Nogunius sokani Jałoszyński 2020, sp. n.
Creators: name: Jałoszyński, Paweł
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scydmaenidae
Nogunius
Nogunius sokani

description: Nogunius sokani sp. n.
(Figs 45–46, 53–72)
Type material. Holotype: JAPAN (Okinawa Pref.): ♂, two labels: “JAPAN, OKINAWA Pref. / Okinawa-jima, Mt. Nago-dake / Nago-shi, 7.ix.2003 / S. Arai leg. (Tullgren) ” [white, printed], “ NOGUNIUS / sokani m. / HO- LOTYPUS, P. JAŁOSZYŃSKI, 2020” [red, printed] (NSMT). Paratypes (2 exx.): 1 ♀, “[Okinawa: RYUKYU] / Haneji (100m alt.) / NW of Mt. Tanodake / Nago 25.X. 1987 / Y. Nishikawa leg” (EUMJ); 1 ♀ (disarticulated, mounted in Canada balsam), “JAPAN, OKINAWA island / Nago City, Nago Castle Site, ∼ 100 m, 11.02.2019 / humid forest, Nature Path / leg. P. Jałoszyński ” (cPJ).
Diagnosis. Eyes in male conspicuously large, in dorsal view slightly longer than tempora; aedeagus in ventral view about three times as long as broad, with apical margin indistinctly bisinuate.
Description. Body of male (Fig. 45) strongly convex, uniformly light brown, covered with setae distinctly lighter than cuticle; BL 0.80 mm.
Head (Fig. 46) broadest at eyes, HL 0.13 mm, HW 0.18 mm; tempora in dorsal view slightly shorter than eyes; vertex and frons confluent, together weakly convex; each eye large, strongly convex, bean-shaped, with distinct posteromedian emargination, composed of 24 large facets of equal diameters. Punctures on vertex fine, inconspicuous; setae short, sparse and suberect; tempora and posterior margin of vertex densely covered with thick bristles; additionally two long lateral setae can be seen on the posterior margin of vertex. Antennae slender, AnL 0.35 mm, antennomeres I and II each strongly elongate, III–VIII each about as long as broad or indistinctly transverse, IX distinctly larger than VIII, slightly transverse, X much larger than IX, strongly transverse, XI indistinctly narrower and slightly longer than X, about as long as broad.
Pronotum subconical with strongly rounded sides, broadest shortly in front of base; PL 0.23 mm, PW 0.20 mm. Anterior and posterior margins weakly convex, base with two pairs of small, distinct pits. Punctures on pronotal disc fine, inconspicuous; setae sparse, short, suberect; sides, especially posteriorly, with sparse, thick bristles.
Elytra together oval, broadest indistinctly in front of middle; EL 0.45 mm, EW 0.35 mm, EI 1.29; humeral calli weakly elevated, basal impressions large, deep, nearly circular; apices separately rounded. Punctures inconspicuous; setae slightly longer and denser than those on pronotum, suberect.
Legs moderately long and slender, unmodified.
Aedeagus (Figs 69–72) elongate, in ventral view about three times as long as broad; AeL 0.13 mm; median lobe in ventral view broadest in sub-basal region, with weakly rounded sides slightly narrowing toward truncate apex, apical margin indistinctly bisinuate, with weakly marked median projection; in lateral view median lobe distinctly curved, with ventral subapical projection; parameres slender, each with one long apical and one long subapical seta.
Female similar to male, but with distinctly smaller, less convex eyes, each composed of 17 ommatidia; antennae slightly shorter in relation to body, and elytra slightly stouter. BL 0.83 mm; HL 0.15 mm, HW 0.15 mm, AnL 0.30 mm; PL 0.25 mm, PW 0.23 mm; EL 0.43 mm, EW 0.35 mm, EI 1.21.
Distribution. Yambaru, i.e., the northern, forested region of Okinawa-jima (Fig. 85).
Etymology. The adjective sokani is in honor of Noguni Sôkan. For details, see the etymology of Nogunius.
Remarks. Species of Nogunius are morphologically uniform and it is difficult to identify them by external characters. Males of Nogunius sokani have remarkably large eyes, in dorsal view slightly longer than tempora; only males of N. aogashimanus have comparably large eyes. All remaining species of Nogunius have eyes clearly shorter than tempora. Nogunius sokani inhabits Okinawa-jima, the main island of the Ryukyus, ∼ 1,300 km SW of the small island of Aogashima of the Izu archipelago, where N. aogashimanus occurs. The eyes of N. sokani are slightly larger and slightly more convex than those in N. aogashimanus, and the aedeagi, although similar, differ markedly in the apical region of the median lobe. In ventral view, the aedeagal apex in N. sokani is truncate with only an indistinct trace of a median projection, whereas that in N. aogashimanus has a subtriangular median projection.
description: Published as part of Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2020, Himaloconnus Franz and Nogunius gen. n. of Japan (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae Scydmaeninae), pp. 334-360 in Zootaxa 4822 (3) on pages 351-356, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4822.3.2, http://zenodo.org/record/4401617