Scaphisoma alticola Löbl & Ogawa, 2016, nov.sp.
Creators: name: Ivan Löbl
name: Ryo Ogawa
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Scaphisoma
Scaphisoma alticola

description: 5.2.10.1. Scaphisoma alticola nov.sp. (Figs 116, 117)
T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype 6: Luzon: Philippines Paoya (2400m) nr. Sayangan Benguet Prov. 11.VII.1985 M. Sakai leg. (EUMJ).
D e s c r i p t i o n: Length 1.90 mm, width 1.35 mm. Head, thorax, most of elytra and sternites 1 to 3 dark reddish-brown, apical third of elytra yellowish, apical abdominal segments and appendages light reddish-brown, antennae brown. Pronotum and elytra not microsculptured and not iridescent. Length/width ratio of antennomeres as: III 15/9: IV 50/7: V 54/8: VI 40/8: VII 52/15: VIII 40/12: IX 52/17: X 49/15: XI 55/15. Pronotum finely and densely punctate, with lateral margins evenly rounded, lateral margin carinae hardly visible in dorsal view, lateral striae with hardly visible punctures. Exposed tip of scutellum minute. Elytra convex, with lateral margin carinae concealed in dorsal view, apical margins truncate, inner apical angles not prominent, situated posterior level of outer angles; sutural margin slightly not raised, sutural striae deep, hardly bent at base and not extended along basal margins, parallel along suture except near apices, impunctate; adsutural areas narrow, flat, each with single puncture row, lateral striae impunctate. Elytral disc with punctation very fine, somewhat coarser that that of pronotum, punctures poorly delimited. Hind wings fully developed. Hypomera and mesanepisterna smooth. Mesepimera somewhat shorter than intervals to mesocoxae, about four times as long as wide. Metaventrite with strigulate microsculpture on impressed apicomedian part and between mesocoxae and metacoxae, not microsculptured on lateral parts; punctation very fine and dense on convex area between mesocoxae, very fine and sparse on lateral areas, coarse and dense on apicomedian surface; antecoxal puncture rows absent. Submesocoxal areas 0.05 mm, almost as third of intervals to metacoxae, submesocoxal lines convex, coarsely punctate, punctures not extended by striae. Metanepisternum flat, narrowed anteriad, inner margin rounded, suture deep. Tibiae straight. Abdomen with strigulate microsculpture and very finely and sparsely punctate; submetacoxal areas 0.02 mm, about as tenth of intervals to apical margin of sternite, submetacoxal lines slightly convex, distinctly punctate.
M a l e: Protarsomeres and mesotarsomeres 1 to 3 strongly widened, narrower than apices of respective tibiae. Sternite 6 concavely notched laterally small, triangular mesal lobe. Aedeagus (Figs 116, 117) 1.16 mm long, symmetrical, with most of basal bulb weakly sclerotized, apical process strongly sclerotized. Median lobe with apical process about as long as basal bulb, gutter-like, strongly curved ventrally, acute at tip. Ventral side of apical process almost evenly concave. Articular process sharply delimited by notch. Parameres strongly widened, with lobes very densely striate. Internal sac bearing mesal row of teeth, dense spines in apical section and very fine and dense denticulate structures.
E t y m o l o g y: The species epithet is a noun meaning living in high altitudes, and referring to the type locality.
C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: The species differs notably from the related S. heissi LÖBL, 1982 by the gradually narrowed apical process of the aedeagus and the internal sac with a mesal row of tooth. Both may be readily distinguished in external characters by the uniformly dark reddish-brown elytra in S. heissi, and by the presence of the metaventral antecoxal punctures rows and the larger submetacoxal areas in the latter species. See also LÖBL 1982: 12-14.
description: Published as part of Ivan Löbl & Ryo Ogawa, 2016, On the Scaphisomatini (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scaphidiinae) of the Philippines, IV: the genera Sapitia ACHARD and Scaphisoma LEACH, pp. 1339-1492 in Linzer biologische Beiträge 48 (2) on pages 1385-1386, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.247206