Aleochara (Xenochara) gontarenkoi, Assing, 2009

Assing, V., 2009, On the taxonomy and zoogeography of some Palaearctic Aleochara species of the subgenera Xenochara M & R and Rheochara M & R (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 59 (1), pp. 33-101 : 48-50

Aleochara (Xenochara) gontarenkoi sp. n. ( Figs 45-57, Map 2)

Type material:

Holotype ♂: " Ukraine, Odessa, Olexandrivka , suslik hole, 2.IV.2006, leg. A. Gontarenko / Holotypus ♂ Aleochara gontarenkoi sp. n., det. V. Assing 2008" (cAss) . Paratypes: 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀: same data as holotype (cGon, cAss) ; 2 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀: " Ukraine, Odessa, Korsuncy , suslik hole, 7.IV.1996, leg. A. Gontarenko " (cGon, cAss) ; 3 ♀♀: " Ukraine - Odessa, shore of Tiligul liman, Kalinivka , suslik hole, 9.IV.006, leg. A. Gontarenko " (cGon, cAss) ; 1 ♂, 2 exs.: " Türkei-Exped. 1966, Naturhist. Mus. Wien / Yüksekova (Hakkari), 26.V.1966 / - Van, 2400 m, 26.V.1966 / Zieselbau- Eingang / Aleochara (Polychara) breiti Gglb. " ( NHMW, cAss) ; 1 ♀: " Turkey (Erzinçan), 17 km NW of Erzinçan , 19-V-1990, leg. P. Kanaar " (cWun) .

Description:

Body length: 3.9-7.2 mm. Habitus (holotype) as in Fig. 45. Coloration: head, pronotum, and abdomen blackish; elytral disc blackish, posteriorly with more or less sharply delimited triangular reddish spot; legs reddish to reddish-brown; antennae blackish-brown.

Head 1.07-1.11 times as wide as long; punctation fine and sparse; interstices 2-3 times as wide as diameter of macropunctures, with micropunctation, but without microsculpture; eyes large and bulging, 2-2.5 times as long as postocular region in dorsal view ( Fig. 46). Antenna similar to that of A. breiti ( Fig. 47).

Pronotum 1.28-1.35 times as wide as long and 1.45-1.55 times as wide as head, widest in or slightly behind the middle ( Fig. 46); posterior angles weakly marked; punctation more distinct, more defined, and denser than that of head; interstices wider than diameter of punctures and without microsculpture.

Elytra approximately 0.8 times as long as pronotum; posterior margin near posterior angles obliquely truncate, not sinuate; punctation coarser and denser than that of pronotum ( Fig. 46); interstices narrower than diameter of punctures. Legs long and slender; metatarsus approximately as long as metatibia; metatarsomere I slightly longer than the combined length of II and III.

Abdomen: tergites III-V with moderately deep anterior impressions, tergite VI without distinct anterior impression; tergites III-VII anteriorly with very dense and moderately coarse punctation, in posterior half with somewhat less coarse and dense punctation; interstices of tergites III-VII without microsculpture ( Fig. 48); posterior margin of tergite VIII weakly and broadly concave ( Fig. 49).

♂: sternites VI-VIII similar to those of A. breiti , but sternites VI-VII with somewhat less dense pubescence posteriorly ( Figs 50-51); median lobe of aedeagus approximately 0.6 mm long, shaped as in Figs 52-54.

♀: sternite VIII broadly convex posteriorly ( Fig. 55); spermatheca as in Figs 56-57.

Etymology:

The species is dedicated to Andrej Gontarenko, a Ukrainian staphylinidologist, who collected most of the type specimens of this species.

Comparative notes:

Both in external and sexual characters, this species is highly similar to A. breiti , from which it is distinguished by the less transverse and smaller head (in relation to pronotum), the slightly smaller eyes, the denser pubescence and punctation of the pronotum, the more delimited and on average distinctly smaller reddish spot on the elytra, the morphology of the aedeagus (apex of ventral process more slender in lateral view), as well as by the slightly different shape of the spermathecal capsule. Aleochara gontarenkoi is separated from A. cuniculorum particularly by the less convex pronotum, the larger and more convex eyes, the broader and more transverse head, and by the morphology of the aedeagus, particularly the shorter ventral process (basal portion as long as apical portion; A. cuniculorum : basal portion distinctly longer than apical portion). From both A. breiti and A. cuniculorum , it is distinguished by the different shape of the apical internal structures of the aedeagus.

Due to the pronounced intraspecific variation in size, proportions, and coloration of both A. breiti and A. gontarenkoi , the alternative hypothesis that both morphs refer to one and the same variable species and that the observed difference are an expression of intra- rather than interspecific variation had to be considered. However, the aedeagal differences between A. breiti and A. cuniculorum , two species that are readily separated based on head shape alone, are not very pronounced either. Also, in all the examined males of A. breiti and A. gontarenkoi , the apical internal structures of the aedeagus are absolutely constant, suggesting that both morphs represent different entities on the specific level. More material from other localities and regions is needed to verify this hypothesis.

Distribution and bionomics:

Confirmed records of this species have become known only from some localities near Odessa, Ukraine, and two localities in southeastern and eastern Anatolia ( Map 2). Based on the illustrations of the habitus and the primary sexual characters provided by STANIEC (1992), as well as the fact that his specimens were collected from burrows of Spermophilus suslicus , previous records of A. breiti from southeastern Poland also refer to this species; the same may be true for the recent record from Romania ( STAN & CHIMIŞLIU 2005), where S. suslicus is present, too.

All the type specimens were collected from suslik burrows, the material from Ukraine from the burrows of the speckled (or spotted) ground squirrel, Spermophilus suslicus (GONTARENKO pers. comm.). According to ÖZKURT et al. (2007), the only Spermophilus species present in southeastern Anatolia is S. xanthoprymnus .