Cretotyphlus chanianus ASSING spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org: act: 1D048CF4-D0DE-4839-869F-4D96B269F25C

(Figs 86–91, 174)

Type material: Holotype ♂: “GR – Crete [10], SW Chania, Mavros stream valley, 35°24'10"N, 23°53'53"E, 290 m, 24.XII.2018, V. Assing / Holotypus ♂ Cretotyphlus chanianus sp. n. det. V. Assing 2019” (cAss) . Paratypes: 1 ♀: same data as holotype (cAss); 1 ♀: “GR – Crete [7], SW Chania, Mavros stream valley, 35°24'10"N, 23°53'53"E, 290 m, 18.III.2018, V. Assing ” (cAss) .

Etymology: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from Chania, the region where the type locality is situated.

Description: Length of forebody 0.45–0.50 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 86. Colour of body dark-yellowish.

Head with rather coarse punctation and with distinct microsculpture; ventral aspect as in Fig. 87. Pronotum approximately as long as broad and slightly broader than head; dorsal surface with rather coarse punctation and distinct microsculpture. Elytra without microsculpture and with sparse and fine punctation.

Abdomen only with shallow and indistinct traces of microsculpture; punctation extremely fine and moderately dense; pubescence moderately long, pale, depressed, and moderately dense.

♂: sternites VI–VIII each with an extensive median impression; sternite VIII (Fig. 88) approximately as long as broad, median impression with a pair of clusters of moderately dense and moderately modified setae in the middle and with very short setae in postero-median portion, posterior margin with broad, shallow, and slightly asymmetric concavity; aedeagus 0.24 mm long and shaped as in Figs 89–90.

♀: posterior margin of sternite VIII acutely produced in the middle; abdominal segments IX–X as in Fig. 91.

Comparative notes: Cretotyphlus chanianus is distinguished from C. hamatus and C. idanus by much coarser punctation of the head and pronotum, smaller size, shorter and more compact antennae with more transverse antennomeres, by the completely different shape and chaetotaxy of the male sternite VIII, and by the completely different shape of the aedeagus.

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated to the southwest of Chania, West Crete. The specimens were washed from soil in a deep stream valley with Platanus orientalis and Rubus undergrowth at an altitude of 290 m (Fig. 174).