Geostiba maxiana ( TIKHOMIROVA , 1973)

Assing, Volker, 2015, On the Staphylinidae of the Greek island Chios (Insecta Coleoptera), Linzer biologische Beiträge 47 (1), pp. 43-55 : 48-49

Geostiba maxiana ( TIKHOMIROVA, 1973)

Atheta maxiana TIKHOMIROVA, 1973: 159 .

Geostiba (Lioglutosipalia) bulbifera ZERCHE, 1988: 155 ff.; nov.syn.

C o m m e n t: According to NEWTON (in prep.), Geostiba euboica PACE, 1990 is a junior synonym of the overlooked name G. maxiana , a replacement name for the homonym Atheta winkleri BERNHAUER, 1936, previously a synonym of G. euboica.

Geostiba bulbifera was originally described from the Vitosha range ( Bulgaria) and subsequently recorded from several other Bulgarian localities ( ASSING 2005a; ZERCHE 1988, 2002). A comparison of the types and additional material of this taxon with the material of G. maxiana (then referred to as G. euboica) known at that time revealed only slight differences ( ASSING 2000, 2005a). With the numerous specimens available from Chios, Lesbos, and numerous other localities today, the differences observed earlier can no longer be considered constant, but fall within the range of intraspecific variation of G. maxiana . Hence, G. bulbifera is placed in synonymy with G. maxiana .

The distribution of Geostiba maxiana includes large parts of Greece (including many islands such as Zákinthos, Levkás, Kefallinía, Evvoia, Lesbos, Kárpathos), Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and western Turkey ( ASSING 2005b, 2006b, 2009b, 2010c). The vast distribution prompted me to hypothesize that this species was wing-dimorphic, although all the previously examined specimens are micropterous ( ASSING 2009b). Wing-dimorphism had been recorded for three Geostiba species, G. circellaris (GRAVENHORST, 1806) , G. oertzeni (EPPELSHEIM, 1888), and G. lucens (BENICK, 1970) , all of them widespread ( ASSING 2005b, 2009b).

As many as 175 specimens (10333, 72♀♀) of G. maxiana were collected in Chios, with one exception all of them on Oros Pelinneon, primarily by sifting pine and oak litter, as well as grass roots near a nest of Messor sp. (Tab. 1). Remarkably, one male from locality sample 18 is macropterous, thus confirming that G. maxiana is indeed wing-dimorphic.