On the Genus Paragoniastes Comellini , 1979 , with Description of a New Species from Ilhéus , Brazil ( Coleoptera , Staphylinidae , Pselaphinae )

The types of the species of the Goniacerine genus of Pselaphinae Paragoniastes Comellini are revised. Paragoniastes parki Comellini, 1979, is synonymized with P. besucheti Comellini, 1979 (P. besucheti = P. parki syn. nov.), and P. uesci Cuccodoro & Kurbatov sp. nov. is described from the Brazilian state of Bahia. These taxa are described, illustrated, and keyed. Additional characters pertaining to the genus are given.


Introduction
Members of Paragoniastes are small predaceous rove beetles of the pselaphine tribe Goniacerini inhabiting the forest leaf litter.The genus was erected by Comellini to accommodate Goniastes westwoodi Raffray, 1890 from "Brésil" and three new species from the southern Brazilian states of Santa Catarina and Parana (P.besucheti, P. parki, and P. raffrayi).
In the frame of a survey of the pselaphine fauna of the Brazilian state of Bahia, we collected several Paragoniastes at the campus of Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus.Comparison of these specimens with the types of Paragoniastes housed in the Muséum d'histoire naturelle, Geneva, indicated not only that they were a new species but also that the holotype and unique specimen of P. parki is conspecific with the types of P. besucheti.The new species (P.uesci) is the first record of the genus in the Brazilian Nordeste.
The species are described and keyed, and their habitus is figured.We present drawings of the aedeagi of all the species of Paragoniastes, including that of P. westwoodi.We also mention some additional features pertaining to the genus, such as the system of meso-and metasternal foveae, and the conformation of the second visible abdominal sternite.

Material and Methods
All the specimens mentioned in this study (167 specimens) have been examined.These are housed in the Muséum d'histoire naturelle (MHNG), Geneva, Switzerland, in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN), Paris, France, and in the Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (UESC), Ilhéus, Brazil.In the future, the material deposited in UESC will be deposited in the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo (MZSP), Brazil.
The label data of the type of P. westwoodi are reproduced literally between " ", with additional information pertaining to labels, or localities between [ ], with | as a separator between each individual label.
Measurements are defined as follows: body length is measured from anterior outline of head (i.e., apical margin of labrum) to apex of abdomen; head width (HW) is the distance between outer outline of head just behind eyes; Psyche head length (HL) is the medial distance between tip of frontoclypeus and occipital margin; pronotal length (PL) is the medial distance between anterior and posterior margins of pronotum; pronotal width (PW) is the maximal distance between lateral outline of pronotum; elytral length (EL) = elytral sutural length; elytral width (EW) is the maximal width of the elytra taken together.Antennal articles are measured in dorsal view, their length axially (without basal stalk), and their width at their maximal width.
The abdominal tergites and sternites are numbered according to Chandler [3] in Arabic (visible position) and Roman (morphological position) numerals; they are counted from tergite 1 (IV) and sternite 1 (III).Terminology of surface sculpturing follows Harris [4].The aedeagi and other body parts illustrated here were mounted in Canada balsam on acetate slides and drawn using a drawing tube mounted on a compound microscope.The habitus figures are composites taken using a digital camera mounted onto a Leica MZ Apo dissecting microscope and processed using Automontage software.

Paragoniastes besucheti
Description.Body (Figures 1(c   Comments.This species is the only member of the genus to possess an areolate pronotum.Close examination of the holotypes P. besucheti and P. parki indicated that the apparent differences between Comellini's aedeagal drawings of these two species result from misinterpretation of details and deformations of these structures on the microscope slides where the aedeagi were mounted.Holotype (macrophthalmus male, in UESC): "Brazil, Bahia, Ilhéus, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (UESC), 80 m <14 • 39 S, 39 • 10 W> L. Pereira de Oliveira, M. Santana Fonseca & G. Cuccodoro, 31.vii.2011,sifting leaf litter in the forest of the campus".
Description.Body (Figure 2(a)) 1.50 mm long.Head 1.2-1.3times longer than wide (without eyes).Antennae (holotype) with scape as long as pronotal width; 2nd article as long as wide; 3rd 1.4-1.5 times longer than wide, 1.9-2.0times longer than 2nd and 1.3-1.4times longer than 4th; 4th as long as wide; 5th 1.3-1.4times longer than wide and 1.2-1.3times longer than 3rd.Pronotum slightly wider than long, entirely covered with longitudinal ridges slightly diverging anteriorly.Elytra scabriculate, irregularly covered with transverse carinulae.Elytral internal and external discal striae well-marked; humeral stria present on more that three quarters of elytral length.Presence of 10 setae arranged along internal discal striae; strial setae about as long as interval between them, and about two times longer than interstrial setae.Mesofemora bearing posteriorly at most an obsolete subbasal tooth-like process.
Measurements (holotype): HL = 0.36 mm; HW = 0.29 mm; PL = 0.32 mm; PW = 0.34 mm; EL = 0.57 mm; EW = 0.62 mm.Distribution.This species is known so far only from the state of Bahia and represents the first record of the genus in the Brazilian Nordeste.
Comments.Paragoniastes uesci is the only member of the genus with the pronotum entirely covered with longitudinal ridges slightly diverging anteriorly in combination with long and well-marked elytral humeral striae.
Etymology.The epithet uesci is an acronym for the Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, campus where the new species was discovered.Description.Body (Figure 2(b)) 1.80 mm long.Head 1.4-1.5 times longer than wide (without eyes).Antennae (holotype) with scape 1.1-1.2times longer than pronotal width; 2nd article as long as wide; 3rd 1.7-1.8times longer than wide, 1.9-2.0times longer than 2nd and 1.4-1.5 times longer than 4th; 4th 1.1-1.2times longer than wide; 5th 1.5-1.6 times longer than wide and 1.1-1.2times as long as 3rd.Pronotum as long as wide, covered with longitudinal ridges slightly diverging anteriorly, except posterior quarter scabriculate.Elytra smooth, irregularly covered with transverse carinulae.Elytral internal and external discal striae evanescent; humeral stria absent, or at most obsolete on basal quarter.Presence of 13 setae arranged along internal discal striae; strial setae about as long as interval between them, and about as long as interstrial setae.Mesofemora bearing posteriorly at most an obsolete subbasal tooth-like process.(ii) Female.Unknown.
Distribution.The only information available on the distribution of this species is that it comes from Brazil.
Comments.Paragoniastes westwoodi is the only member of the genus with evanescent discal striae.
Comellini, 1979e elytral length; usually present is internal discal stria and external discal stria, and occasionally humeral stria; when present, discal and humeral striae evanescent subapically, internal discal and humeral striae reaching basal margin, and external stria evanescent subbasally.Prosternum with pair of lateral procoxal foveae; medial carina absent.Mesosternum (Figure3(b)) scabriculate, except prepectus smooth; the Comments.Particularly notable in the genus is the structure of the lateral and promesocoxal foveae, which are unusually connected with each other, suggesting that the promesocoxal foveae might result from an extreme bifurcation of the lateral foveae.The membranous basal bulb of the aedeagus can easily collapse and its shape is thus not discriminant.Sexual dimorphism appears to affect only the medial area of the abdominal sternites.The presence of mesofemoral spines in both sexes is particularly notable, as it is usually a sexually dimorphic feature in Pselaphinae.3.1.1.Paragoniastes raffrayiComellini, 1979.See Figures1(a), 1(b), and 3.