Anaulacaspis sinuata, 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 : 228-229

Anaulacaspis sinuata spec. nov.

( Figs 52–56 , Map 2 )

Type material: Holotype ♂: “ IRAN KORDESTÂN, E de Marivân , 35°32'N, 46°20'E, A. Senglet 16.9.75 / Holotypus ♂ Anaulacaspis sinuata sp. n., det. V. Assing 2016” ( cAss) . Paratypes: 1 ♀: same data as holotype (cAss); 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀: “ IRAN, Kordestan Province, Sanandaj – Divandarreh road, 21 km S Divandarreh, 1890 m, N 35°45'43" E 047°04'43", 06.09.2008, lg. Frisch & Serri ” ( MNB, cAss) ; 2 ♂♂: “ IRAN, Lorestan Province, 20 km SW Borujerd, 1740 m, N 33°46'23" E 048°39'06", 15.10.2011, leg. Frisch ” ( MNB, cAss) .

Etymology: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective) alludes to the sinuate ventral process of the aedeagus (lateral view).

Description: Body length 2.0– 2.3 mm; length of forebody 1.0– 1.1 mm. Coloration: body black, sometimes with the postero-sutural portion of the elytra indistinctly and diffusely paler; legs blackish-brown; antennae black. Integument very glossy.

Head weakly transverse, 1.05–1.10 times as broad as long, without appreciable sexual dimorphism; punctation extremely fine and moderately dense; interstices without microsculpture. Eyes slightly longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antennae approximately 0.8 mm long; antennomere IV approximately as long as broad; antennomeres V–X of gradually increasing width and increasingly transverse, X approximately 1.5 times as broad as long.

Pronotum 1.10–1.15 times as broad as long and approximately as broad as head; sexual dimorphism indistinct; punctation moderately dense and fine, usually slightly more distinct than that of head.

Elytra slightly longer than pronotum; punctation moderately dense and very fine. Hind wings fully developed.

Abdomen slightly narrower than elytra; punctation fine and distinct, denser in anterior than in posterior portions of tergites; tergite VIII ( Fig. 52 ) with postero-lateral cluster of long thin setae on either side, posterior margin truncate or indistinctly convex, with thin marginal setae.

♂: pronotum usually with very fine and shallow median sulcus; sternite VIII ( Fig. 53 ) strongly, convexly produced posteriorly; median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 54–55 ) small, 0.21–0.23 mm long; ventral process sinuate in lateral view, broad and apically not incised in ventral view.

♀: pronotum with or without very indistinct median sulcus; sternite VIII ( Fig. 56 ) with distinctly convex posterior margin.

Comparative notes: Anaulacaspis sinuata is reliably distinguished from other dark-coloured species of the A. nigra group only by the shape of the median lobe of the aedeagus. In external appearance (blackish-brown legs; glossy and finely punctured forebody, it is similar to A. nigrina , from which it additionally differs by less dense punctation of the head and pronotum, usually uniformly black elytra, a truncate posterior margin of the abdominal tergite VIII, and a posteriorly more strongly produced male sternite VIII. In coloration, glossy appearance, fine punctation, the absence of a distinct sexual dimorphism of the head and pronotum, and the lateral aspect of the ventral process of the aedeagus, A. sinuata also resembles A. nigerrima , from which it is distinguished by the shape of tergite VIII, and the distinctly smaller median lobe of the aedeagus with a more strongly curved (lateral view), apically less acute (lateral view), smoothly converging lateral margins (ventral view), and apically not distinctly pointed ventral process (ventral view).

Distribution: The currently known distribution is confined to few localities in Kordestan and Lorestan provinces, Iran ( Map 2 ). The altitudes indicated on the labels range from 1740 to 1890 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 49–69: Anaulacaspsis libanotica (49–51), A. sinuata (52–56), A. nigerrima (57–61), and A. persica (62–69): male tergite VIII (49, 52, 57, 62–63); male sternite VIII (50, 53, 58, 64); female sternite VIII (51, 56); median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (54–55, 59–61, 65–69). Scale bars: 0.1 mm.