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

description: Zyras (Zyras) parageminus (PACE, 1988)
(Figs 17–18, 55–56, 98, Map 7)
Zyras (Zyras) parageminus PACE, 1988: 335.
Zyras (Zyras) nameriensis PACE, 2011: 36; syn. n.
Type material examined: Z. parageminus: Holotype ♀: “ CEYLON, Habarane, 26.III.83, Rougemont / Holotypus Zyras (s. str.) parageminus m., det. R. Pace 1982 / Zyras (s. str.) parageminus n. sp., det. R. Pace 1982 / Zyras parageminus Pace, det. V. Assing 2016” (MCSNV).
Z. nameriensis: Holotype ♂: “ INDIA Assam, Nameri N.P., 27.v.2006, G. de Rougemont / Holotypus Zyras nameriensis mihi, det. R. Pace 2010 / Zyras nameriensis n. sp., det. R. Pace 2010 / Zyras parageminus Pace, det. V. Assing 2016” (cRou).
Comment: The original description of Z. parageminus is based on a unique female from “ Sri Lanka, Habaranz [sic]” (PACE 1988), that of Z. nameriensis on a unique male from “ India, Assam, Nameri N.P.” (PACE 2011). In the description of the latter, PACE (2011) compares the species with Z. geminus, but there is no mention of Z. parageminus. A comparative study of the two holotypes, however, revealed that they are highly similar, except that the basal two antennomeres are yellowish-red in the holotype of Z. parageminus and dark-brown in that of Z. nameriensis, and that antennomeres IV–VI are somewhat more transverse in the holotype of Z. parageminus than in that of Z. nameriensis. It can be inferred from the general condition of the holotype (partly deformed antennomeres, elytra, legs, and abdominal segments; rather dark coloration of pronotum and anterior abdominal segments) that the coloration and other external characters have changed post-mortem, evidently as a result of improper treatment during original dissection (boiling? chemical?), so that the observed differences are most likely artefacts. In any case, the observed differences are insufficient to support the hypothesis that the two holotypes should represent different species, so that Z. nameriensis is placed in synonymy with Z. parageminus.
Redescription: Rather small species; body length 4.5–4.9 mm; length of forebody 2.0– 2.2 mm. Coloration (Figs 17–18, 55–56, 98): head and pronotum black; pronotum bright-reddish; abdomen bicoloured with tergites II–V and the anterior margin of tergite VI reddish and the remainder black; legs pale-yellowish; antennae brown to dark-brown with the basal two antennomeres yellowish-red to dark-brown and antennomere XI palebrown to brown; maxillary palpi dark-yellowish with the terminal palpomere yellowish.
Head (Figs 55–56) distinctly transverse, median portion extensively impunctate; punctures in lateral portions moderately sparse to moderately dense and fine; pubescence long, pale, and sub-erect. Eyes moderately large, much longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna (Figs 17–18) 1.3–1.4 mm long and distinctly incrassate apically; antennomeres IV weakly to moderately transverse, VI–X of gradually increasing width and increasingly transverse, X at least twice as broad as long, and XI rather short and of conical shape, approximately as long as the combined length of IX and X.
Pronotum (Figs 55–56) distinctly transverse, 1.14–1.15 times as broad as long and 1.25–1.27 times as broad as head, broadest anterior to middle; lateral margins very weakly sinuate in posterior half (dorsal view); punctation of whole disc including midline rather dense and shallow; lateral and anterior margins with numerous long and erect black setae; disc with moderately long and suberect pale pubescence.
Elytra (Figs 55–56) approximately 0.8 times as long as pronotum; punctation moderately fine, rather dense, and regularly distributed. Hind wings fully developed. Legs not particularly slender and with rather short tarsi; metatarsomere I approximately as long as the combined length of II and III.
Abdomen (Fig. 98) narrower than elytra, with deep anterior impressions on tergites III–V; anterior impressions of tergites III–V each with a transverse row of weakly defined small impressions; posterior portions of tergites III–V with rather numerous setiferous punctures bearing long dark and moderately long pale setae on disc and at posterior margins; tergites VI and VII anteriorly with moderately dense non-setiferous punctation and posteriorly with irregular setiferous punctation, posterior margin with palisade fringe; tergite VIII with setiferous punctation only in posterior portion, posterior margin weakly concave to truncate.
♂: median lobe of aedeagus approximately 0.55 mm long and shaped as illustrated in PACE (2011: figures 39–40); paramere approximately as long as median lobe and with moderately short apical lobe.
Comparative notes: Zyras parageminus differs from other similarly coloured representatives of the subgenus Zyras by smaller size, shorter and apically much more incrassate antennae, the absence of an impunctate median band on the pronotum, the punctation pattern of the abdomen, and by the shape of the median lobe of the aedeagus.
Distribution: The known distribution is confined to two localities in Sri Lanka and Northeast India (Assam) (Map 7).
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 page 140, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.67.1.117-192, http://zenodo.org/record/5742363