Procirrus hei L. Huang & Z. Peng, 2025

Huang, Lei, Cao, Guang-Hong & Peng, Zhong, 2025, Two new species and new records of the genus Procirrus Latreille from China (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Paederinae), ZooKeys 1250, pp. 189-200 : 189-200

Procirrus hei L. Huang & Z. Peng sp. nov.

Figs 3 B , 5

Type material.

Holotype. China – Hainan Prov. • ♂; glued on a card with two labels as follows: “ China: Hainan Prov., Baisha Co., Yinggeling , alt. 200 m, 10.VIII.2009, Zhu-Qing He leg. ” “ HOLOTYPE: Procirrus hei sp. nov., Huang & Peng des. 2025 ” [red handwritten label]; ( SNUC) . Paratype. China – Hainan Prov. • 1 ♀; glued on a card with two labels as follows: “ China: Hainan Prov., Baisha Co., Yinggeling , alt. 200 m, 10.VIII.2009, Zhu-Qing He leg. ” “ PARATYPE: Procirrus hei sp. nov., Huang & Peng des. 2025 ” [yellow handwritten label]; ( SNUC) .

Description.

Measurements (in mm) and ratios: TL: 9.20–10.10; FL: 4.39–4.61; HL: 1.08–1.11; HW: 1.08; AnL: 1.79–1.80; PL: 1.56–1.57; PW: 1.00–1.03; EL: 1.28–1.39; EW: 1.53–1.56; AL: 1.95; HW / HL: 0.97–1.00; HW / PW: 1.05–1.08; HL / PL: 0.69–0.71; PW / PL: 0.64–0.66; EL / PL: 0.82–0.89.

Habitus as in Fig. 3 B . Coloration: head, pronotum and abdomen blackish-brown; elytra reddish; antennae and legs brown to light brown.

Head nearly orbicular, widest across eyes; punctation rather fine, weakly umbilicate and very dense, surface matt. Eyes large, 0.73 times as long as postocular region in dorsal view. Antennae slender, antennomere 1 2.17–3.08 times, 2 1.50–2.00 times, 3 1.17–1.62 times, 11 1.28–1.85 times as long as 4. Neck across nuchal constriction one-fourth to one-third as wide as greatest postocular width of head.

Pronotum distinctly oblong; lateral margins weakly convex in dorsal view; punctation similar to that of head, but coarser; midline with short and very narrow rudiment of glossy line posteriorly.

Elytra shorter than pronotum; humeral angles well developed; punctation weakly coarser and sparser than that of pronotum; pubescence denser than that of pronotum. Hind wings well developed. Protarsomeres 1–4 strongly dilated.

Abdomen parallel, widest at segment VI, evenly narrowing posteriorly. Abdominal tergites with coarse and dense punctation, and long decumbent pubescence, weakly denser on apical tergites; interstices without microsculpture.

Male. Posterior margin of abdominal tergite VIII (Fig. 5 C ) convex. Sternite VIII (Fig. 5 D ) weakly transverse, with deep and weakly asymmetric posterior excision, pubescence not distinctly modified. Aedeagus as in Fig. 5 E – G ; median lobe blade-shaped in ventral view and somewhat curved in lateral view; parameres slender starting from base, with about 5–6 apical setae; internal sac with somewhat hook-shaped sclerotized spine basally and large sclerotized spine apically, and with long flagellum coiled in basal part of aedeagus.

Female. Abdominal tergite VIII (Fig. 5 A ) oblong, with strongly convex posterior margin. Posterior margin of abdominal sternite VIII (Fig. 5 B ) broadly convex.

Distribution and natural history.

The type locality is situated in Yinggeling to the east of Baisha, central Hainan. Two specimens were sifted from grass roots and humus in an evergreen broad-leaved forest at an altitude of 200 m.

Etymology.

This species is dedicated to Zhu-Qing He, who is a renowned specialist on mainly Palaearctic Orthoptera and the collector of the type specimens.

Comparative notes.

Regarding the general shape of the body, aedeagus, and male sternite VIII, P. hei is similar to dark-coloured specimens of morphologically variable P. lewisii , a widespread species in East Asia. It can be distinguished from it by the larger body size, the reddish elytra, the blade-shaped median lobe of aedeagus in ventral view and two sclerotized spines of different shapes in the internal sac ( P. lewisii : median lobe asymmetric and moderately concave apically; internal sac with three sclerotized spines).

Figures

Figure 3. Habitus. A. Procirrus lewisii (from Xizang); B. Procirrus hei; C. Procirrus yunnanensis. Scale bars: 1.0 mm.

Figure 5. Procirrus hei. A. Female tergite VIII; B. Female sternite VIII; C. Male tergite VIII; D. Male sternite VIII; E. Aedeagus in ventral view; F. Aedeagus in lateral view; G. Aedeagus in dorsal view. Scale bars: 0.5 mm (A – D); 0.2 mm (E – G).