Gyrophaena (Phaenogyra) atropatena Enushchenko

Enushchenko, Ilya V. & Semenov, Viktor B., 2016, A review of the genus Gyrophaena Mannerheim 1830 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Gyrophaenina) of the Caucasus and adjacent territories, Zootaxa 4126 (3), pp. 301-337 : 326-328

Gyrophaena (Phaenogyra) atropatena Enushchenko , sp. n.

(Figs. 64–66)

Type material examined: Holotype of Gyrophaena (Phaenogyra) atropatena Enushchenko , sp. n., 1 Ƌ: AZERBAIJAN: ‘ЮВ Азерб[айджан]., Талыш [SE Azerb[aijan]., Talysh] | Алексеевка [Alekseevka]. 23 | бл. Ленкорань [near Lenkoran] IV | Вышинский [Vyshinskiy] 1979’, ‘ Gyrophaena | strictula Er. | V.B. Semenov det. 1985’, ‘ Holotype | Gyrophaena | atropatena sp.n. | Enushchenko I.V. | 2015 det.’ <red label> ( ZMM).

Paratype 1 spec.: IRAN: ‘Kishtybi | N Persia [apparently NW Iran in the vicinity of Talysh Mountains ( Fedorenko, 1994)], 4.IV. [1]916, B. Iljin’, ‘ Gyrophaena | strictula Er. | Enushchenko I.V. | 2015 det.’ ( ZIN); 1 Ƌ: ‘ IRAN, Prov. Mazandaran | [IR08-20] Chalus County, | Elburz Mts., N-Slope, 10 km | SE Abbasabad, small stream, | 36°38'95,9''N, 51°12'22,5''E, | 149m, 04.VI.2008, leg. A. Pütz’, ‘ Gyrophaena | strictula | Erichson | det. V. Assing, 2010’, ‘ Paratype | Gyrophaena | atropatena sp.n. | Enushchenko I.V. | 2015 det.’ <red label> (cAP).

FIGURES 58–63.

Description. Body subparallel, length 1.8 mm. Head and pronotum pitchy-brown to black; disc of elytra dark red-brown to pitchy-brown, postero-lateral margins of elytra darker; abdomen darkl red-brown; legs, antennae and mouthparts yellow. Body with dense and distinct reticulate microsculpture, weaker on abdomen. Head as long as wide, vertex with sparse, shallow, indistinct punctures; median area inpunctate. Antennomeres I–III elongate, twice longer than width; antennomeres IV–VII as wide as long; antennomeresVIII–X twice wider then long; apical antennomere conical, 1.25 times longer than width. Pronotum 1.4 times as wide as long and head; maximal width in median part, posterior angles rounded, microsculpture as that on head, with two median rows of small weakly defined punctures, very indistinct at base. Elytra 1.4 times longer than pronotum, 1.5 times as wide as long; disc and posterior angles of elytra with sparse small tubercles.

Male. Posterior margin of abdominal tergite VIII (Fig. 66) with two large lateral teeth and two small teeth between them, apical margin slightly emarginated. Median lobe of aedeagus narrow, elongate and straight; apical projection of internal sac short and irregularly shaped (Fig. 65).

Female unknown.

Comparative notes. Based on the arrangement of pronotal punctures and character of microsculpture of the elytra, the new species is similar to G. strictula , from which it differs by the subparallel abdomen (not sphenoid, as in G. strictula ), narrower elytra (elytra of G. s t r i c t u l a 1.3 times as wide as long), by the coloration of antennae (antennomeres of G. strictula yellow-brown or brown) and by the shape of antennal segments (antennomeres IV and X of G. strictula as wide as long, antennomeres V–IX 1.3 times wider than long). Besides that, the aedeagus (Fig. 65) of new species is slightly smaller and more slender than that of G. strictula (Fig. 68); ventral plate is narrow, elongate and straight (not lanceolate and slightly convolute, as in G. strictula ).

Etymology: The species name is derived from the Greek Atropatene, the name of the ancient province of the north-east of Iran; it roughly corresponds with territories of Iranian Azerbaijan and southern regions of Azerbaijan.

Remarks. Assing (2011a) recorded this species from Iran (Mazandaran, Chalus county) as G. (Phaenogyra) strictula .