Georissus (Neogeorissus) persicus, Fikáček & Falamarzi, 2010

Fikáček, Martin & Falamarzi, Shahram, 2010, Georissus persicus sp. nov. from Iran, with notes on the West-Palaearctic species of the G. laesicollis group (Coleoptera: Georissidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 50 (1), pp. 107-116 : 108-111

Georissus (Neogeorissus) persicus sp. nov.

( Figs. 1 , 5 , 7–8, 11 )

Type locality. Iran, Khuzestan Province, Hosseiniyeh, Bala Rud valley, 28 km NNW of Andimeshk, 360 m a.s.l., 32°41′N 48°16′E (see HOBERLANDT 1983).

Type material. HOLOTYPE: J ( NMPC): ‘SW. Iran Hoseiniyeh / 28km NNW Andimeshk / 12- 13.4.1977, 360 m // Loc. no. 286 / Exped. Nat. Mus. / Praha’ . PARATYPES: 5 spec. ( SFCQ, NMPC, SUIC, YUIC), ‘ IRAN: Fars Province / Reykan , 11 km NW of Qir / 28°34′10″N, 52°59′42″E / 1052m ; 15.viii.2008 / small stream; Sh. Falamarzi’; 1 J, 11 spec. ( SFCQ, NMPC, HYMC, KSEM, SUIC, YUIC), ‘ IRAN: Fars Province / Shaldan , 10 km NW of Qir / 28°33′49″N, 52°59′32″E / 1077m ; 25.iii.2010 / small stream; Sh. Falamarzi’; 1 spec. ( SFCQ), same locality, but ‘ 19.ix.2008 ’.

Description. Body elongate oval, weakly convex. Length 1.20–1.45 mm (holotype 1.20 mm); width of pronotum 0.60–0.70 mm (holotype 0.60 mm); maximum width of elytra 0.75–0.90 mm (holotype 0.75 mm). Coloration dark reddish to black, anterior portion of pronotum slightly paler than rest of the body, head black.

Head. Clypeus smooth, with a line of low granules along anterior margin and sparsely scattered granules on disc. Sublateral longitudinal ridge arising at lateral portion of clypeus and reaching midlength of frons, posteriorly connected to submedian pair of elongate bulges by an arc of sparsely arranged granules; submedian bulges parallel to each other, reaching anterior margin of frons.

Pronotum 1.5× as broad as than long, with maximum width at posterior fourth; lateral margin with large curved protrusion on each side. Anterior portion slightly convex, with shallow median longitudinal groove; anterolateral portions with moderately dense granulation more or less arranged in irregular longitudinal series. Median portion with variably deep rhomboidal depression surrounded by irregular series of granules; depression slightly wider than long. Posterolaterally on each side of central depression with rounded depression surrounded by the densely arranged granules. Lateral portions of pronotum above the lateral protrusions with a small sparsely granulated bulge on each side.

Elytra combined 1.1× as long as than wide, base of elytra ca. as wide as maximum width of pronotum. Humeral bulge distinct, sparsely granulate. Even and odd intervals elevated to same height, all intervals bearing a longitudinal series of very distinct prominent granules. Lateral ridges on each elytron highly elevate, bearing only indistinct small granules. Elytral punctures indistinct.

Abdomen with lateral margins of ventrites 1 and 2 strongly narrowing posteriad. Ventrite 1 bearing sparse scattered granules on the whole surface; sublateral teeth on posterior margin developed, large. Ventrite 2 depressed anteriorly, posteriorly bearing small teeth facing those on ventrite 1.

Aedeagus small, 0.26 mm long. Parameres slightly shorter than (0.8× as long as) phallobase, their basal portions combined ca. as wide as anterior portion of phallobase; paramere slightly angular laterally at very base, nearly parallel-sided in basal half, slightly arcuatelly narrowing into the obtusely angular apex. Length of median lobe ca. equal to length of paramere; apical portion triangular, moderately wide, widest at anterior 0.4 of total length; basal struts long, longer than apical triangular portion of median lobe. Phallobase ca. 2.3× longer than wide, only indistinctly widening posteriad; posterior portion with large basal foramen.

Variation. Slight variation was observed in the coloration (dorsal surface usually completely black, but slightly paler in the holotype, and completely reddish in one, most probably teneral, paratype) and in the sculpturing of the pronotum (anterior median groove shallow to rather deep, median pronotal depression indistinct to shallowly impressed and delimited by a distinct row of densely arranged granules at least at posterior margins). Morphology of the aedeagus and the dorsal sculpture of the head agrees completely in all specimens examined for these characters.

Differential diagnosis. Georissus persicus sp. nov. belongs to the G. laesicollis group sensu DELÈVE (1967a). In the western Palaearctic Region it may be confused only with the species of the G. laesicollis complex ( G. laesicollis , G. trifossulatus and possibly some additional undescribed species, see under G. trifossulatus ). It differs from all these taxa by the combination of the following characters: submedian bulges on frons parallel to each other (distinctly divergent anteriad in G. laesicollis complex); elytral intervals bearing high and distinctly isolated tubercles (tubercles more or less merging with adjacent ones in G. laesicollis and G. trifossulatus , forming rather continuous, at most indistinctly tuberculate ridges); body elongate oval (widely oval in G. trifossulatus , elongate oval in G. laesicollis ); aedeagus 0.26 mm long (0.37–0.42 mm long in G. laesicollis , 0.32–0.37 mm in G. trifossulatus ); parameres shorter than phallobase (slightly longer than phallobase in G. laesicollis complex); parameres combined widest at base, narrowing apicad (narrow at base and widening apicad in G. laesicollis and G. trifossulatus ); basal struts of median lobe longer than apical triangular portion of the lobe (longer than the apical portion in G. laesicollis complex).

Nine Afrotropical and seven Oriental species were included to the G. laesicollis group by DELÈVE (1967a,b,c, 1969, 1972, 1974a). All of them differ distinctly from G. persicus sp. nov. by the morphology of the aedeagus.

Etymology. The species name is an adjective derived from Persia, the Latin name used for the area of Iran.

Biology. Paratypes were collected on the sandy sediments at the margin of a small permanent stream in the semidesert area ( Figs. 13–14 ; see also FALAMARZI et al. (2010: Fig. 3 ) for the photograph of the locality of Shaldan). Unlike other Georissus species , the beetles of this species were not covered by a layer of sand or mud when collected. Collecting circumstances for the holotype are unknown, but the respective locality in the Khuzestan province is situated in a deep canyon with a river at the bottom situated in a steppe area ( HOBERLANDT 1983).

Distribution. Known from three localities in southern Iran, one situated in the southern Khuzestan, and two close localities in the southern Fars.

Figures

Figs. 1–4.Aedeagophores of Georissus species. 1 – G. persicus sp.nov., holotype; 2–3 – G. trifossulatus Motschulsky, 1843 (2 – lectotype; 3 – paralectotype); 4 – G. laesicollis Germar, 1831, non-type specimen from Bosnia Herzegovina.

Figs. 5–6. Head of Georissus species, dorsal view. 5 – G. persicus sp. nov.; 6 – G. trifossulatus Motschulsky, 1843. Scale bar: 0.1 mm.

Figs. 7–12.Type specimens of Georissus species.7–8, 11 – G. persicus sp. nov., holotype; 9–10, 12 – G. trifossulatus Motschulsky, 1843, lectotype. 7–10 – habitus (7, 9 – dorsal view; 8, 10 – lateral view); 11–12 – abdominal ventrites. Scale bars: 0. 5 mm (habitus), 0.1 mm (abdomen).

Figs. 13–14. Localities of Georissus persicus sp. nov. in southern Fars, Iran. 13 – Reykan; 14 – Shaldan. Photos: Sh. Falamarzi.