Nepalota mocytoides Assing 2015, nov.sp.
Creators: name: Assing, Volker
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Nepalota
Nepalota mocytoides

description: Nepalota mocytoides nov.sp.
(Figs 75-85, Map 3)
Type material: Holotype ♂: " CHINA [18] - Yunnan, mts S Jianshui, broad-leaved for., 23°25'20''N, 102°51'05''E, 1890 m, 22.VIII.2014, V. Assing / Holotypus ♂ Nepalota mocytoides sp.n. det. V. Assing 2014" (cAss). Paratypes: 3♂♂, 2♀♀: same data as holotype (cAss, MNHUB); 2 exs.: " CHINA: Yunnan, mountains S Jianshui, 1890 m, 23°25'20''N, 102°51'05''E, subtropical broad-leaved forest, litter sifted, 22.VIII.2014, leg. M. Schülke [CH14-18]" (cSch, cAss); 3♂♂ [1 teneral]: " CHINA [19] - Yunnan, mts S Jianshui, forest margin, 23°25'18''N, 102°50'53''E, 1810 m, 22.VIII.2014, V. Assing " (cAss, MNHUB); 2 exs.: " CHINA: Yunnan, mountains S Jianshui, 1810 m, 23°25'18''N, 102°50'53''E, secondary forest margin, litter & debris sifted, 22.VIII.2014, leg. M. Schülke [CH14-19]" (cSch, cAss).
Etymology: The specific epithet (adjective) alludes to the external resemblance of this species to species of the subgenus Mocyta MULSANT & REY, 1874 of the genus Atheta THOMSON, l858.
Description: Body length 3.3-4.5 mm; length of forebody 1.6-1.9 mm. Coloration: head blackish-brown to blackish; pronotum dark-brown to blackish-brown; elytra brown to dark-brown; abdomen blackish-brown, with the anterior segments often slightly paler and with the posterior margins of the segements narrowly reddish to reddishbrown; legs yellowish; antennae reddish-brown with the basal 2-3 antennomeres and antennomere XI reddish.
Head (Fig. 75) transverse; dorsal surface with shallow microreticulation and with fine and moderately sparse punctation. Eyes large, much longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna (Fig. 76) 0.80-0.95 mm long; antennomere IV weakly oblong or approximately as long as broad; antennomeres V-X of gradually increasing width and increasingly transverse; preapical antennomeres distinctly transverse; antennomere XI longer than the combined length of IX and X, but shorter than the combined length of VIII-X.
Pronotum (Fig. 75) large and transverse, approximately 1.4 times as broad as long and approximately 1.5 times as broad as head, without sexual dimorphism; disc with shallow microreticulation and with rather dense, moderately fine punctation.
Elytra (Fig. 75) short, approximately 0.8 times as long as pronotum; punctation dense and moderately fine; interstices with distinct microreticulation. Hind wings present.
Abdomen with very shallow transverse microsculpture, glossy; anterior portions of tergites III-VII impunctate; posterior portions of tergites III-IV, with moderately dense, those of tergites V-VI with moderately sparse, and that of tergite VII with sparse punctation; pubescence composed of very thin pale setae; tergites III and VII without sexual dimorphism.
♂: tergite VIII (Fig. 77) weakly transverse, posterior margin obtusely pointed in the middle; sternite VIII (Fig. 78) approximately as long as broad, somewhat longer than tergite VIII, and strongly convex posteriorly; median lobe of aedeagus (Figs 79-80) approximately 0.5 mm long, with pronounced crista apicalis; paramere (Fig. 72) approximately 0.5 mm long and with slender apical lobe.
♀: tergite VIII (Fig. 82) of similar shape as in male; sternite VIII (Fig. 83) distinctly transverse and with weakly convex posterior margin; spermatheca (Figs 84-85) approximately 0.4 mm long.
Comparative notes: This species is distinguished from all previously described Nepalota species by the broad forebody with a strongly transverse pronotum, in combination with almost uniformly brown coloration of the body. In addition, it is characterized by the shape of the ventral process and the crista apicalis of the median lobe of the aedeagus, by the secondary sexual characters, and by the shape of the spermatheca.
Distribution and natural history: The type specimens were collected in two adjacent localities to the south of Jianshui, southern Yunnan (Map 3), by sifting leaf litter in a subtropical broad-leaved forest and in a secondary forest margin at altitudes of 1890 and 1810 m, respectively. One of the paratypes is teneral.
description: Published as part of Assing, Volker, 2015, On the Nepalota fauna of China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Athetini), pp. 207-248 in Linzer biologische Beiträge 47 (1) on pages 229-232, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5414155