Trichoglossina aptera Assing 2018, nov.sp.
Creators: name: Assing, Volker
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Trichoglossina
Trichoglossina aptera

description: Trichoglossina aptera nov.sp. (Figs 1-10, 19-22, 26-27, Map 1)
T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype ♂: " CHINA [19] - N-Sichuan, N Songpan, 33°03'15''N, 103°43'36''E, 3390 m, spruce forest, sifted, 9.VIII.2012, V. Assing / Holotypus ♂ Trichoglossina aptera sp.n., det. V. Assing 2018" (cAss). Paratypes: 4♂♂, 8♀♀: same data as holotype (cAss); 14 exs.: same data, but leg. Schülke (MNB, cAss); 1♂: " CHINA [22] - N-Sichuan, pass ENE Songpan, 4080 m, 32°44'54''N, 103°43'43''E, sifted, 10.VIII.2012, V. Assing" (cAss); 8 exs.: " CHINA: N-Sichuan [CH12-21], 49 km N Songpan, road S 301 km 114, N Gongangling pass, 33°04'31''N, 103°42'38''E, 3230 m, spruce forest, litter, moss & mushrooms sifted, 9.VIII.2012, leg. M. Schülke " (MNB, cAss).
E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet (adjective) alludes to the complete absence of hind wings.
D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 2.4-2.9 mm; length of forebody 1.1-1.3 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 1. Coloration: head blackish; pronotum dark-brown; elytra pale-brown; abdomen blackish with the posterior portions of tergites VII and VIII reddish; legs yellowish; antennae brown to dark-brown with the basal 3-5 antennomeres yellowish; maxillary palpi yellowish to yellowish-brown.
Head (Fig. 2) approximately as broad as long or weakly oblong; punctation dense and fine; interstices with pronounced microsculpture. Eyes weakly convex, approximately as long as postocular region or slightly shorter. Antenna (Fig. 3) approximately 0.75 mm long; antennomere IV weakly transverse; antennomeres V-X approximately 1.5 times as broad as long and gradually increasing in width, XI oblong, nearly as long as the combined length of antennomeres VIII-X.
Pronotum (Fig. 2) 1.15-1.20 times as broad as long and approximately 1.2 times as broad as head, broadest slightly anterior to middle; punctation dense and fine, slightly more distinct than that of head; interstices with pronounced microreticulation.
Elytra (Fig. 2) short, approximately 0.7 times as long as pronotum; punctation dense and fine, somewhat more distinct than that of pronotum; interstices with microsculpture. Hind wings completely reduced. Tarsi very long and slender; metatarsus nearly as long as metatibia; metatarsomere I nearly as long as the combined length of II-IV.
Abdomen (Fig. 4) approximately as broad as elytra; tergites III-V with shallow anterior impressions; punctation fine and very dense, only slightly less dense on tergite VII than on anterior tergites; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.
♂: posterior margin of tergite VIII distinctly obtusely produced in the middle (Fig. 19); sternite VIII (Fig. 20) significantly longer than tergite VIII, posterior margin truncate; median lobe of aedeagus (Figs 5-6) approximately 0.5 mm long; ventral process narrow, somewhat sinuate, and apically acute in lateral view, apically very acute in ventral view; crista apicalis prominent; internal sac with long flagellum; paramere (Fig. 7) approximately 0.65 mm long, apical lobe long and slender, approximately half as long as basal portion of paramere.
♀: posterior margin of tergite VIII strongly angularly produced in the middle (Fig. 21); posterior margin of sternite VIII weakly convex, in the middle shallowly concave, with a conspicuous dense fringe of stout modified setae (Fig. 22); spermatheca as in Figs 8-10.
C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Trichoglossina aptera is characterized by short elytra, completely reduced hind wings, by the shapes of the male and female tergite and sternite VIII, as well as by the shape of the median lobe of the aedeagus. According to the illustrations provided by PACE (1999, 2012), all previously described Trichoglossina species from China have longer elytra, suggesting that hind wings are present.
D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d n a t u r a l h i s t o r y: Thetypematerialwascollected in three localities near Songpan in North Sichuan, China (Map 1). The distribution is probably restricted, as can be inferred from the reduced hind wings. The specimens were sifted from litter and moss in a spruce forest with bushes and grassy clearings at 3390 m (Fig. 26), from litter and moss in a spruce forest at 3230 m, and from litter and moss in an alpine west slope with scree, grass, and shrubs at an altitude of nearly 4100 m (Fig. 27).
description: Published as part of Assing, Volker, 2018, Six new species of Trichoglossina from China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Oxypodini), pp. 89-109 in Linzer biologische Beiträge 50 (1) on pages 90-94, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3985300