Pomphopsilla pygmaea Jałoszyński, 2016, sp. n.
Creators: name: Jałoszyński, Paweł
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Pomphopsilla
Pomphopsilla pygmaea

description: Pomphopsilla pygmaea sp. n.
(Figs 3, 9–10)
Type material. Holotype: Democratic Republic of the Congo (Oriental Prov.): ♂, two labels: " DR CONGO, Oriental Prov. / Ituri region, Mongbwalu, AGJ camp, / abandoned shamba, bananas, avocado, / sweet potato / N01º56'32.81'', E30º02'25.62'' / 20-27.iii.2015 / yellow pan, leg. A. GUMOVSKY" [white, printed]; " POMPHOPSILLA / pygmaea m. / P. Jałoszyński, '16 / HOLOTYPUS' [red, printed] (SIZK).
Diagnosis. Aedeagus stout, with strongly elongate diaphragm; dorsal apical projection short, subtriangular and in ventral view exposed (i.e., not concealed behind distal portion of ventral wall of median lobe); endophallus with two subapical bunches of needle-like sclerites.
Description. Body of male (Fig. 3) elongate, strongly convex, brown with slightly lighter setae. BL 0.69 mm.
Head broadest at large, strongly convex and coarsely faceted eyes, HL 0.09 mm, HW 0.18 mm; vertex strongly transverse, weakly convex, anteriorly confluent with subtriangular and similarly weakly convex frons; supraantennal tubercles small but distinct; punctures on frons and vertex shallow and with slightly diffused margins, but noticeable at magnification 40×; setae very short and sparse, recumbent. Antennae moderately long, with abruptly broadened club composed of two antennomeres, AnL 0.28 mm, antennomeres I and II elongate, III transverse, IV–IX each about as long as broad, X transverse, XI only slightly longer than broad, slightly broader than X.
Pronotum nearly subquadrate, broadest near anterior fourth; PL 0.20 mm, PW 0.25 mm. Anterior margin rounded; anterior corners broadly rounded and indistinct; sides strongly rounded in anterior third, distinctly convergent toward obtuse-angled and blunt posterior pronotal corners; posterior margin arcuate with indistinct flattening in front of mesoscutellum; pronotal base with two pairs of distinct pits, inner pair circular and small, outer pair elongate and larger. Punctures on pronotal disc very dense but small, very shallow and with diffused margins; setae moderately dense, very short, recumbent.
Elytra oval, broadest in front of middle; EL 0.40 mm, EW 0.33 mm, EI 1.23; humeral calli distinct, elongate. Punctures and setae on elytra similar to those on pronotum. Hind wings well developed.
Legs moderately long and slender, unmodified.
Aedeagus (Figs 9–10) stout, nearly drop-shaped, AeL 0.15 mm; median lobe in ventral view with large and strongly elongate oval diaphragm in sub-basal region; apex of ventral wall truncate, apex of dorsal wall short and subtriangular, in ventral view exposed; endophallus with median tubular structure in sub-basal region flanked by narrow wing-like lateral components and in the subapical region with lateral bunches of needle-like sclerites; parameres slender, their apices nearly reaching apex of dorsal aedeagal wall, each with two long and one short apical setae.
Female. Unknown.
Distribution. North-eastern part of DR Congo.
FIGURES 9–20. Aedeagus in ventral (9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19) and lateral (10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20) views. Pomphopsilla pygmaea sp. n. (9–10); P. pseudosoror sp. n. (11–12― holotype; 13–14― paratype, partly erected); P. similis sp. n. (15–16); P. gumovskyi sp. n. (17–18); Cephennodes glabella Castellini (19–20).
Etymology. The specific epithet pygmaea, Latinized Greek "pygmy; as small as a fist"", derived from pygme, a fist, refers to the small body of this species and also to the indigenous pygmy people that inhabit this region of Congo.
Remarks. The aedeagus of P. pygmaea is conspicuously stout and its general shape is unique within the genus.
description: Published as part of Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2016, Four new species of Pomphopsilla Jałoszyński and a new record of Cephennodes glabella Castellini in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae), pp. 593-600 in Zootaxa 4098 (3) on pages 594-597, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4098.3.11, http://zenodo.org/record/259902