Zyras (Zyras) brignolii
Creators: name: Assing, Volker
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Zyras
Zyras brignolii

description: Zyras (Zyras) brignolii (PACE, 1986)
(Figs 15, 66, 103, Map 8)
Drusilla brignolii PACE, 1986b: 487.
Zyras (Zyras) thainiger PACE, 2012b: 340; syn. n.
Type material examined: D. brignolii: Holotype ♀: “ Thailand, Bang Kok, 10.I.1980, Osella / Holotypus Drusilla osellai [sic] m., det. R. Pace, 1984 / Drusilla osellai n. sp., det. R. Pace, 1984 / Drusilla brignolii n. sp., det. Pace ” (MCSNV).
Z. thainiger: Holotype ♀: “ THAILAND, Doi Mae Salong, 23.X.2010, G. de Rougemont / Holotypus Zyras thainiger mihi, det. R. Pace, 2011 / Zyras thainiger n. sp., det. R. Pace, 2011 ” (cRou).
Comment: The original description of Drusilla brignolii is based on a unique female from “ Thailand, Bangkok ” (PACE 1986b) and that of Z. thainiger on a unique female from “ Thailand, Doi Mae Salong” (PACE 2012b). Judging from the labels attached to the holotype of D. brignolii, Pace originally planned to name the species D. osellai, but later changed his mind. Drusilla brignolii was moved to Zyras sensu strictu, primarily based on the illustration of the spermatheca, by ASSING (2016a). A comparison of the holotypes revealed no differences whatsoever suggesting that they should belong to different species, so that Z. thainiger is placed in synonymy with Z. brignolii.
The female listed as additional material was recorded as Zyras sp. 10 in ASSING (2016a).
Additional material examined: China: 1 ♀, Yunnan, Baoshan Pref., mountain range 22 km S Tengchong, 24°49'N, 98°29'E, 1750 m, secondary forest, litter sifted, 2.VI.2007, leg. Schülke (cAss).
Redescription: Body length 6.5–7.3 mm; length of forebody 2.9–3.2 mm. Coloration (Figs 15, 66, 103): forebody black; abdomen black, except for the dark-reddish anterior margins, antero-lateral portions, and anterior portions of the paratergites of the abdominal tergites III–VII; legs yellowish with the profemora dark-brown and the apical halves of the meso- and metafemora blackish; antennae dark-brown with antennomere XI yellowish; maxillary palpi dark-brown with the terminal palpomere yellowish.
Head (Fig. 66) moderately transverse, middle and anterior portion extensively impunctate; punctation in lateral and posterior dorsal portions sparse and distinct. Eyes moderately large and bulging, slightly longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna (Fig. 15) 2.4–2.7 mm long; antennomeres IV–VII of gradually decreasing length and decreasingly oblong, IV distinctly, VII weakly oblong, VIII as long as broad, IX–X weakly transverse, and XI approximately as long as the combined length of IX and X.
Pronotum (Fig. 66) weakly transverse, 1.10–1.12 times as broad as long and 1.17–1.24 times as broad as head, broadest anteriorly, distinctly tapering posteriad; lateral margins straight or weakly sinuate in posterior twothirds (dorsal view); punctation coarse and irregularly distributed, middle and lateral portion with rather extensive impunctate patches; lateral margins each with four long, black setae, anterior margin with an additional long black seta on either side.
Elytra (Fig. 66) 0.78 times as long as pronotum; punctation coarse and rather dense, and more or less regularly distributed; interstices on average slightly broader than diameter of punctures. Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I approximately as long as the combined length of II–IV.
Abdomen (Fig. 103) approximately as broad as elytra, with moderately deep anterior impressions on tergites III–V; anterior impressions of tergites III–V without non-setiferous punctures; tergite III with a lateral cluster of some punctures bearing long dark setae on either side and with sparse fine punctures at posterior margin; tergites IV and V with or without a median pair of setiferous punctures, with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side, and with approximately ten rather distinct punctures at or near posterior margin; tergite VI with a transverse series of non-setiferous punctures at anterior margin, with a transverse row of 2–6 setiferous punctures across the middle, and with approximately ten setiferous punctures at or near posterior margin; tergite VII with a narrow transverse band of non-setiferous punctures anteriorly, setiferous punctation similar to that of tergite VI; tergite VIII with sparse setiferous punctures in posterior third, posterior margin smoothly convex.
♂: unknown.
Comparative notes: Among other geographically close congeners, Z. brignolii is characterized particularly by the coloration (black body with distinctly bicoloured legs), a slender habitus, an irregularly punctate pronotum, the punctation pattern of the abdomen, and a smoothly convex posterior margin of the abdominal tergite VIII.
Distribution and natural history: The species is currently known only from two localities in North Thailand (one at approximately 20°10'N, 99°37'E and one in or near Bangkok) and one locality in the west of the Chinese province Yunnan (Map 8). The specimen from Yunnan, which represents the first record from China, was sifted from litter and dead wood in a secondary forest at an altitude of 1750 m.
description: Published as part of Assing, Volker, 2017, On Zyras sensu strictu in the East Palaearctic and Oriental regions, with a focus on the faunas of the Himalaya, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Sulawesi (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Lomechusini), pp. 117-192 in Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 67 (1) on pages 148-149, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.67.1.117-192, http://zenodo.org/record/5742363