Echiaster paulexcisus Assing & I 2014, nov.sp.

Echiaster paulexcisus nov.sp.

(Figs 10-13, Map 1)

Type material: Holotype: " THAILAND: Chiang Mai, Doi Suthep, 1600 m, 4.XI.1985, Burckhardt-Löbl / Holotypus Echiaster paulexcisus sp.n. det. V. Assing 2014" (MHNG). Paratypes: 1, 2: same data as holotype (MHNG, cAss).

Etymology: The specific epithet is an adjective composed of the Latin adverb paulum (slightly) and the adjective excisus. It refers to the posteriorly shallowly excised male sternite VIII.

Description: Body length 5.0- 5.7 mm; length of forebody 2.6-2.8 mm. Coloration: head and pronotum reddish to dark-brown; elytra dark-brown to blackish, each with a large and defined reddish, subcircular humeral spot; abdomen dark-brown to blackish; legs yellowish; antennae reddish, apically dark-yellowish.

Head (Fig. 10) 1.02-1.06 times as long as broad, widest across eyes, behind eyes convexly narrowed towards neck in dorsal view; posterior angles obsolete; punctation coarse, areolate, and extremely dense; interstices reduced to narrow ridges; dorsal surface matt. Eyes approximately 0.7-0.8 times as long as distance from posterior margin of eye to posterior constriction of head in dorsal view. Antenna 0.8-0.9 mm long.

Pronotum (Fig. 10) slender, 1.35-1.40 times as long as broad and 0.75-0.80 times as broad as head; median portion shallowly impressed in posterior two thirds, this impression with median elevation in posterior third of pronotum; punctation similar to that of head.

Elytra (Fig. 10) short, 0.65-0.70 times as long as pronotum, with somewhat depressed disc; humeral angles moderately pronounced; punctation very dense and granulose. Hind wings not examined, but apparently of reduced length.

Abdomen as broad as, or slightly narrower than elytra, broadest at segment V; tergites III-V with coarse and dense punctation; tergites VI-VIII with dense and fine punctation; posterior margin of tergite VII strongly convex, with palisade fringe; tergite VIII distinctly oblong and with strongly convex posterior margin.

: sternite VIII (Fig. 11) distinctly oblong, posterior excision shallow and broad; aedeagus (Figs 12-13) 0.65 mm long, ventral process basally broad (ventral view), apically semitransparent and strongly bent dorsad in lateral view.

Comparative notes: Based on the male sexual characters, particularly the similar general morphology of the aedeagus, E. paulexcisus is closely allied to E. unicolor, from which it differs by the shallow posterior excision of the male sternite VIII and by the slightly larger aedeagus with a ventral process of different shape (apex basally broader in ventral view, apically membranous, and strongly bent dorsad in lateral view).

Distribution and natural history:The type locality is situated to the west of Chiang Mai, North Thailand (Map 1), at an altitude of 1600 m.