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

description: Orphnebius fusicollis spec. nov.
(Figs 11, 46–47, 263–268)
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 fusicollis sp. n., det. V. Assing 2015” (NHMB).
Paratypes: 6 ♂♂, 1 ♀: same data as holotype (NHMB, cAss).
Etymology: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective; from fusus: broad) alludes to the strongly transverse pronotum.
Description: Body length 3.4–4.2 mm; length of forebody 1.4–1.6 mm. Coloration: forebody blackish; abdomen reddish, with the anterior half of tergite VII usually slightly darker; legs with dark-reddish to darkbrown femora and reddish tibiae and tarsi; antennae dark-brown with antennomeres I–III and the apex of XI reddish, and antennomere IV reddish-brown; maxillary palpi reddish with yellowish terminal palpomere.
Head (Fig. 46) strongly transverse, 1.35–1.40 times as broad as long, posteriorly distinctly angled in lateral view (Fig. 47), posterior margin of dorsal surface convex in dorsal view; punctation of lateral portions fine and very sparse; pubescence pale and long; median dorsal portion extensively impunctate; interstices without microsculpture. Eyes large, reaching posterior margin, and strongly bulging. Antenna (Fig. 11) 1.1–1.2 mm long, moderately incrassate, and symmetric; antennomeres III and IV flattened, V–X of distinctly conical shape, IV–X weakly transverse, X distinctly longer than IX, and XI elongate, approximately as long as the combined length of VIII–X.
Pronotum (Fig. 46) large and strongly transverse, approximately 1.45 times as broad as long and 1.3 times as broad as head, moderately convex in cross-section; posterior angles very weakly marked, nearly obsolete; disc with an indistinct median pair of punctures, otherwise nearly impunctate; lateral margins each with three long and erect black setae.
Elytra (Fig. 46) nearly as long as pronotum; suture gaping posteriorly; punctation sparse and very fine; pubescence long and pale, depressed to sub-erect. Hind wings fully developed. Legs relatively short; metatarsomere I shorter than the combined length of II and III.
Abdomen: paratergites strongly elevated and sharply edged; tergites III–VI each with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side and with four setiferous punctures at posterior margin (individual punctures occasionally missing); tergite VII with non-setiferous punctation across middle, without such punctation in anterior and posterior portions, and with a transverse row of setiferous punctures near posterior margin, posterior margin with palisade fringe; tergite VIII (Fig. 266) with two transverse rows of black setae posteriorly and with strongly convex posterior margin; sternite VIII with strongly convex posterior margin; both tergite and sternite VIII with dense and fine gland openings on whole surface (Fig. 267).
♂: hemi-tergites IX and tergite X with extremely dense and long pubescence (O. hauseri type); median lobe of aedeagus (Figs 263–264) approximately 0.65 mm long; ventral process distinctly curved in lateral view; internal sac with large sclerotized structures; paramere (Fig. 267) approximately 0.45 mm long, with slender paramerite and stout, apically weakly convex condylite.
♀: spermatheca (Fig. 268) of conspicuous shape, but not distinctive.
Comparative notes: As is suggested by the similar shape of the antennae and the similar general morphology of the aedeagus, O. fusicollis is closely allied to O. conicornis from China, from which it differs by distinctly darker coloration of the forebody, the legs, and the antennae, by the longer antennae with much less transverse antennomeres V–X and a more elongate antennomere XI, a pronotum with at least weakly marked posterior angles and with three long black setae at the lateral margins (O. conicornis: posterior angles obsolete; lateral margins each with four brown setae), a smoothly curved ventral process of the aedeagus in lateral view (angled in O. conicornis), and by the shape of the paramere. For illustrations of O. conicornis see ASSING (2006c).
Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated in Hua Phan province, North Laos, at an altitude of approximately 1750 m. Orphnebius cernens, O. lunatus, O. fuscapicalis, O. spoliatus, and an unnamed species were collected in the same locality.
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 pages 57-58, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.66.1.13-111, http://zenodo.org/record/6421171