Dropephylloidea Shavrin, 2025, gen. n.
Creators: name: Shavrin, Alexey V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Dropephylloidea

description: Dropephylloidea gen. n.
(Figs 1–28)
Type species: Homalium (Phyllodrepa) curticolle Eppelsheim, 1889.
Description. Body slightly convex, elongate, reddish-brown (Figs 1–2). Punctation of head and pronotum moderately sparse, larger on pronotum; punctation of elytra dense, large and coarse; abdominal tergites without visible punctures. Dorsal surface of body glossy; head and pronotum with irregular well visible icrosculpture; elytra without microreticulation; abdominal tergites with dense isodiametric sculpture. Apical part of clypeus with sparse, moderately long and erect setae and 2–3 long and erect setae on each lateral part between eyes and median part; pronotum without or with small and fine setation in middle and along lateral margins; basal margin of pronotum with row of very short cuticular fringe; elytra without visible setation or with very sparse short erect setae in middle and along lateral margins; abdomen with very fine and sparse semi-erect setation and elongate setae on paratergites. Body length: 1.65–2.05 mm.
Head markedly narrower than pronotum, transverse, slightly elevated in middle, with moderately wide frontoclypeal portion and convex subtriangular supra-antennal elevations; anteriomedian depressions between bases of antennae present, relatively wide and deep; posteriolateral margins of clypeus narrow and subparallel, stretching posteriad toward level of middle or posterior third of length of eyes; nuchal constriction missing. Ocelli moderately large, located at about level of postocular ridges. Anteocellar foveae distinct, wide, relatively shallow and short, subparallel or slightly convergent anteriad toward level of mid-length of eyes. Postocular ridges present, obtuse or subacute, with interspace between posterior margin of eye and ridge about as long as diameter of two nearest ommatidia. Eyes large, slightly protruded (Fig. 8). Postocular portions strongly narrowed posteriad toward neck. Antenna (Fig. 9) almost reaching basal margin of pronotum when reclined, with distinctly transverse antennomeres 4–10, progressively broadened apically. Labrum (Fig. 4) small, with widely rounded latero-apical portions, widely and deeply concave anteriorly, with three long antero-lateral setae and row of shorter setae in medioapical part. Mandibles (Fig. 5) broad, each with concave laterobasal margin and subacute apex; left mandible with slightly stronger apex; right mandible with slightly crenulate distal margin of medial edge; articulations of molar lobes with fine rounded dents almost in entire half of latero-apical margin. Maxilla (Fig. 6) moderately broad and long; galea oblong, significantly longer than lacinia, with slightly curved dorsolateral margin in basal half, with relatively dense and long apical setae; lacinia from widest basal portion gradually narrowed apicad, with slightly curved apex and row of small thorns on apical half of inner margin; maxillary palpi long, second palpomere two and a half times as long as broad, gradually broadened apicad, third palpomere slightly transverse, about as long as broad, apical palpomere strongly elongate, slightly narrower and about four times as long as penultimate segment, from apical third gradually narrowed toward apex. Labium (Fig. 7) with apical part slightly sinuate apically; preapical labial palpomere strongly transverse, about twice as broad as long, apical palpomere wide, slightly less than three times as long as preceding segment, from about middle gradually narrowed toward rounded apex. Mentum (Fig. 7) transverse, trapezoidal, with two long lateroapical setae. Gular sutures narrowly separated at level of anterior portion of eyes, strongly divergent posteriad (Fig. 8).
Pronotum transverse, convex, with widely rounded and slightly protruded anterior angles, with bordered and irregularly and slightly (sometimes indistinctly) crenulate lateral margins, more distinct in laterobasal portions; median portion without impressions. Prothorax (Fig. 10) short, transverse, convex in middle, with long and acute intercoxal process almost reaching middle of front coxae; laterobasal projections moderately narrow and elongate. Mesoventrite (Fig. 11) transverse, with long and narrow intercoxal process reaching apex of median process of metaventrite. Scutellum (Fig. 13) wide, triangular, with elongate and somewhat rounded apical part. Metaventrite (Fig. 12) elongate, with indistinct narrow and elongate median impression, with wide and moderately long intercoxal process extending about middle of mesocoxae.
Elytra subparallel, sometimes indistinctly broadened apically, convex, exceeding apical margin of abdominal tergite III, slightly broader than long, about twice as long as pronotum, with narrow epipleura and widely rounded humeri (Fig. 14), with slightly serrate lateral margins in middle. Wings fully developed.
Legs moderately short, with tibia slightly broadened apicad; procoxae (Fig. 15) large and elongate, distinctly more than half of profemora; mesocoxae (Fig. 16) wide and oval; metatrochanter small and oval or modificated and very long (Fig. 17), almost about length of metatibia, from basal part strongly narrowed toward acute apex (male, Fig. 18); outer margins of femora with several short spines; inner margins of tibiae with a row of elongate spines; tarsi short, apical metatarsomere long, markedly longer than preceding four metatarsomeres.
Abdomen convex, slightly narrower than elytra, with a pair of small oval tomentose spots (wing-folding patches) in middle of abdominal tergite IV; apical margin of abdominal tergite VII with narrow palisade fringe.
Male.Aedeagus unusual (Figs 19–20), with moderately narrow and elongate median lobe; parameres sclerotized and wide, slightly exceeding apex of median lobe, with basal portions in the place of connections of both parameres strongly and narrowly projected apically; dorsal plates sclerotized and elongate; preapical and middle parts of median lobe with transverse structures; flagellum short; internal sac short and narrow.
Female. Gonocoxites wide and short, with very small styli each with long apical setae (Fig. 26). Accessory abdominal sclerite not recognized. Spermatheca present (Fig. 27).
Immature stages unknown.
Species included. Dropephylloidea curticollis (Eppelsheim, 1889).
Differential diagnosis. Based on the general shape of the small, elongate and relatively convex body, the presence of the anteriomedian depressions, the shape of the slightly protruded eyes and slightly crenulate lateral portions of the pronotum, Dropephylloidea gen. n. is similar to the Holarctic Hapalaraea Thomson, 1858, Phyllodrepa Thomson, 1859, known from the Palaearctic, Nearctic, Oriental and Australian regions, and Holarctic Dropephylla Mulsant & Rey, 1880. It differs from Hapalaraea (some species of that also have a modified metatrochanter in males) by the narrower and slightly more elongate body, less crenulated lateral portions of the pronotum, narrower median lobe and apical portions of the parameres. Regarding the presence of anteocellar foveae, it is somewhat similar to Phyllodrepa, but differs from it by the broader shape of them, smaller body and sparser punctation of the head and the pronotum. Based on the shape of the small body and features of the punctation and the microsculpture of the subparallel forebody, Dropephylloidea gen. n. is also similar to Dropephylla, but differs from it by the presence of anteocellar foveae. From both latter genera, it differs by the slightly crenulate lateral portions of the pronotum. From all genera listed above, the new genus can be distinguished by the very long apical maxillary palpomere, about four times longer than short penultimate segment (last maxillary palpomere in relative genera usually significantly shorter, sometimes distinctly broader in middle), the strongly modified and extremely long metatrochanter in male (Fig. 18), the unusal shape of the aedeagus with parameres broadened from the basal portion (parameres in Dropephylla and Phyllodrepa usually narrow, gradually broadened apically, parameres in Hapalaraea with narrow basal portion, significantly broadened apically), different structure of the internal sac, and the shape of shortened and transverse preapical gonocoxites in females (preapical gonocoxites in related genera significantly longer, e.g. in Fig. 88 in Shavrin & Zanetti (2020)).
Natural history. Three specimens of D. curticollis from Israel were sifted from leaves (Platanus, Eucalyptus) and moist debris under rotten Opuntia. Specimens from Italy and Turkey were collected by pitfall traps. Bionomical data for other studied specimens is unknown.
Distribution. Dropephylloidea curticollis is known from several localities in South Europe (Italy, Croatia, Albania) and the Middle East (Syria, Israel, Turkey); see distributional map in Fig. 28.
Etymology. The generic name means similar to Dropephylla that is an anagram of Phyllodrepa.
Remarks. The shape of the strongly elongate and narrow metatrochanter in males of Dropephylloidea gen. n. is unique feature. Some taxa of Omaliini have a similar feature in males: e.g. Hapalaraea settei Zanetti, 1983, known from Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, which has an enlarged male metatrochanter, forming proximal and distal angles (Figs 7–8 in Zanetti (1983)), the monotypic Prosoglypta alesenkae Shavrin & Smetana, 2019, recently described from Vietnam, having the apical margin of the male metatrochanter with long projection, slightly erected ventrad (Fig. 7 in Shavrin & Smetana (2019)). Comparing D. curticollis with other known members of Omaliini, the shape of the broadened parameres and apical part of the male abdominal segment VIII are somewhat similar to species of the Eastern Palaearctic genus Tetradelus Fauvel, 1904, known from India and China (Shavrin 2022), but the shape of the significantly larger and broader body (Fig. 36 in Shavrin (2022)), and details of the structure of the aedeagus (Fig. 37 in Shavrin (2022)) are completely different.
description: Published as part of Shavrin, Alexey V., 2025, Dropephylloidea, a remarkable new genus from south Europe and the Middle East (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Omaliinae: Omaliini), pp. 353-362 in Zootaxa 5584 (3) on pages 354-357, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5584.3.3, http://zenodo.org/record/14853314