Scydmaenus chinensis Franz 1988
Creators: name: Yin, Zi-Wei
name: Zhou, De-Yao
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Scydmaenus
Scydmaenus chinensis

description: Scydmaenus (s. str.) chinensis Franz, 1988
Chinese common name: 中华ẅm
(Fig. 3)
Scydmaenus chinensis Franz, 1988: 24; O’Keefe & Li, J.-K. 1999: 160. Type locality: Sichuan, Leshan.
Scydmaenus (s. str.) chinensis; Vít 2004: 226; Schülke & Smetana 2015: 897; Li, L.-Z. et al. 2019: 342; Jałoszyński 2021b: 355.
Material examined (15 exx.). 9 ♂♂, 6 ♀♀: ‘ China: Yunnan, Zhaotong City, Wumengshan Natural Reserve, Xiaoyanfang Station, 28.249860°N, 103.975665°E, 1840–2060 m, 13.vii.2022, Wei leg., 云南DZdz乌AE山小岩坊 M国Dzẍ ’ (SNUC).
Diagnosis. Male. Body (Fig. 3A) length approximately 1.8–1.9 mm. Head and pronotum finely and rather sparsely punctate.Head slightly longer than wide, suboval, tempora much longer than eyes; antenna with antennomere 5 much longer than 4 and 6, 7 and 8 transversely subconical, 9–11 greatly enlarged and forming distinct club, 11 subconical. Pronotum bell-shaped, with four large antebasal impressions; lateral margins distinctly convergent posteriorly from broadest point to base. Each elytron with round apex, well exposing pygidium. Metaventrite and legs lacking modifications. Protarsomere 1 broadened, tarsomeres successively narrowing from 1 to 5. Aedeagus (Fig. 3B, C) elongate, dorso-ventrally almost symmetric, laterally moderately curved at middle; endophallus armature composed of broad sclerite bifurcate in apical part, forming two lobes, left lobe shorter than right one, curved at apex, right one gradually narrowing toward apex; areas lateral to ostium with rows of long, curved setae.
Female. Body length slightly shorter than male. Antenna as long as male. Protarsus slender. Spermatheca (Fig. 3D, E) spherical, with broad opening and long funnel-like structure located on same axis as insertion of accessory gland.
Description. See Jałoszyński 2021b: 355. Measurements for Wumengshan population: male body length 1.90– 1.92 mm, length/width of head 0.38–0.40/ 0.35–0.38 mm, pronotum 0.57–0.58/ 0.50–0.51 mm, elytra 0.97–1.02/ 0.81 mm, length of antenna 0.93–0.99 mm; length of aedeagus 0.46 mm; female body length 1.85 mm, length/width of head 0.37–0.38/ 0.37–0.38 mm, pronotum 0.56–0.59/ 0.51–0.52 mm, elytra 0.95–1.01/ 0.81–1.83 mm, length of antenna 0.93–0.99 mm; longest diameter of spermatheca 0.12 mm.
Distribution. Southwest China: Sichuan, Yunnan.
Remarks. This species is easily distinguishable by the aedeagal structures, particularly by the shape of the endophallus armature. The spermatheca is illustrated for the first time.All individuals were simultaneously collected with S. vestitus (Sharp).
In his redescription, Jałoszyński reported the aedeagus measurement as 0.45 mm, which is comparable to the measurement obtained in the present study (0.46 mm). However, the scale bar in the corresponding figures (Jałoszyński 2021b: figs 2–5) appears to suggest a larger size for the aedeagus, approaching 1.0 mm.
description: Published as part of Yin, Zi-Wei & Zhou, De-Yao, 2025, A report of the Scydmaeninae species (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) taken from Wumenshan National Nature Reserve, Yunnan, China, pp. 531-540 in Zootaxa 5569 (3) on page 536, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5569.3.8, http://zenodo.org/record/14734857