Apatetica glaucipennis Assing 2018, spec. nov.
Creators: name: Assing, Volker
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Apatetica
Apatetica glaucipennis

description: Apatetica glaucipennis spec. nov.
urn: lsid:zoobank. org:act: 42C008AA-4925-4FC9-AA0B-3F043FC50F97
(Figs 5–10)
Type material: Holotype ♂: “NEP: Mahakali/Darchula, Godhani, Godhani Khola, N29°49'53", E80°40'45", 1920 m, 17.VI.2017, leg. A. Weigel, KL #17-07 / Holotypus ♂ Apatetica glaucipennis sp. n. det. V. Assing 2017” (NME). Paratypes: 1 ♂, 3 ♀♀: same data as holotype (cWei, cAss); 1 ♂: same data as holotype, but “ 16.VI.2017, leg. A. Kopetz, #17-07” (NME).
Etymology: The specific epithet is an adjective composed of the Latin adjectiveglaucus (blue) and thesuffix -pennis (of the wings). It alludes to the pronounced metallic blue hue of the elytra.
Description: Large species; bodylength 8.8–10.8 mm; length of forebody 7.7–8.8 mm. Other measurements: head width 1.90–2.05 mm; length of antenna 4.7–5.0 mm; width of pronotum: 4.0– 4.2 mm; length of pronotum 2.4–2.6 mm; length of elytra 3.9–4.5 mm; length of metatibia 3.0– 3.4 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 5. Coloration: body black; elytra with pronounced metallic blue or blue-green hue; antennae and legs black except for the reddish-brown tarsomeres V.
Head (Fig. 6) strongly transverse; vertex with extensive flat elevation, this elevation glossy, with micropunctation, and in postero-median portion with a cluster of more or less numerous macropunctures; frons glossy and with micropunctation, laterally with macropunctures; lateral portion behind eye and area near dorsal margin of eye with very dense and coarse punctation. Antenna very long and slender; antennomeres IV and Vmore than three times as long as broad; antennomere Xapproximately 1.5 times as long as broad.
Pronotum (Fig. 6) approximately 1.7 times as broad as longand 2.0–2.1 timesas broadas head, broadestat posterior third; lateral margins broadly explanate, withshallow microsculpture predominantly composed of longitudinal striae, each with approximately five marginal punctures; punctation of disc coarse, dense laterally and sparser in the middle; middle and medio-lateral portions of disc with irregular impunctate patches.
Elytra approximately 1.6 times as long as pronotum; each elytron with eight finely punctate striae; intervals flat and with dense micropunctation. Scutellum strongly transverse. Legs very long and slender.
Abdomen with microsculpture composed of dense microgranules on tergite V and of transverse meshes on tergites VI–VIII; tergite VIII with pronounced sexual dimorphism.
♂: protarsomeres I–IV strongly dilated and flat; tergite VIII (Fig. 7) wedge-shaped, apically obtusely pointed, across the middle with a broad transverse band of numerous coarse punctures; aedeagus (Figs 8–9) 3.3 mm long; ventral process long, slender, tapering apicad, and very acute apically in ventral view, apical two-fifths distinctly bent dorsad in lateral view; parameres slender, apically flattened and bent ventrad, approximally extending to apex of ventral process.
♀: protarsomeres I–IV dilated, but somewhat less so than in male; tergite VIII (Fig. 10) with punctation as in male, but apically strongly and broadly concave.
Comparative notes: Apatetica glaucipennis is distinguished from other congeners with metallic elytra from continental Asia as follows:
from A. lebioides WESTWOOD, 1848 (India: Sikkim; type material examined) by larger size (A. lebioides: body length 6–7 mm), the coloration (A. lebioides: lateral margins of the pronotum, tibiae, tarsi, and antennae yellowish-red to reddish; elytra with greenish hue), an anteriorly more strongly tapering abdomen with much sparser and coarser punctation (A. lebioides: pronotum only slightly more narrowed anteriorly than posteriorly). and a coarsely punctured tergite VIII (A. lebioides: tergite VIII practically impunctate);
from A. viridipennis (Northeast India: West Bengal, Assam?, Manipur?) by a more robust habitus, the coloration (A. viridipennis: antennae and tarsi reddish; lateral margins of pronotum dark reddish-brown; elytra with greenish hue), and by a less convex pronotum (cross-section) with much sparser and finer punctation (A. viridipennis: median portion of pronotum dome-shaped);
from A. caeruleipennis CAMERON, 1930 (NE-India: Manipur; type material examined) by a less strongly convex pronotum (cross-section) with much sparser, finer, and irregular punctation (A. caeruleipennis: pronotum with extremely dense, coarse, and uniform punctation; interstices reduced to narrow ridges; median portion strongly elevated, similar to the condition in A. viridipennis);
from A. birmana CAMERON, 1930 (Myanmar; type material examined) by the coloration (A. birmana: apical antennomeres and tarsi reddish; elytra with indistinct metallic hue) and by a less convex pronotum (cross-section) with sparser and more irregular punctation and with practically impunctate lateral margins (A. birmana: lateral margins with coarse and rather dense punctation).
from A. siamensis LEWIS, 1893 (Thailand; type material examined) by slightly larger size (A. siamensis: 8 mm), the coloration (A. siamensis: antennae and tarsi reddish brown, lateral margins of pronotum dark reddish-brown; elytra with weak greenish hue), the punctation of the pronotum (A. siamensis: whole pronotum including lateral margins with dense and more or less regularly spaced punctation), and by the shape of the female tergite VIII (A. siamensis: tergite VIII with bisinuate apex and with longitudinal median elevation).
Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated in the extreme west of Nepal. The specimens were beaten from moist rotting plant material at a river bank (WEIGEL pers. comm.).
description: Published as part of Assing, Volker, 2018, On some species of Apatetica WESTWOOD (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Apateticinae), pp. 347-359 in Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 68 (2) on pages 349-351, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.68.2.347-359, http://zenodo.org/record/3743425