Zyras (Zyras) quasar DVORAK 1996
Creators: name: Assing, Volker
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Zyras
Zyras quasar

description: Zyras (Zyras) quasar DVOŘÁK, 1996
(Figs 178–180, 457–458)
Zyras (Pella) quasar DVOŘAK, 1996: 6 f.
Comment: The holotype of Z. quasar was studied earlier on (ASSING 2015d). The original description neither provides adequate illustrations, nor does it mention morphological characters allowing a reliable identification. Therefore, a full redescription is given and important external and sexual characters are figured. The holotype had been dissected prior to the present study and is somewhat damaged (left fore- and hindleg completely missing; left mesotarsus and right metatarsus missing; abdominal tergite VIII broken).
Redescription: Rather small species species; body length 5.7 mm; length of forebody 2.4 mm. Coloration: head dark-brown with reddish anterior portion; pronotum dark-brown; elytra dark-brown, with humeral portions diffusely and slightly paler; abdomen: tergites II–IV reddish, V reddish in anterior half and somewhat infuscate in posterior half, VI dark-brown, VII reddishbrown with reddish anterior portion, VIII reddish with slightly darker anterior half; legs pale-yellowish; antennae blackish with (parts of) antennomeres I–II and the apex of XI slightly paler; maxillary palpi dark-brown with yellowish terminal palpomere.
Head (Fig. 178) distinctly transverse, broadly impunctate along middle; punctation in lateral dorsal portions moderately coarse and very sparse. Eyes large, approximately twice as long as postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna (Fig. 179) 1.8 mm long; antennomere IV weakly transverse; antennomeres V–X of gradually increasing width and increasingly transverse; X approximately 1.5 times as broad as long; XI longer than the combined length of IX and X.
Pronotum (Fig. 178) 1.12 times as broad as long, and 1.21 times as broad as head, moderately convex in crosssection; punctation rather sparse and slightly irregularly distributed; midline moderately broadly impunctate.
Elytra (Fig. 178) approximately 0.85 times as long as pronotum; punctation defined, moderately dense, equally distributed, and fine. Hind wings fully developed.
Abdomen (Fig. 180) narrower than elytra and with moderately deep anterior impressions on tergites III–V; anterior impressions of tergites III–V and anterior portion of tergite VI each with a transverse series of moderately sparse and moderately coarse non-setiferous punctures; tergite III with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side, with approximately 10 setiferous punctures at posterior margin, and with sparse non-setiferous micropunctation on disc; tergites IV and V each with a median pair of setiferous punctures, with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side, and with approximately 15 setiferous punctures at posterior margin; tergite VI with a transverse row of four setiferous punctures in the middle, with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side, and with approximately 15 setiferous punctures at posterior margin; tergite VII with a transverse band of numerous non-setiferous punctures at anterior margin, with a transverse row of four setiferous punctures at posterior third, with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side, and with several setiferous punctures at posterior margin; tergite VIII with approximately 20 long black setae in posterior fourth; integument without microsculpture and very glossy; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe; posterior margin of tergite VIII concave in the middle.
♂: median lobe of aedeagus rather small, 0.46 mm long, and shaped as in Figs 457–458; paramere approximately as long as median lobe, its apical lobe short.
Comparative notes: Zyras quasar is not very distinctive. Among the species of similar coloration, this species is characterized by the combination of relatively small body size, antennae with transverse antennomeres IV–X and a rather long antennomere XI, finely punctate elytra, the punctation pattern of the abdomen, and a relatively small aedeagus with a broad ventral process and small apical lobes of the parameres.
Distribution: The confirmed distribution is confined to the type locality in Vietnam. Zyras quasar has been reported also from Burma, Thailand, and Malaysia, but, in view of frequent misidentifications of Zyras sensu strictu species, these records are most likely incorrect.
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 page 105, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.66.1.13-111, http://zenodo.org/record/6421171