Atheta opacicollis ( FAUVEL , 1878)

Assing, Volker, 2015, On the identity of Atheta opacicollis (FAUVEL) (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Oxypodini), Linzer biologische Beiträge 47 (1), pp. 97-100 : 99-100

Atheta opacicollis ( FAUVEL, 1878) ( Figs 1-11 )

Homalota opacicollis FAUVEL, 1878: 140 f. T y p e m a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d: Lectotype 3, present designation: "Batna / Coll. et det. A. Fauvel, Atheta opacicollis Fvl., R.I.Sc.N.B. 17.479 / Atheta opacicollis Fvl. , det. R. Pace 1985 / Lectotypus 3 Homalota opacicollis Fauvel , desig. V. Assing 2015 / Atheta opacicollis (Fauvel) , det. V. Assing 2015" (IRSNB). Paralectotypes: 13: "Daya, 86 [?] / Coll. et det. A. Fauvel, Atheta opacicollis Fvl., R.I.Sc.N.B. 17.479 / Atheta opacicollis Fvl. , det. R. Pace 1985 Lectotypus " (IRSNB); 13, 1♀: " Mésopotamie / Coll. et det. A. Fauvel, Atheta opacicollis Fvl., R.I.Sc.N.B. 17.479 / Atheta opacicollis Fvl. , det. R. Pace 1985, Paralectotypus " ( IRSNB) ; 13 [without head and pronotum]: " Biskra / incomplet / Coll. et det. A. Fauvel, Atheta opacicollis Fvl., R.I.Sc.N.B. 17.479 / Atheta opacicollis Fvl. , det. R. Pace 1985, Paralectotypus " ( IRSNB) ; 13: "3 / Au Sud de Bou Sâada, R. Oberthür 1875 / opacicollis Fvl. / Coll. et det. A. Fauvel, Atheta opacicollis Fvl., R.I.Sc.N.B. 17.479 / Atheta opacicollis Fvl. , det. R. Pace 1985, Paralectotypus " ( IRSNB). A d d i t i o n a l m a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d Algeria: 13, 1♀ [both dissected prior to present study], Mecheria ( IRSNB) ; 13, Aïn Sefra [32°45'N, 35°09'E] ( IRSNB) ; 13, Tébessa

(IRSNB); 1♀, Theniet el Had ( IRSNB). Syria: 533, 4♀♀, Azaz , cherry orchard, 19.IV.1996, leg .

Sprick (cAss) ; 13, Al Saffiereh , arable land, 18.IV.1996, leg. Sprick (cAss) ; 1♀, Talajjar , lentil field, 29.IV.1996, leg. Sprick (cAss) ; 2♀♀, NW Aleppo, S Midan, on flowering Crataegus ,

22.IV.1996, leg. Sprick (cAss). Locality ambiguous or not identified: 1♀ [dissected prior to present study], " Makbesch Taâz pr. Agabah " [= Aqaba in Jordan?] ; 1♀ [dissected prior to present study],

" Gabès " [?].

C o m m e n t: The original description is based on an unspecified number of syntypes from "Daya, ...; Géryville, ...; Batna, Biskra ...; Aïn Ubala, sud de Bou-Saada.... ... Mésopotamie " ( FAUVEL, 1878). Six syntypes were located in the Fauvel collection, five of which had been dissected and labelled as lectotype and paralectotypes, respectively, by Roberto Pace. To my knowledge, however, a lectotype designation has never been published. The type specimens and several of the additional specimens from the Fauvel collection that had been dissected prior to the present study are more or less significantly and irreversibly damaged, probably as a result of boiling or exposure to a chemical prior to dissection. (Such methods are most inadequate for the treatment of aleocharines.). Fortunately, one male syntype from Batna, which had apparently not been identified as a type specimen, was still undissected and in good condition. This specimen ("Batna") is designated as the lectotype .

An examination of the material of A. opacicollis revealed that this species is very similar to, but not conspecific with, A. meybohmi . Atheta opacicollis is distinguished from A. meybohmi by the pale-yellowish elytra ( A. meybohmi : dark-yellowish), the shape of the head ( A. opacicollis : lateral margins behind eyes subparallel in dorsal view, see Fig. 1 ; A. meybohmi : lateral margins behind eyes convexly curved towards posterior constriction), the shorter and more slender antennae ( A. opacicollis : antennomere IV as long as broad or indistinctly transverse, antennomeres V-X moderately transverse, see Fig. 2 ; A. meybohmi : antennomeres IV-X distinctly transverse), the slightly less tranverse pronotum ( Fig. 1 ) with more pronounced microsculpture ( Fig. 3 ), and by the sexual characters. In A. opacicollis , the (characteristic) posterior margin of the male tergite VIII ( Fig. 4-6 ) is of slightly variable shape, but the lateral tooth on either side is more pronounced than in A. meybohmi and always distinctly separated from the median teeth ( A. meybohmi : lateral tooth not distinctly separated; median denticles more numerous and/or less pronounced; posterior margin between lateral teeth distinctly concave). The median lobe of the aedeagus ( Figs 7-8 ) is of generally similar shape, but in A. opacicollis the ventral process is apically more slender, longer, and directed more apicad than in A. meybohmi , and the internal structures are much less strongly sclerotized and of different shape. Moreover, the posterior concavity of the female tergite VIII ( Fig. 9 ) is more pronounced and narrower, and the proximal portion of the spermatheca ( Fig. 11 ) is much longer and differently shaped in A. opacicollis . For illustrations of A. opacicollis and A. meybohmi see Figs 1-11 and ASSING (2011), respectively.

The specimens from Syria listed as additional material above represent new country records.

Figures

Figs 1-11: Atheta opacicollis (1, 3-4, 7: lectotype; 5, 8: Tébessa; 6: Aïn Sefra; 9-10: Theniet el Had; 11: Syria): (1) forebody; (2) antenna; (3) postero-median portion of pronotum; (4-6) male tergite VIII; (7-8) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (9) female tergite VIII; (10) female sternite VIII; (11) spermatheca. Scale bars: 1-2, 4-6, 9-10: 0.2 mm; 3, 7-8, 11: 0.1 mm.