Ocalea discrepans, Assing & Terlutter, 2009

Assing, V. & Terlutter, H., 2009, A new species of Ocalea from Afghanistan (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 41 (1), pp. 459-462 : 460

Ocalea discrepans nov.sp. ( Figs 1-10 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype Ƌ: "NE-Afghanistan, 2008, Shiwa Lake , 2800-2900 m, 37°14'N / 70°58'E, 19.-21.VII., leg. C. Reuter / Holotypus Ƌ Ocalea discrepans sp.n. det. V. Assing & H. Terlutter 2008" (coll. Assing).

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 5.0 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 1 . Coloration: body uniformly blackish; femora and antennae dark brown; tibiae and tarsi brown.

Head approximately as wide as long; punctation fine, shallow, and moderately dense; microsculpture very shallow, in median dorsal area practically obsolete; eyes large, approximately as long as postocular region in dorsal view ( Fig. 2 ). Antennae slender, approximately 1.7 mm long ( Fig. 3 ). Mouthparts as in Figs 4-6 .

Pronotum 1.1 times as wide as long and 1.18 times as wide as head ( Fig. 2 ); posterior angles obtuse, but marked; lateral margins in posterior half straight in dorsal view; pubescence directed cephalad along anterior 5/6-6/7 of midline, caudad along posterior 1/6-1/7 of midline, and laterad in lateral portions of disc; punctation slightly denser and more pronounced than that of head; microsculpture extremely shallow, almost obsolete.

Elytra approximately 1.05 times as long and 1.45 times as wide as pronotum ( Fig. 2 ); posterior margins moderately sinuate near posterior angles; punctation fine and dense, more defined than that of pronotum; interstices narrower than diameter of punctures and with barely noticeable microsculpture; pubescence directed diagonally postero-laterad in internal half and almost straight posteriad in external half. Hind wings fully developed.

Abdomen approximately 0.85 times as wide as elytra, widest at segments V/VI; tergites III-V with rather deep, tergite VI with slightly shallower anterior impression; punctation fine and rather sparse, distinctly sparser on posterior than on anterior tergites; posterior margin of tergite VII with pronounced palisade fringe; microsculpture very shallow on tergite VIII and practically obsolete on remaining tergites.

Ƌ: posterior margin of tergite VIII convex; posterior margin of sternite VIII distinctly produced in the middle; median lobe of aedeagus 0.9 mm long and of highly distinctive morphology, at base of ventral process on either side with a pronounced carina, apex of ventral process flattened and very acute in ventral view ( Figs 7-8 ); parameres very large, approximately 1.5 mm long ( Figs 9-10 ).

♀: unknown.

E t y m o l o g y: The name (Latin, adjective: different) refers to the morphology of the median lobe of the aedeagus, which is remarkably different from those of other known Palaearctic congeners.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: The new species is readily separated from the similarly dark-coloured O. concolor KIESENWETTER 1847 and O. gyorgyi , as well as from all other Palaearctic representatives of the genus, by the conspicuous morphology of the aedeagus. For illustrations of the sexual characters of O. gyorgyi see ASSING & TERLUTTER (2008).

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d b i o n o m i c s: Thetypelocalityissituatedinthevery northeast of Afghanistan, almost 40 km to the northeast of Feyzabad and approximately 40 km from the border with Tajikistan. The holotype was collected at an altitude of 2800-2900 m.

Figures

Figs 1-10: Ocalea discrepans nov.sp. (holotype): (1) habitus; (2) forebody; (3) antenna; (4) maxillary palpus; (5) labial palpus; (6) ligula; (7) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (8) base of median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (9-10) paramere in different aspects. Scale bars: 1-2: 1.0 mm; 3: 0.5 mm; 7-10: 0.2 mm; 4: 0.1 mm; 5-6: 0.05 mm.