Zyras (Zyras) exasperatus SCHUBERT 1908
Creators: name: Assing, Volker
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Zyras
Zyras exasperatus

description: Zyras (Zyras) exasperatus SCHUBERT, 1908
(Figs 2, 43, 121–124, Map 1)
Zyras exasperatus SCHUBERT, 1908: 610 f.
Type material examined: Lectotype ♂ [teneral]: “ Kulu 10 / Myrmedonia sg. Zyras, exasperatus m. type. / Typus / exasperatus m. / Holotypus [sic] Zyras exasperatus Schubert, 1908, labelled by MNHUB 2016 / Lectotypus ♂ Zyras exasperatus Schubert, desig. V. Assing 2016 / Zyras exasperatus Schubert, det. V. Assing 2016” (MNB).
Comment: The original description is based on an unspecified number of syntypes from “Kulu, Himalaya, ca. 3000 m ” (SCHUBERT 1908). Only one syntype, a slightly teneral male, was located in the collections of the MNB. This specimen is designated as the lectotype.
Redescription: Body length 7.0 mm; length of forebody 3.3 mm. Coloration (note that the holotype is teneral; mature specimens are most likely of significantly darker coloration) (Figs 2, 43): head dark-brown; pronotum and elytra brown, with the postero-lateral portions of the elytra slightly and diffusely darker; abdomen: tergites II–VI brown with paler posterior margins and paratergites, tergites VII–X reddish; legs yellowishbrown; antennae dark-brown with antennomere XI reddish-brown; maxillary palpi brown, with the apical palpomere yellowish.
Head (Fig. 43) distinctly transverse, broadly impunctate along middle; punctation in lateral dorsal portions moderately fine and moderately sparse. Eyes slightly longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna (Fig. 2) 2.6 mm long and slender; antennomeres IV–V weakly oblong, VI–VII approximately as long as broad, VIII–X weakly transverse, X much less than 1.5 times as broad as long, and XI slightly longer than the combined length of IX and X.
Pronotum (Fig. 43) weakly transverse, 1.1 times as broad as long and 1.37 times as broad as head, broadest near anterior angles, distinctly tapering posteriad; lateral margins straight in posterior half (dorsal view); punctation moderately sparse and irregularly distributed, in antero-lateral portions with rather extensive impunctate patch on either side; midline broadly impunctate; lateral margins each with four long brown setae.
Elytra (Fig. 43) 0.84 times as long as pronotum; punctation coarse, somewhat asperate or granulose in anterior half, rather dense near anterior margins and scutellum, moderately dense elsewhere. Hind wings probably present. Metatarsomere I approximately as long as the combined length of II–IV.
Abdomen slightly narrower than elytra, with rather shallow anterior impressions on tergites III–V; anterior impressions of tergites III–V each with few scattered fine non-setiferous punctures in the middle, laterally impunctate; tergites III–IV with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side and with four setiferous punctures at posterior margins; tergite V with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side and with six setiferous punctures at posterior margin; tergite VI with a narrow transverse row of approximately ten non-setiferous punctures confined to the middle of anterior portion (laterally impunctate), with a lateral setiferous puncture on either side, and with six setiferous punctures at posterior margin; tergite VII with a narrow transverse band of non-setiferous punctures anteriorly, with a median pair of setiferous punctures at posterior fourth, and with a transverse series of six setiferous punctures near posterior margin, posterior margin with palisade fringe; tergite VIII (Fig. 123) with 14 long black setae near posterior margin, posterior margin concavely excised in the middle, on either side of this concavity with a triangular projection.
♂: sternite VIII (Fig. 124) with strongly convex posterior margin; median lobe of aedeagus 0.9 mm long and shaped as in Figs 121–122; paramere nearly as long as median lobe, with rather short and slender apical lobe.
♀: unknown.
Comparative notes: Based on the external and sexual characters, Z. exasperatus is closely related to Z. kraatzi and allied species. It differs from the sympatric Z. kraatzi by larger body size, paler coloration (but note that the lectotype is teneral), longer and more slender antennae, a less convex pronotum (cross-section) with less sparse punctation, denser, coarser, and somewhat asperate or granulose punctation of the elytra, even fewer nonsetiferous punctures on the abdomen, and by the larger aedeagus with a slightly broader crista apicalis and a ventral process of slightly different shape.
The possibility that Z. iniquus from Pakistan and Afghanistan is conspecific with Z. exasperatus cannot be ruled out completely. Mature males of Z. exasperatus would be needed to assess intraspecific variation of coloration and other characters.
Distribution: This species is currently known only from the type locality in Himalachal Pradesh, Northwest India (Map 1). The previous record from Uttarakhand (ASSING 2016a) is based on a misidentification.
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 126-127, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.67.1.117-192, http://zenodo.org/record/5742363