Paraphloeostiba rhopalocera (Cameron, 1928) (Figs 79, 111–118) Phloeonomus rhopalocerus Cameron, 1928: 99 Phloeonomus (Phloeonomus) rhopalocerus: Scheerpeltz 1933: 1050 Paraphloeostiba rhopalocera: Steel 1960: 146 Material examined. PAPUA NEW GUINEA: 1 ♂, 4 ♀♀: ‘ NEW GUINEA Okapa, 23.VIII.1964 ’, ‘ R. Hornabrook BM 1970-232.’, ‘ R. Hornabrook BM 1970-232.’ (BMNH); 1 ♂: ‘ NEW GUINEA Lufa, 6000ft, 18.VII.1965, under bark of wet log’, ‘ R. Hornabrook BM 1970-232.’ (BMNH); 1 ♂: ‘ NEW GUINEA Lufa, 18.VII.1964 ’, ‘ R. Hornabrook BM 1970-232.’ (BMNH); 1 unsexed specimen (apical part of abdomen missing): ‘ NEW GUINEA, Amused, 15.IX.1964 ’, ‘ R. Hornabrook BM 1970-232.’ (BMNH); 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀: ‘ NEW GUINEA Okapa, | IX.1964 ’, ‘ R. Hornabrook BM 1970-232.’ (BMNH). Description. Measurements (n=11): HW: 0.35–0.36; HL: 0.20–0.22; OL: 0.11–0.12; TL: 0.02; AL (holotype): 0.45; PL: 0.22–0.23; PWmax: 0.40–0.42; PWmin: 0.37–0.38; ESL: 0.45–0.47; EW: 0.60–0.62; MTbL (holotype): 0.27; MTrL (holotype): 0.16 (MTrL 1–4: 0.06; MTrL 5: 0.10); AW: 0.62–0.63; AedL: 0.27; BL: 1.53–1.87. Habitus as in Fig. 79. Head, antennomeres 6–11, latero-apical and basal portions of elytra reddish or darker (some specimens with paler middle portion of head); pronotum, elytra and abdomen yellow-brown (abdominal tergites VI–VII slightly darker); mouthparts, antennomeres 1–5 and legs yellow. Head with very sparse and fine punctation, sometimes indistinct in middle (some specimens only with several fine punctures in middle); neck without visible punctures; pronotum with very fine and sparse punctation, invisible in middle portion; elytra with moderatrely dense punctation, distinctly larger and deeper than that on pronotum, finer and sparser around scutellum and along suture; abdominal tergites with fine and moderately dense punctation. Body glossy; pronotum with dense isodiametric microsculpture, slightly finer than that in middle portion of head; scutellum without meshes; microsculpture of elytra dense, but distinctly finer than that in middle portion of pronotum; abdominal tergites without distinct microreticulation. Head with shallow narrow anteriomedian depressions, 1.6–1.7 times as broad as long, with very short and deep anteocellar foveae and about as long as diameter of ocellus; postocular carina absent. Ocelli moderately large, located about at level of posterior margins of eyes; distance between ocelli slightly longer than distance between ocellus and posterior margin of eyes. Antennomeres 6–10 strongly transverse; antennomere 3 distinctly shorter and narrower than 2, 4 distinctly shorter than 3, 5 slightly broader than 4, 6 about twice as broad as 5, 7–10 slightly broader than 6, antennomere 10 three times as broad as long. Pronotum slightly convex, distinctly transverse and slightly broader than head; laterobasal impressions moderately wide and shallow. Elytra 1.3 times as broad as long, twice as long as pronotum. Metatrsi 1.6 times as about as long as metatibia. Male. Posterior margin of abdominal tergite VIII truncate (Fig. 113). Posterior margin of abdominal sternite VIII deeply concave (Fig. 114). Aedeagus with wide basal portion, gradually narrowed toward moderately narrow median lobe with small rounded apex; parameres significantly exceeding apex of median lobe, with disitnctly broadened apical portion, each with two moderately long apical and five preapical setae; internal sac narrow and moderately long, without sclerotized structures (Fig. 111). Lateral aspect of the aedeagus as in Fig. 112. Female. Posterior margins of abdominal tergite VIII (Fig. 115) and sternite VIII (Fig. 116) truncate. Accessory sclerite wide and short, from widest basal part gradually narrowed toward somewhat truncate apex (Fig. 117). Spermatheca as in Fig. 118. Comparative notes. Based on the general shape of the body and the aedeagus, and the shape of the strongly transverse preapical antennomere three times as broad as long, P. rhopalocera is similar to P. specularis (Bernhauer, 1915), known from New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago (Bernhauer 1915, Steel 1960). Paraphloeostiba rhopalocera can be distinguished from it by the slightly shorter body, the presence of the distinct microsculpture on the pronotum, and distinctly narrower apical portion of the parameres. Distribution. Paraphloeostiba rhopalocera is known from several localities in Sumatra and Papua New Guinea. Bionomics. Five specimens from Papua New Guinea were collected under bark of wet log at an elevation 1828 m a.s.l. Remarks. Phloeonomus rhopalocerus was originally described from Sumatra, Indonesia (“Fort de Kock”). Steel (1960) redescribed it, transferred to the genus Paraphloeostiba, and recorded from Papua New Guinea (“Finschafen”).

Published as part of Shavrin, Alexey V., 2024, Twenty-one new species of Omaliini from the Papuan Region (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Omaliinae), with diagnostic and faunistic notes on some species of the genus Paraphloeostiba Steel, 1960, pp. 251-307 in Zootaxa 5424 (3) on pages 289-290, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5424.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/10821214