Zyras (Zyras) proximus CAMERON 1939
Creators: name: Assing, Volker
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Zyras
Zyras proximus

description: Zyras (Zyras) proximus CAMERON, 1939
(Figs 28–29, 65, 105, 191–197, Map 6)
Zyras (Zyras) proximus CAMERON, 1939a: 538 f.
Zyras (Zyras) drugmandi PACE, 2004: 293 f.; syn. n.
Type material examined: Z. proximus: Holotype ♀: “ Nilgiri Hills., A.K. Weld Downing. / a 422 / Z. proximus Cam. Type / M. Cameron. Bequest. 1955-147. / Holotype / Holotypus Zyras proximus Cam., det. R.G. Booth 2016” (BMNH).
Z. drugmandi: Holotype ♀: “Coll. I.R.Sc.N.B., Thailande (Loei), Na Haeo (malaise trap), 04–27.VIII.2000, Leg. Constant & Grootaert / Holotypus Zyras drugmandi n. sp., det. R. Pace 2004 / Zyras drugmandi n. sp., det. R. Pace 2004 ” (IRSNB). Paratypes: 1 ♀: same locality as holotype, “malaise trap, 18–25.III.2001, Leg: P. Grootaert” (IRSNB); 1 ♀ [misidentified; belonging to Z. castaneus]: same locality as holotype, “ 05–12.V.2001, Leg. Constant & Grootaert / Pitfall Station 5, 2° forest, tall trees; dense ground vegetation, densely covered with litter / not conspecific with holotype, rev. V. Assing 2016” (IRSNB).
Comment: The original description of Z. proximus is based on a unique specimen from “Nilgiri Hills” (CAMERON 1939a). The holotype, a female, was located in the Cameron collection at the BMNH.
The original description of Z. drugmandi is based on three females. An examination of these specimens revealed that they are not conspecific, but belong to two species. The holotype and one of the paratypes are conspecific with Z. proximus, whereas the other paratype belongs to Z. castaneus, a species distinguished from Z. proximus by completely different coloration of the abdomen, longer and more slender antennae with a more elongate antennomere XI, different punctation of the pronotum, and a different punctation pattern of the abdomen.
Additional material examined: India: 15 exs., Meghalaya, Khasi Hills, Mawsynram, 25°18'N, 91°29'E, 700–900 m, 5.–9.VI.2006, leg. Pacholátko (BMNH, cAss); 12 exs., Meghalaya, SW Cherrapunjee, 25°13–15'N, 91°49'E, 900 m, 5.–24.V.2005, leg. Pacholátko (BMNH, cAss). China: 1 ♀ [teneral], Guizhou, Fanjing Shan, 27°54'N, 108°42'E, 1400–1700 m, 5.–11.VI.2014, leg. Reuter (cAss). Thailand: 7 exs., Tak province, Umphang district, Song Bae Stream, Thung Yai Wildlife Sanctuary, 15°28'N, 98°48'E, 300 m, evergreen rain forest, 18–27.IV.1988, leg. Brendell (BMNH, cAss); 3 exs., Tak province, Umphang district, Mae Chan – Mae Klong confluence, Thung Yai Wildlife Sanctuary, 15°30'N, 98°48'E, 300 m, edge of Karen clearing, 27.IV.–6.V.1988, leg. Brendell (BMNH, cAss). Laos: 2 ♀♀, Houa Phan province, Phou Pane Mt., 20°13'N, 104°00'E, 1480–1510 m, 22.IV.–14.V.2008, leg. Kubáň (NMP, cAss); 36 exs., Phongsaly province, Phongsaly env., 1300–1500 m, V.2004 (cMar, cAss).
Redescription: Size highly variable: body length 4.5–7.0 mm; length of forebody 1.9–3.0 mm. Coloration (Figs 28–29, 65, 105): head and pronotum blackishbrown; elytra dark-yellowish with the postero-lateral portions more or less extensively dark-brown; abdomen blackish-brown, with the posterior margins of tergites III–V narrowly yellowish-brown; legs pale-yellowish; antennae brown with the basal 2–3 antennomeres palereddish; maxillary palpi reddish to dark-brown, with the terminal palpomere yellowish.
Head (Fig. 65) moderately transverse, broadly impunctate along middle, in lateral portions with sparse and moderately coarse punctation. Eyes large and bulging, much longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna (Figs 28–29) slender, 1.7–2.6 mm long; antennomeres IV–V approximately as long as broad or weakly oblong, VI–VII approximately as long as broad or weakly transverse, VIII–X weakly transverse, X 1.3–1.5 times as broad as long, and XI distinctly elongate, approximately as long as the combined length of VIII–X, or nearly so.
Pronotum (Fig. 65) relatively small (in relation to head), approximately 1.2 times as broad as long and 1.1–1.2 times as broad as head, broadest near anterior angles; lateral margins straight in posterior two-thirds, strongly converging posteriad; surface very uneven, with impressions of variable size and shape; punctation distinctive, coarse, very sparse, and very irregularly distributed. Elytra (Fig. 65) 0.8–0.9 times as long as pronotum; punctation coarse and moderately dense to dense, more or less regularly distributed, somewhat sparser posteriorly than anteriorly. Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I slightly to distinctly shorter than the combined length of II–IV.
Abdomen (Fig. 105) narrower than elytra, with moderately deep anterior impressions on tergites III–V; anterior impressions of tergites III–V each with a row or with a transverse band of shallow to coarse non-setiferous punctures; tergite III with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side and with four setiferous punctures at posterior margin (median pair usually somewhat separated from margin); tergites IV and V with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side and with 4–6 setiferous punctures at posterior margin; tergite VI with a transverse row of sparse non-setiferous punctures at anterior margin, with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side, and with six setiferous punctures at or near posterior margin; tergite VII with scattered and rather fine nonsetiferous punctures at anterior margin, with a transverse row of 4–6 setiferous punctures at posterior third, and with usually six setiferous punctures at or near posterior margin, sometimes with a median pair of coarser punctures posteriorly, posterior margin with palisade fringe; tergite VIII with sparse long and black setae in posterior portion, posterior margin sexually dimorphic.
♂: posterior margin of tergite VIII (Fig. 196) with four blunt teeth; sternite VIII (Fig. 197) oblong, posterior margin truncate or convex in the middle; median lobe of aedeagus approximately 0.8–0.9 mm long and shaped as in Figs 191–194; paramere (Fig. 195) significantly longer than median lobe and with elongate apical lobe.
♀: posterior margin of tergite VIII without teeth, simply truncate to indistinctly concave in the middle; posterior margin of sternite VIII broadly and distinctly concave in the middle.
Intraspecific variation: Zyras proximus is subject to enormous intraspecific variation of body size, length of antennae, the number of punctures on the abdomen, the size of the aedeagus, and other characters. While the anterior impressions of tergites IV and V usually only have a single transverse row of non-setiferous punctures in material from Thailand, the non-setiferous punctation of larger specimens from Northeast India tends to be more extensive.
Comparative notes: As can be inferred from the similar punctation pattern of the forebody and abdomen, and particularly from the derived shapes of the pronotum (disc with very uneven surface) and of the apical lobe of the paramere (rather long and slender), Z. proximus is closely related to Z. condignus and allied species. Among the species of this group, it is characterized particularly by the elongate antennomere XI, the shapes of the sexually dimorphic tergite and sternite VIII (especially the shape of the male tergite VIII), and by the shape of the aedeagus.
Distribution and natural history: This species has been recorded from South and Northeast India, the Chinese province Guizhou, Thailand, and Laos (Map 6). The teneral female from Guizhou was recorded as Zyras sp. 15 by ASSING (2016a). Although this is not explicitly stated on most of the labels, the specimens from Thailand and Laos appear to have been collected with flight (Malaise?) traps, as can be inferred from the number of specimens collected in the same locality and from the observation that practically all the specimens have the hind wings fully unfolded. The altitudes range from 300 to approximately 1500 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 149-150, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.67.1.117-192, http://zenodo.org/record/5742363