Quedius (Microsaurus) kurbatovi Ejean 2015, nov.sp.
Creators: name: Ejean
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Quedius
Quedius kurbatovi

description: Quedius (Microsaurus) kurbatovi nov.sp. (Figs 16, 17)   
T y p e l o c a l i t y: China: Sichuan,SXichang,Mt.Luoji, 2300- 2500 m.  
T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype (): CHINA: "China S Sichaun S Xichang Mt. Luoji 2300-2500 litter 16-24. 07. 96 Kurbatov". In MHNG. Paratypes: Sichuan: same data as holotype, 2 (ASC, MHNG).  
D e s c r i p t i o n. Dark piceous, pronotum and narrow apical margins of abdominal tergites and apex of abdomen somewhat paler; abdomen slighty iridescent; mouthparts, palpi, legs and first three segments of antennae testaceous to brownish testaceous, rest of antennae more or less darkened. Head of rounded shape, about as long as wide, with posterior angles entirely obsolete, only slightly narrowed behind eyes, neck therefore rather wide; eyes moderately large, rather flat, tempora shorter than eyes seen from above (ratio 0.66); no additional setiferous punctures between anterior frontal punctures; posterior frontal puncture situated far from medioapical margin of eye but distinctly closer to it than to posterior margin of head; temporal puncture small, situated about midway between posterior margin of eye and posterior margin of head; two punctures behind posterior frontal puncture at posterior margin of head; tempora impunctate; surface of head with very fine, superficial microsculpture of transverse waves with numerous longitudinal connections, appearing here and there as of incomplete transverse meshes. Antenna relatively short, segments 2 and 3 subequal in length, segments 4 to 6 longer than wide, becoming gradually shorter,following segments about as long as wide, last segment as long as two preceding segments combined. Pronotum slightly wider than long (ratio 1.13), widest at about posterior fifth, markedly narrowed anteriad, with lateral margins continuously arcuate with obtusedly rounded base with middle portion almost straight, transversely convex, lateral portions not explanate; dorsal rows each with four punctures, last puncture smaller than preceding punctures and shifted toward midline of pronotum; sublateral rows each with two punctures, both close to anterior margin of pronotum; microsculpture finer than that on head and composed of transverse and oblique waves. Scutellum conspicuously wide at base, impunctate, with extremely fine microsculpture of rudimentary transverse waves. Elytra markedly short, at base somewhat narrower than pronotum at widest point, slightly dilated posteriad, at suture considerably (ratio 0.66), at sides somewhat (ratio 0.80) shorter than pronotum at midline; punctuation moderately coarse and sparse, becoming finer toward lateral margin of each elytron, transverse interspaces between punctures distinctly larger than diameters of punctures, pubescence piceous; surface between punctures without microsculpture. Wings apparently reduced to short stumps. Abdomen with tergite 7 (fifth visible) lacking fine whitish apical seam of palisade fringe; tergite two (in front of first entirely visible tergite) pale and impunctate; punctuation of abdominal tergites finer than that on elytra, in general becoming distinctly sparser toward apex of abdomen; pubescence piceous, surface between punctures with exceedingly dense and fine microsculpture of transverse striae.  
Female. First four segments of front tarsus only slightly dilated, subbilobed, each with tenent setae ventrally; segment two narrower than apex of tibia (ratio 0.83); tergite 10 of genital segment of characteristic shape, slightly pigmented medioapically, with several setae of unequal length at and near apex (Fig.16), or with two long, strong medial setae and two much shorter and finer setae at apex (Fig.17), otherwise asetose.  
Male unknown.  
Length 5.5- 6.0 mm.  
E t y m o l o g y. Patronymic, the species was named in honor of Dr. Serguei A. Kurbatov, Moscow, Russia, the collector of the specimens of the original series.  
 G e o g r a p h i c a l d i s t r i b u t i o n. Quedius kurbatovi is at present known only from the type locality in southern Sichuan.   
B i o n o m i c s Nothing is known about the collecting circumstances of the specimens, except that they were apparently sifted from "litter".  
 R e c o g n i t i o n a n d c o m m e n t s Quedius kurbatovi is a very distinctive species that cannot be confused with any other Quedius species. It is the sole member of a distinctive Q. kurbatovi species- group, characterized mainly as follows: pronotal dorsal rows each composed of four punctures, with last puncture being finer than the rest and shifted toward midline of pronotum; basal margin of pronotum obtusely rounded with middle portion almost straight; scutellum conspicuously wide at base and elytra markedly short. Additional support is the chaetotaxy of the head with posterior frontal puncture and temporal puncture both being situated away from the eye margin (see above).   
The markedly different setation of the apical portion of tergite 10 of the female genital segment is quite unusual, however, at present it must be assumed that both types represent one single species.
description: Published as part of Ejean, 2015, Contributions to the knowledge of the Quediina (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylinini) of China. Part 56. Genus Quedius STEPHENS, 1829 Subgenus Microsaurus DEJEAN, 1833. Section 23, pp. 1843-1854 in Linzer biologische Beiträge 47 (2) on pages 1847-1848, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5285994