Sunius alaianus, Assing, 2015

Assing, Volker, 2015, A revision of Sunius XV. Six new species from Kyrgyzstan and the Himalaya, and additional records (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 65 (2), pp. 287-295 : 290

Sunius alaianus spec. nov.

( Figs 1–6 )

Type material: Holotype ♂: “ Kyrgyzstan, Batken , W Karadzhigach : Karadzhigach-Say , 1560 m, N 40°06'59"E 072°02'24", 13.06.2013, leg. J. Frisch / Holotypus ♂ Sunius alaianus spec. nov. det. V. Assing 2014” (cAss).

Etymology: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from the name of the mountain range where the type locality is situated and where this species is probably endemic.

Description: Small species; body length 3.1 mm; length of forebody 1.6 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 1 . Coloration: head dark-reddish; pronotum bright-reddish; elytra dark-brown, with the anterior portion reddish; abdomen blackish; legs dark-yellowish; antennae reddish.

Head ( Fig. 2 ) 1.03 times as long as broad; lateral margins behind eyes subparallel; punctation coarse and moderately dense, sparse in median dorsal portion; interstices without microsculpture. Eyes rather small, slightly more than half as long as postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna 1.0 mm long.

Pronotum ( Fig. 2 ) 1.05 times as long as broad and 0.85 times as broad as head; punctation coarse and rather dense; interstices without microsculpture; midline rather broadly impunctate.

Elytra ( Fig. 2 ) short and slender, 0.85 times as long as pronotum; punctation dense, rather coarse, but weakly defined. Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen 1.15 times as broad as elytra; punctation fine and moderately dense; interstices with distinct microreticulation; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

♂: sternite VII with weakly concave posterior margin; sternite VIII ( Fig. 3 ) weakly transverse, with rather shallow posterior excision, otherwise unmodified; aedeagus ( Figs 4–6 ) 0.4 mm long; ventral process smoothly curved and apically very acute in lateral view; internal sac with two series of numerous small sclerotized spines and with a pair of larger apical spines.

Comparative notes: Based on the external (coarse punctation) and the male sexual characters (aedeagus with two series of numerous sclerotized spines), S. alaianus undoubtedly belongs to the S. viator group (see ASSING 2008a). Previously, only three micropterous species of this group were known, all of them distributed in Tajikistan: S. bohaci ASSING, 2008 , S. inflexus ASSING, 2008 , and S. pennatus ASSING, 2008 . Sunius alaianus is distinguished from all of them by the different shape of the ventral process of the aedeagus (species from Tajikistan: apical portion of aedeagus straight in lateral view) and by the shapes of the internal structures of the aedeagus. For illustrations of the three species from Tajikistan see ASSING (2008a).

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated in the Alai range in southwestern Kyrgyzstan at an altitude of 1560 m. The holotype was collected from a sandy stream bank below shrubs (FRISCH pers. comm.).

Figures

Figs 1–14: Sunius alaianus spec. nov. (1–6), S. marratus spec. nov. (7–10), and S. virilis spec. nov. (11–14): habitus (1); forebody (2, 7, 11); male sternite VIII (3, 8, 12); aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (4, 9–10, 13–14); ventral process of aedeagus in ventral view (5); internal structures of aedeagus in ventral view (6). Scale bars: 1: 1.0 mm; 2, 7, 11: 0.5 mm; 3, 8, 12: 0.2 mm; 4–6, 9–10, 13–14: 0.1 mm.