Entomoculia (Entomoculia) carbonaria, Fancello & Hernando & Leo, 2009

Fancello, Luca, Hernando, Carles & Leo, Piero, 2009, The endogean beetle fauna of the Marganai-Oridda-Valle del Leni area (SW Sardinia), with description of seven new species of Staphylinidae Leptotyphlinae (Coleoptera) *, Zootaxa 2318, pp. 317-338 : 322

Entomoculia (Entomoculia) carbonaria sp. nov.

( Figs 9, 13)

Diagnosis. An Entomoculia ascribable to the nominal subgenus for its robust build, the presence of chitinized thickenings on the male genital segment and for the characters of the male and female genitalia; welldifferentiated from its congeners by the shape of the aedeagus and female copulatory plates.

Type locality. SW Sardinia, Carbonia-Iglesias prov., Domusnovas, Gutturu di Monte Nieddu .

Type series. Holotype ♂: “SW Sardinia, Domusnovas (Carbonia-Iglesias), Gutturu di Monte Nieddu , 290 m, 25.X.1985, leg. L. Fancello & P. Leo ” ( MSNG) . Paratypes: Domusnovas (Carbonia-Iglesias prov.), Gutturu di Monte Nieddu, 290 m, 22.V.1985, leg. L. Fancello & P. Leo, 4 ♂♂ and 3 ♀ ( CLF-PL); 18.IX.1985, leg. L. Fancello & P. Leo, 4 ♂♂ and 1 ♀ ( CLF-PL); 1.X.1985, leg. L. Fancello & P. Leo, 2 ♂♂ and 1 ♀ ( CLF-PL); 25.X.1985, leg. L. Fancello & P. Leo, 6 ♂♂ and 5 ♀ (1 ♂ and 1 ♀ CCH, 4 ♂♂ and 2 ♀ CLF-PL, 1 ♂ and 1 ♀ CNBFVR, 1 ♀ MSNG) ; 10.I.1986, leg. L. Fancello & P. Leo, 1 ♀ ( CLF-PL); 18.XII.1989, leg. L. Fancello & P. Leo, 3 ♂♂ and 3 ♀ ( CLF-PL). Domusnovas ( Carbonia-Iglesias prov. ), Grotta [= cave] San Giovanni, ingresso nord [= northern entrance], 200 m, 28.III.1987, leg. P. Leo, 1 ♀ (CLF- PL).

Description. Total length 1.00–1.10 mm. Head subparallel-sided, with prominant frontal carinas slightly diverging posteriorly; microreticulation obvious and punctuation strong and sparse. Pronotum about as long as wide, shiny, with faint microreticulation and superficial and sparse punctuation, much more sparse than on the head; median longitudinal dimples lacking. Elytra shiny with imperceptible microsculpture and scattered punctuation. Aedeagus as in Fig. 9, with sternal lamina, in lateral view, long and robust, tapering at apex; left paramere long, thin and flexuous. Female genital armature complex, structured as in Fig. 13.

Observations. The new species is well-differentiated from the already-known ones and from those described in the present paper; some similarity in the structure of the female genital plates can be found in E. sassariensis from northern Sardinia, but they are easily separable by the shape of the aedeagus (cf. Pace 1996, fig. 87).

Ecological notes. This species was collected in woodland in soil samples taken at the base of an old Quercus ilex and under stone, near a natural cave. Sampling localities are situated on Palaeozoic limestone soil. The following endogean beetles were collected in association with the new species: Mayetia sp. , Leptotyphlus minator sp. nov., Octavius raymondi Saulcy, 1878 (Staphylinidae) , Torneuma sp. (Curculionidae) , Alaocyba carinulata , Raymondiellus sardous sardous (Raymondionymidae) .

Etymology. Named after the vegetal coal production that took place in the type locality until the last century.