Anaulacaspis ” inexpectata ( FAGEL, 1969 ), 1895

Assing, Volker, 2016, Revision of the Anaulacaspis species of the Palaearctic region (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 66 (2), pp. 201-255 : 253

“ Anaulacaspis ” inexpectata ( FAGEL, 1969)

( Figs 229–236 , Map 5 )

Melagria inexpectata FAGEL, 1969: 41 ff.

Type material examined: Holotype ♂: “ Tokmak / R.I.Sc. N.B. 17.479, Coll . et det. A. Fauvel / / G. Fagel det. 1969, Melagria inexpectata n. sp. / Type / Anaulacaspis inexpectata ( Fagel) , det. V. Assing 2016” ( IRSNB) . Paratype ♀: same data as holotype ( IRSNB) .

Comment: The original description is based on a male holotype and a female paratype from “Tokmak” ( FAGEL 1969).

Additional material examined: Iran: Azarbayjan-e Gharbi: 2 ♂♂ [1 teneral], 1 ♀, 20 km W Salmas , 10 km W Kuzeh Rash, 38°11'N, 44°31'E, 2100 m, 31.VIII.2008, leg. Frisch & Serri ( MNB); 1 ♂, N Takab, 3 km NE Takhte-Soleyman, 36°38'N, 47°14'E, 2270 m, 8.IX.2008, leg. Frisch & Serri (cAss) .

Redescription: Body length 2.0– 2.3 mm; length of forebody 0.90–1.05 mm. Coloration: body black, with the postero-sutural portion of the elytra sometimes slightly paler; legs yellowish-brown to dark-brown; antennae blackish-brown to black. Whole body without microsculpture.

Head weakly transverse, approximately 1.1 times as broad as long, without appreciable sexual dimorphism; punctation fine and moderately dense. Eyes slightly longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna short, approximately 0.7 mm long; antennomere IV weakly transverse; antennomeres V–X of gradually increasing width and increasingly transverse, X approximately twice as broad as long.

Pronotum weakly transverse, 1.10–1.15 times as broad as long, and approximately as broad as, or slightly narrower than head, without appreciable sexual dimorphism; punctation dense and fine, denser and more distinct than that of head; midline with fine and shallow median sulcus.

Elytra approximately as long as pronotum; punctation moderately dense and fine, but distinct. Scutellum coarsely and rugosely sculptured. Hind wings fully developed.

Abdomen as broad as, or slightly narrower than elytra; anterior impressions of tergites III–V deep and with a transverse row of very coarse punctures separated by narrow ridges; punctation of remainder of tergal surfaces distinct and moderately dense; tergite VIII ( Figs 233–234 ) without a cluster of long postero-lateral setae, anterior margin without the usual median excision, posterior margin convex and with conspicuous dense and strongly modified, short and stout marginal setae.

♂: head indistinctly depressed in postero-median portion; sternite VIII ( Fig. 235 ) smoothly convex posteriorly; median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 229–232 ) approximately 0.25 mm long, ventral process in lateral view straight and without median membranous projection at base, in ventral view narrow and apically convex.

♀: head not depressed in postero-median portion; posterior margin of sternite VIII ( Fig. 236 ) broadly convex; spermatheca not comma-shaped.

Comparative notes: This species is readily distinguished from all its West Palaearctic congeners by several unique character conditions: the coarsely and rugosely sculptured scutellum, the coarse punctation of the anterior impressions of tergites III–V, the conspicuous chaetotaxy of the abdominal tergite VIII, the absence of a median excision of the anterior margin of tergite VIII, the morphology of the median lobe of the aedeagus, and the different shape of the spermatheca. For additional comments see the section on species groups in chapter 3.1.

Distribution: The type locality “Tokmak” is ambiguous; there are several geographic entities with that name in Ukraine, Russia, and Middle Asia. According to the Palaearctic Catalogue ( SCHÜLKE & SMETANA 2015), Tokmak is in Kyrgyzstan and thus identical to what is Tokmok today. The additional material was collected in two localities in North Iran ( Map 5 ).

Figures

Map 5: Distributions of Anaulacaspis flavomarginata (white diamonds), A. pamphylica (black star), A. inexpectata (white circles), and A. persica (black circles) in the West Palaearctic and Middle Asia, based on revised records.

Figs 211–232: Anaulacaspsis formosa (211), A. elegans (212–220), A. beesoni (221–228; 224–225: lectotype), and A. inexpectata (229–232; 231–232: holotype): habitus (211; photo by Marc Tronquet); male tergite VIII (212, 221); male sternite VIII (213, 222); median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (214–217, 224–227, 229–232); female tergite VIII (218); posterior margin of female tergite VIII (219); female sternite VIII (220, 228); postero-lateral portion of sternite VIII (223). Scale bars: 211: 1.0 mm; 212–218, 220–222, 224–232: 0.1 mm; 219, 223: 0.05 mm.

Figs 233–236: Anaulacaspsis inexpectata: male tergite VIII (233); posterior margin of male tergite VIII (234); male sternite VIII (235); female sternite VIII (236). Scale bars: 233, 235–236: 0.1 mm; 234: 0.05 mm.