Anaulacaspis reticulata, Assing, 2016

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 : 226-227

Anaulacaspis reticulata spec. nov.

( Figs 42–46 , Map 2 )

Type material: Holotype ♂: “ TR Mersin (46), Kirobasi– Güzeloluk, 14 km W Güz. 1430 m / 36°45'1N 33°57'51E, (46) leg. 8.5.2004, Brachat & Meybohm / Holotypus ♂ Anaulacaspis reticulata sp. n., det. V. Assing 2016” ( cAss).

Etymology: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective) alludes to the conspicuous microreticulation on the elytra.

Description: Body length 2.2 mm; length of forebody 1.0 mm. Coloration: body black; legs and antennae dark-brown.

Head 1.15 times as broad as long, with weakly pronounced sexual dimorphism; punctation fine and moderately dense; interstices without microsculpture. Eyes longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antennae short and massive; antennomere IV distinctly transverse; antennomeres V–X of gradually increasing width and increasingly transverse, X approximately twice as broad as long.

Pronotum distinctly transverse, more than 1.15 times as broad as long and slightly broader than head; sexual dimorphism weakly pronounced; punctation dense and moderately fine; postero-median portion with microreticulation.

Elytra as long as pronotum; punctation dense and distinct; interstices with a distinct network of microstriae ( Fig. 42 ). Hind wings fully developed.

Abdomen slightly narrower than elytra; punctation fine, rather dense, and more or less regularly distributed; interstices with microreticulation composed of larger meshes on tergites III–V and of smaller meshes on tergites VI and VII; posterior margin of tergite VIII ( Fig. 43 ) weakly convex, postero-laterally with a cluster of dense long setae; marginal setae thin and long.

♂: head slightly depressed in postero-median portion; pronotum with a fine median sulcus in posterior two-thirds, in postero-median portion with denser punctation; sternite VIII ( Fig. 44 ) with convex posterior margin, marginal setae long, thin, and distributed along all of posterior margin; median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 45–46 ) small, 0.21 mm long; ventral process broadbased in lateral view, very broad, laterally not angulate, and apically weakly incised in ventral view, at base without semi-transparent projection.

♀: unknown.

Comparative notes: Among the species of the A. nigra group, A. reticulata is characterized by the short and massive antennae with a distinctly transverse antennomere IV, the presence of distinct microreticulation on the pronotum, the elytra, and the abdomen, less fine punctation of the elytra, the shapes and chaetotaxy of tergite VIII and the male sternite VIII, and by the morphology of the median lobe of the aedeagus.

Distribution: This species is currently known only from the type locality, which is situated in Mersin province, central southern Anatolia ( Map 2 ), at an altitude of 1430 m.

Figures

Map 2: Distributions of Anaulacaspis nigra (black circles), A. pseudonigra (white circle), A. reticulata (white triangle), A. libanotica (black triangles), A. caucasica (white diamonds), A. truncata (black diamonds), and A. sinuata (stars) in the West Palaearctic and Middle Asia, based on revised records.

Figs 31–48: Anaulacaspsis caucasica (31–34), A. pseudonigra (35–41), A. reticulata (42–46), and A. libanotica (47–48): male tergite VIII (31, 35, 43); male sternite VIII (32, 36, 44); median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (33–34, 37–39, 45–48); apical portion of median lobe in ventral view (40); female sternite VIII (41); sutural portion of elytra (42). Scale bars: 0.1 mm.