Spinosciacharis puncticeps Franz, comb. n.
Creators: name: Jałoszyński, Paweł
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Spinosciacharis
Spinosciacharis puncticeps

description: Spinosciacharis puncticeps (Franz) comb. n.
(Figs. 112–113, 117, 121–122, 196 a)
Horaeomorphus puncticeps Franz, 1975: 142, Figs. 119–120.
Type material studied. Holotype: AUSTRALIA: ♂: six labels (Fig. 113): "Dorrigo / N.S. Wales " [white, printed], " Horaeomorphus / puncticeps m. / det. H. Franz" [white, handwritten and printed], " Typus " [red, handwritten], " SAMA Database / No. 25-037012" [white, handwritten], " SAMA Digital Image / 14. 8. 2013 " [green, printed and handwritten], " Spinosciacharis / puncticeps (Franz, 1975) / det. P. Jałoszyński, 2014 / HOLOTYPUS " [red, printed] (SAM).
Revised diagnosis. Male: BL nearly 2.5 mm; elytra rhomboidal; EI <1.4; metafemur with straight and pointed ventral projection, without distal ventral lobe. Female and its diagnostic characters unknown.
Redescription. Body of male (Fig. 112) flattened, elongate and slender, with long appendages, BL 2.45 mm; cuticle glossy, body dark brown with reddish hue, appendages slightly lighter, vestiture yellowish.
Head (Fig.112) rounded, broadest just behind eyes, HL 0.48 mm, HW 0.53 mm; tempora nearly three times as long as eyes, strongly curved posteromesally; vertex evenly convex; frons confluent with vertex, subtrapezoidal, convex. Eyes small and weakly protruding laterally from the head silhouette, finely faceted. Punctures on head dorsum distinct, small but sharply marked, separated by spaces 1–1.5x as wide as diameters of punctures; setae on frons and median part of vertex short, sparse and suberect, tempora and sides of vertex with moderately dense bristles directed posterolaterally. Antennae (Fig. 112) slender, AnL 1.10 mm; antennomeres I–VI elongate, VII–X about as long as broad; XI much shorter than IX–X together, 1.7x as long as broad, pointed.
Pronotum (Fig. 112) in dorsal view elongate, broadest near anterior third, PL 0.65 mm, PW 0.55 mm; anterior and lateral margins rounded; posterior margin distinctly bisinuate; base of pronotum with distinct sublateral carinae accompanied mesally by shallow impressions, median part of pronotal base with two small but distinct pits separated by narrow carina as long as 3x diameter of pit and extending anteriorly and posteriorly beyond pits, posteriorly reaching posterior pronotal margin. Punctures on pronotal disc fine and inconspicuous, less distinct than those on frons and vertex; setae sparse, thin, short and suberect, only sides of pronotum with moderately dense bristles.
Elytra (Fig. 112) slightly rhomboidal, broadest slightly anterior to middle, EL 1.33 mm, EW 0.95 mm, EI 1.39; basal impressions short but deep; circumsutural area in anterior fourth slightly more convex than surrounding cuticle and bordered posteriorly by indistinct short impression; elytral apices rounded together. Punctures on elytral disc fine but slightly more distinct and denser than those on pronotum, less distinct than those on frons and vertex; setae short, sparse and suberect. Hind wings well developed, about twice as long as elytra.
Legs (Figs. 112, 117) long and slender, metafemur (Fig. 117) with long, pointed and straight ventral projection, without ventral distal lobe.
Aedeagus (Figs. 121–122) elongate, AeL 0.40 mm, in ventral view sides of median lobe concave in middle, apical portion subtrapezoidal; internal armature lightly sclerotized, with two pairs of subapical microdenticulate structures; parameres strongly broadening distally and their apices far exceeding apex of median lobe.
Female. Unknown.
Distribution (Fig. 196 a). South-eastern Australia: New South Wales.
Remarks. Spinosciacharis puncticeps is most conspicuous species of this genus; its large and dark body with broad elytra and unique metafemoral modifications allow for unambiguous identification.
description: Published as part of Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2014, ' The curse of Horaeomorphus ': taxonomy of misplaced Australian Cyrtoscydmini (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae), pp. 1-76 in Zootaxa 3828 (1) on page 44, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3828.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/286513