Microscydmus (Opresus) misellus
Creators: name: Jałoszyński, Paweł
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Microscydmus
Microscydmus misellus

description: Microscydmus (Opresus) misellus (LeConte, 1852), comb. rest.
(Figs 1, 4, 7, 10, 13)
Scydmaenus misellus LeConte, 1852: 155.
Opresus misellus (LeConte); Casey, 1897: 495.
Microscydmus (s. str.) misellus (LeConte); Franz, 1985: 176.
Type material studied. Lectotype (here designated): sex unknown: seven labels (Fig. 4): "J. LECONTE / COLLECTION" [white, printed], " S. misellus / Lec." [white, handwritten], " Microscydmus / misellus / Lec. / det.H.Franz" [white, handwritten and printed], "Opresus / det. W. Suter '77" [white with black margins, handwritten], " TYPE / LECONTE-MCZ" [pink, typed], " Type / 6235" [red, printed and handwritten], and small red circle (MCZ).
Diagnosis. BL 0.80 mm; body light brown; anterior margin of frons in dorsal view subtriangular and rounded; antennomeres III–X transverse; punctures on head and pronotum very fine, inconspicuous, those on elytra slightly more distinct but only superficial and diffuse; pronotum about as long as broad; EI 1.46.
Description. Body of lectotype of unknown sex (Fig. 1) moderately convex with slightly flattened elytral dorsum, elongate, with moderately long appendages, BL 0.80 mm; cuticle glossy, uniformly light brown; vestiture of setae and bristles slightly lighter than cuticle.
Head (Figs 1, 7, 10) subhexagonal, broadest at eyes, HL 0.13 mm, HW 0.19 mm; vertex and frons confluent, weakly convex; supraantennal tubercles feebly marked; eyes large, strongly convex and coarsely faceted. Punctures on vertex and frons fine and inconspicuous; setae short, sparse, suberect, tempora and genae with sparse bristles. Antennae (Fig. 1)) short, AnL 0.35 mm; scape and pedicel elongate, scape slightly longer than pedicel, antennomeres III–IX distinctly transverse, XI shorter than IX and X combined, about as long as broad.
Pronotum (Figs 1, 7) in dorsal view nearly round, broadest slightly in front of middle, PL 0.20 mm, PW 0.21 mm; anterior margin rounded, very indistinctly demarcated from lateral margins which are strongly rounded in anterior half and nearly straight in posterior third; posterior corners obtuse-angled and blunt; posterior margin shallowly bisinuate; four antebasal pits shallow and small but distinct, separated by subequal spaces, inner pair connected by shallow and diffuse transverse impression (poorly visible in Fig. 7). Punctures on pronotal disc as fine as those on frons and vertex; setae short and sparse, suberect, sides and lateroventral portions of hypomera sparsely covered with thick bristles.
Elytra (Fig. 1) suboval and slightly flattened, broadest in front of middle, EL 0.48 mm, EW 0.33 mm, EI 1.46; basal impressions shallow but distinct, humeral calli elongate; apices separately rounded. Punctures on elytral disc slightly more distinct than those on head and pronotum but superficial and diffuse; setae sparse, short, suberect.
Hind wings not studied.
Legs moderately long and slender; unmodified.
Distribution. Georgia and Louisiana (according to Casey (1897)).
Remarks. The only available specimen is in a fragile condition and was not dissected to avoid further damage. Identifications and descriptions of new North American species must be based on direct comparisons with the lectotype of M. misellus, as the current diagnosis lacking genital characters may be ambiguous.
Lectotype designation. LeConte (1852) clearly stated that the type series was composed of two specimens; consequently, the specimen preserved at MCZ (illustrated in Fig. 1 and with labels as in Fig. 4) is a syntype. This specimen is here designated as lectotype for Scydmaenus misellus LeConte, 1852.
description: Published as part of Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2017, Status of Nearctic subgenera of Microscydmus revisited (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Scydmaeninae) in Zootaxa 4358 (3), DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4358.3.8, http://zenodo.org/record/1068848