Meridaphes venezolanus Franz, comb. n.
Creators: name: Jałoszyński, Paweł
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Meridaphes
Meridaphes venezolanus

description: Meridaphes venezolanus (Franz) comb. n.
(Figs 9–10, 12–20, 25–26, 29)
Scydmoraphes venezolanus Franz, 1988: 63, fig. 4.
Material studied. Holotype (VENEZUELA) ♂: three original labels (Fig. 29): "Bosque de la Carbonera / 2000 m, Img. Merida / Venezuela, lg. Franz" with "SA 273" on the reverse side [white, printed; reverse handwritten], " Scydmoraphes / venezolanus / m. / det.H.Franz" [white, handwritten and printed], " Holotypus " [red, handwritten] (NHMW). A white printed label was added during the present study: " MERIDAPHES / venezolanus / (Franz, 1988) / det. P. JAŁOSZYŃSKI, '2015". PARATYPE: 1 ♀, same data as holotype, except yellow identification " PARATYPUS " label (NHMW).
Diagnosis. This is the only known species of Meridaphes and can be identified on the basis of the generic characters and the aedeagus.
Description. Body of male (Fig. 9) strongly convex, elongate and moderately slender, with moderately long appendages, BL 1.10 mm; cuticle glossy, uniformly brown with slightly lighter appendages; vestiture slightly lighter than cuticle.
Head (Figs 9, 17) subtrapezoidal in shape and broadest at eyes, HL 0.16 mm, HW 0.20 mm; occipital constriction about as broad as frons between eyes; tempora slightly longer than eyes, lacking lateral bristles; vertex short and broad, weakly convex, anteriorly confluent with frons; frons subtrapezoidal, weakly convex between eyes and flattened between and in front of supraantennal tubercles, which are weakly marked; eyes moderately large, weakly projecting laterally, semioval with slightly convex posterior margin. Vertex and frons with inconspicuous fine punctures and short, sparse, suberect setae. Antennae (Fig. 9) short in relation to body length, AnL 0.48 mm; antennomeres I–II strongly elongate, III–VII about as broad as long, VIII–X each transverse, XI slightly broader than X, only about 1.2× as long as broad, with rounded apex.
Pronotum (Fig. 9) in dorsal view subtrapezoidal with rounded anterior margin and weakly marked anterior corners, broadest near anterior third but only slightly narrowing posteriorly, PL 0.34 mm, PW 0.31 mm; sides strongly rounded in anterior half and nearly straight and indistinctly convergent caudad, posterior margin shallowly bisinuate; base with distinct transverse groove connecting indistinct pair of lateral impressions. Pronotal disc with fine and inconspicuous punctures; setae on dorsal part short, sparse and suberect, sides with dense bristles with admixture of long and suberect setae.
Elytra oval, broadest slightly anterior to middle, EL 0.60 mm, EW 0.45 mm, EI 1.33; basal impressions and humeral calli indistinct, subhumeral lines present, each developed as distinct border between more convex humeral and less convex adsutural region. Hind wings not studied (to avoid disarticulating of elytra).
Legs (Fig. 9) moderately long and slender; profemora more thickened than meso- and metafemora; protibiae shorter and distally more thickened than meso- and metatibiae, with small apical denticle on external margin.
Aedeagus (Figs 10, 25–26) stout, AeL 0.10 mm, median lobe symmetrical, drop-shaped with truncate apical part; endophallic structures nearly symmetrical, with several paired and curved elongate sclerites; parameres moderately slender, short, each with one apical seta.
Female. Externally similar to male, but with slightly less thickened profemora and with stouter elytra; BL 1.03 mm, HL 0.18 mm, HW 0.20 mm, AnL 0.43 mm; PL 0.33 mm, PW 0.30 mm; EL 0.53 mm, EW 0.45 mm, EI 1.17.
Distribution. Western Venezuela.
Remarks. In the original description Franz (1988) gives further collecting data: 0 4.05.1982, male collected from leaf litter and humus under a Podocarpus, female from rotten tree trunk.
description: Published as part of Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2015, Revision of Neotropical species of ant-like stone beetles misplaced in Stenichnus and Scydmoraphes (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae), pp. 253-269 in Zootaxa 4027 (2) on page 261, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4027.2.5, http://zenodo.org/record/243788