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

description: Scymbalium rossii nov.sp. (Figs 1-9)
T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype ♂: " CAMBODIA - Kampong Chhnang prov., Kampong Chhnang env., Toul Ompel, 12°14'14''N, 104°41'15''E, light trap, 19+ 21.V.2018, leg. Bernardi, Kong & Rossi / Holotypus ♂ Scymbalium rossii sp. n., det. V. Assing 2018" (cAss). Paratype ♀: same data as holotype (cAss).
E t y m o l o g y: This species is dedicated to Walter Rossi (L'Aquila), to whom I am grateful for the generous gift of all the Cambodian specimens treated in this paper.
D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 7.0- 7.7 mm; length of forebody 3.7-4.1 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 1. Body somewhat depressed. Coloration: head and pronotum reddish-brown; elytra reddish; abdomen dark-brown to blackish-brown with the apex (segments VIII-X and the posterior portion of VII) reddish; legs yellowish-red; antennae red.
Head (Fig. 2) 1.10-1.15 times as broad as long; integument with double punctation, with coarse and dense macropunctures and with interspersed micropunctures; median dorsal portion with somewhat sparser punctation; interstices without microsculpture. Eyes approximately as long as postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna long and very slen- der, approximately 3.0 mm long; antennomeres IV-XI at least approximately twice as long as broad and club-shaped, i.e., basally very thin and apically distincty dilated, broadest anterior to apex. Maxillary palpus with short and conical apical palpomere, this palpomere approximately one-third as long as palpomere III.
Pronotum (Fig. 2) 1.12-1.15 times as broad as long, broadest near anterior angles, distinctly tapering posteriad; lateral margins straight or weakly sinuate in the middle; posterior margin weakly concave in the middle; macropunctation dense, slightly less coarse than that of head; micropunctation scattered, sparser than that of head; midline moderately broadly impunctate.
Elytra (Fig. 2) approximately as long as pronotum; punctation rather fine and dense. Hind wings fully developed. Protarsomeres I–IV distinctly dilated in both sexes. Metatarsomere I approximately as long as the combined length of II and III.
Abdomen (Fig. 3) approximately as broad as elytra; punctation distinct and very dense, similar to that of elytra; interstices glossy, with extremely fine and nearly obsolete transverse microsculpture visible only at high magnification (100 x); posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe; tergite X and sternite IX unmodified, not of reduced size; postero-lateral processes of segment IX approximately 1.5 times as long as tergite X, apically with a spine curved upwards.
♂: posterior excision of sternite VIII narrow and short, about one-eighth a long as length of sternite (Fig. 4); aedeagus (Figs 5-8) slender, with short hooked apex (lateral view), and with heavily sclerotized internal structures.
C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: This species is evidently closely allied to S. anale and S. persimile. It is distinguished from both of them by smaller size, paler coloration of the forebody, and coarser punctation of the abdomen. It additionally differs from S. anale by a posteriorly less strongly tapering pronotum, relatively larger eyes, a much shorter and narrower posterior excision of the male sternite VIII, and by a much smaller aedeagus (S. anale: aedeagus approximately 2.0 mm long) with an apex of different shape in lateral view. The male sexual characters of S. persimile are unknown.
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: The type locality is situated near Kampong Chhnang in the estuary of the effluent of Tonle Sap lake (Fig. 9), Cambodia. The specimens were collected with a light trap, together with seven species of Micrillus (one of them undescribed).
description: Published as part of Assing, Volker, 2018, A revision of Palaearctic and Oriental Scymbalium and Micrillus III. New species, new combinations, and additional records (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), pp. 977-996 in Linzer biologische Beiträge 50 (2) on pages 979-980, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3776470