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

description: Zyras (Zyras) lunatus spec. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: ACD6BAAB-FE21-415D-903F-1D2CDEFE0607
(Figs 15, 29, 47, 99–101)
Type material examined: Holotype ♂: “ MALAYSIA: Selangor, Ulu Gombak Field Studies Centre (250 m), 2–18.III.2004 (FIT), Maruyama M. et al. / Holotypus ♂ Zyras lunatus sp. n., det. V. Assing 2017” (cMar). Paratypes: 1 ♂ [teneral], 1 ♀: same data as holotype (cMar, cAss).
Etymology: The specific epithet is the past participle of the Latin verb lunare (to bend) and alludes to the subapically distinctly angled ventral process of the aedeagus.
Description: Body length 5.4–6.6 mm; length of forebody 2.6–2.9 mm. Coloration (Figs 15, 29, 47): head darkbrown to blackish; pronotum dark-brown; elytra brown to dark-brown with the suture paler; abdomen reddish with the posterior margins of tergites III–V, the posterior portions of tergites VI–VII, and all of tergite VIII yellowish-red; legs yellowish; antennae brown with antennomeres I–II reddish; maxillary palpi reddish with the apical palpomere yellowish.
Head (Fig. 29) distinctly transverse; punctation moderately coarse and moderately dense, median dorsal portion extensively impunctate; pubescence long, sub-erect to erect, and brown. Eyes moderately large, slightly longer than the postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna (Fig. 15) 2.0– 2.1 mm long; antennomeres IV approximately as long as broad or weakly oblong, V as long as broad or weakly transverse, VI–X of gradually increasing width and increasingly transverse, X approximately 1.5 times as broad as long, and XI of conical shape and short, shorter than the combined length of IX and X.
Pronotum (Fig. 29) 1.11–1.12 times as broad as long and 1.23–1.25 times as broad as head, broadest in anterior half, weakly convex in cross-section; posterior angles obtusely marked; lateral margins weakly to distinctly sinuate in posterior half in dorsal view; punctation rather coarse, dense, and somewhat irregularly distributed, laterally and near posterior margin with impunctate patches; midline rather broadly impunctate; pubescence long, pale, and sub-erect; lateral and anterior margins with numerous longer, stouter, and distinctly erect dark setae.
Elytra (Fig. 29) 0.81–0.87 times as long as pronotum; punctation moderately dense and moderately coarse, regularly distributed, and defined; pubescence dense, long, pale, and sub-erect. Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I shorter than the combined length of II–IV.
Abdomen (Fig. 47) nearly as broad as elytra, with rather shallow anterior impressions on tergites III–V; tergites III–V without non-setiferous punctation in anterior impressions (individual punctures may be present), with a transverse row of approximately four setiferous punctures in posterior portions, and with usually eight setiferous punctures at posterior margins; tergite VI with a transverse band of fine non-setiferous punctation anteriorly, with sparse and fine non-setiferous punctures in median third, with some setiferous punctures laterally and with 8–10 setiferous punctures at posterior margin; tergite VII with a transverse band of dense non-setiferous punctures anteriorly, with sparse non-setiferous punctures in median third, and with two transverse rows of setiferous punctures posteriorly (each composed of approximately four punctures), posterior margin with palisade fringe; tergite VIII with setiferous punctures bearing long black setae in posterior third, posterior margin weakly concave in the middle; all sternites with long, dense, and erect yellowish pubescence (rubbed off in the holotype).
♂: sternite VIII with convex posterior margin; median lobe of aedeagus 0.68–0.75 mm long and shaped as in Figs 99–100; ventral process slender and subapically distinctly angled; paramere (Fig. 101) 0.78–0.84 mm long and with short apical lobe.
♀: posterior margin of sternite VIII weakly concave in the middle.
Comparative notes: Like the syntopic Z. hlavaci, Z. lunatus belongs to the Z. hirtus group. It is distinguished from Z. hlavaci by smaller body size, more slender antennae, finer and less extensive non-setiferous punctation on the abdomen, and by a smaller aedeagus with a subapically more strongly angled, apically shorter, and in ventral view broader and apically less acute ventral process. It differs from the even smaller Z. formosanus ASSING, 2016 (Taiwan) by a darker forebody, darker antennae with shorter antennomeres IV and V, much longer elytra, the punctation pattern of the abdomen (Z. formosanus: tergites III–VI with a transverse row of numerous long black setae posteriorly; tergites VI and VII with very sparse non-setiferous punctation anteriorly), and by a smaller aedeagus (despite larger body size) with a longer, subapically distinctly angled, and apically much more slender ventral process.
Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated in Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia. The specimens were collected with flight interception traps, together with Z. hlavaci. One of the paratypes is slightly teneral.
description: Published as part of Assing, Volker, 2017, On Zyras sensu strictu in the East Palaearctic and Oriental regions III, with a focus on the Southeast of Continental Asia and the Sunda Islands (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Lomechusini), pp. 213-246 in Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 67 (2) on pages 239-240, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.67.2.213-246, http://zenodo.org/record/5742339