctation on disc, with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side, and with several setiferous punctures at posterior margins; tergite VI with extensive non-setiferous punctures in anterior half to anterior three-fourths, with micropunctation in posterior portion with some lateral setiferous punctures and with several setiferous punctures at posterior margin; tergite VII with more or less extensive non-setiferous punctation in anterior half and with moderately sparse setiferous punctation not arranged in distinct rows in posterior half, posterior margin with palisade fringe; tergite VIII (Fig. 176) with rather dense and long brown setae in posterior third, posterior margin shallowly concave in the middle; all sternites with long brown pubescence posteriorly.
♂: posterior margin of sternite VIII strongly convex (Fig. 177); median lobe of aedeagus (Figs 174–175) approximately 1.1 mm long; ventral process somewhat constricted basally in ventral view; crista apicalis small; paramere approximately 1.05 mm long and with very short apical lobe.
♀: posterior margin of sternite VIII weakly concave in the middle.
Comparative notes: As can be inferred from external (dense and long pubescence on the forebody and on the abdominal sternites; broad pronotum; rather large body size), as well as from the male sexual characters (apical lobe of paramere very short), Z. gardneri belongs to the Z. hirtus group. Among the species of this group, it is characterized by the coloration (particularly of the antennae), the punctation pattern of the abdomen, and by the morphology of the median lobe of the aedeagus.
Distribution and natural history: The known distribution is confined to several localities in Nepal and North India (Map 7). The altitudes range from approximately 800 to 1800 m.
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 143-144, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.67.1.117-192, http://zenodo.org/record/5742363