Derocala extensa, Assing, 2007

Assing, V., 2007, Four new species and additional records of Staphylinidae from Spain (Insecta: Coleoptera), Linzer biologische Beiträge 39 (2), pp. 761-775 : 771-773

Derocala extensa nov.sp. ( Figs 33-40 )

H o l o t y p e: Spain (Madrid), Boadilla del Monte (10 km W Madrid), Valdepastores, 25.II.- 2.III.1999, Wrase / Holotypus Derocala extensa sp.n. det. V. Assing 2007 (cAss). P a r a t y p e: same data as holotype (cSch).

D e s c r i p t i o n: 4.2-4.6 mm (abdomen extended); habitus as in Fig. 33 . Coloration: head dark brown to blackish brown; pronotum and elytra castaneous; abdomen blackish, with the lateral and posterior margins of segments III-VII and all of segments VIII-X reddish brown; legs dark yellowish; antennae brown, with the basal 2-3 antennomeres yellowish to yellowish brown.

Head approximately as wide as long; dorsal surface with very fine and moderately dense puncturation and with shallow microsculpture. Eyes large, as long as postocular region in dorsal view, or slightly longer ( Fig. 34 ). Antenna long and slender; antennomere III slightly shorter than II; IV-X coniform; IV approximately as long as wide; V-X gradually increasing in width and weakly transverse; X less than 1.5 times as wide as long; XI without sexual dimorphism, slightly longer than the combined length of IX and X ( Fig. 35 ). Maxillary palpus very long and slender, palpomere III approximately 4 times as long as wide.

Pronotum 1.35-1.40 times as wide as head and 1.20-1.25 times as wide as long; maximal width approximately in the middle; posterior angles moderately marked, abruptly rounded; puncturation dense and moderately fine, more distinct than that of head; microsculpture similar to that of head ( Fig. 34 ); pronotal hypomera narrowly visible in lateral view.

Elytra approximately 1.15 times as wide and at suture approximately as long as pronotum ( Fig. 34 ); puncturation dense and weakly granulose, much more distinct than that of pronotum; microsculpture very shallow; posterior margins distinctly sinuate near posterior angles. Legs long and slender; metatarsus almost as long as metatibia; metatarsomere I elongated, longer than the combined length of II-IV.

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Abdomen slightly narrower than elytra, widest at base (segments III/IV), gradually tapering caudad; anterior impressions of tergites III-V pronounced; puncturation distinct, somewhat granulose, and moderately dense, of similar density on tergite VII as on tergite III; interstices with distinct shine ( Fig. 36 ); posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe; posterior margin of tergite VIII strongly convex.

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: posterior margin of sternite VIII produced, obtusely angled in the middle; median lobe of aedeagus as in Figs 37-38 ; paramere as in Fig. 39 .

: posterior margin of sternite VIII indistinctly concave, almost truncate, and with row of long yellowish marginal setae; spermatheca as in Fig. 40.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: In addition to the primary sexual characters, the species is characterised especially by the following character combination: moderate size, long antennae, very long maxillary palpus, conspicuously long legs with metatarsomere I longer than the combined length of II-IV, abdominal puncturation dense, weakly granulose, and not sparser on tergite VII than on tergite III. A generic placement of the new species is difficult. It is - rather tentatively - attributed to Derocala MULSANT & REY 1875 , which is currently treated as a distinct genus rather than as a subgenus of Oxypoda MANNERHEIM 1830 . In several external characters (morphology of antenna, maxillary palpus, and pronotal hypomera, puncturation of abdomen and of other body parts) and in the morphology of the male sexual characters, it resembles D. rugatipennis (KRAATZ 1855) , the type species of the genus. From its Western Mediterranean congeners, it is distinguished as follows:

from D. rugatipennis (holotype examined) by larger body size, distinctly darker coloration of the antennae, a much larger pronotum in relation to the head and the elytra, longer legs with longer and more slender tarsi, and an aedeagus with differently shaped internal structures and a ventral process of different shape (especially apex in lateral view);

from D. caloderina (FAUVEL 1886) and D. concordans (PEYERIMHOFF 1949) , both from North Africa, by much larger body size alone;

from D. lucida TRONQUET 1999 ( Corsica) , whose size is not indicated in the original description, by the paler coloration of the antennal base, the larger pronotum in relation to head and elytra, the longer legs with longer tarsi and a longer metatarsomere I, the absence of distinct microsculpture on the abdomen, the differently shaped median lobe of the aedeagus, and the longer and more slender apical lobe of the paramere; for illustrations of external and sexual characters of D. lucida see TRONQUET (1999).

In the morphology of the maxillary palpus and the primary sexual characters, the new species also somewhat resembles Oxypoda recondita KRAATZ 1856 , which is - incorrectly - attributed to the subgenus Baeoglena THOMSON 1867 ( SMETANA 2004) and from which it is distinguished by darker coloration, much longer and somewhat more massive antennae, a differently shaped pronotum (smaller in relation to head, less convex in cross-section), by much longer legs, much more pronounced puncturation of the abdomen, and the absence of distinct microsculpture on the abdomen.

E t y m o l o g y: The name (Latin, past participle of extendere) refers to the slender body, especially the slender maxillary palpi, antennae, and legs.

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d b i o n o m i c s: The type locality is situated in the vicinity of Madrid. Apart from the date of collection (end of February to beginning of March), bionomic data are not available.

Figures

Figs 33-40: Derocala extensa nov.sp.: (33) habitus; (34) forebody; (35) antenna; (36) abdominal segments III-VII; (37) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (38) ventral process of aedeagus in ventral view; (39) paramere; (40) spermatheca. Scale bars: 33: 1.0 mm; 34-36: 0.5 mm; 37-40: 0.2 mm.