Myllaena cretica, Assing, 2018

Assing, Volker, 2018, On some Myllaena species in the East Mediterranean and Caucasus regions (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 50 (2), pp. 1015-1032 : 1023-1024

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.3776222

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3796581

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03C487B8-2902-B83C-CE8F-FCDFFEAE7443

treatment provided by

Valdenar

scientific name

Myllaena cretica
status

sp. nov.

Myllaena cretica View in CoL nov.sp. ( Figs 20-32 View Figs 20-28 View Figs 29-32 , Map 1 View Map 1 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype ♂: "GR - Crete [61], WSW Ag. Nikolaos, Katharo plateau, 1110 m, stream, 35°08'14''N, 25°34'15''E, 28.III.2018, V. Assing / Holotypus ♂ Myllaena cretica sp. n. det. V. Assing 2018" (cAss). Paratypes: 3♂♂, 6♀♀: same data as holotype (cAss) GoogleMaps .

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from Crete.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 3.3-3.7 mm; length of forebody 1.3-1.6 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 20 View Figs 20-28 . Coloration: head and abdomen black; pronotum and elytra blackish-brown; legs dark-yellowish; antennae dark-brown, with antennomere I yellowish-brown.

Head weakly transverse, broadest behind eyes, wedge-shaped. Eyes approximately as long as postocular portion in dorsal view. Antenna ( Fig. 21 View Figs 20-28 ) approximately 1.1 mm long; all antennomeres distinctly oblong.

Pronotum approximately 1.3 times as broad as long and 1.5 times as broad as head; posterior margin not distinctly sinuate.

Elytra approximately 0.75 times as long as pronotum; punctation extremely fine and dense, slightly more distinct than that of head and pronotum.

Abdomen: tergite VIII and sternite VIII with pronounced sexual dimorphism.

♂: posterior margin of tergite VIII ( Fig. 22 View Figs 20-28 ) obtusely angled in the middle; posterior margin of sternite VIII convex ( Fig. 23 View Figs 20-28 ); median lobe of aedeagus approximately 0.53 mm long and shaped as in Figs 24-26 View Figs 20-28 .

♀: posterior margin of tergite VIII ( Fig. 27 View Figs 20-28 ) angled in the middle, more so than in male; posterior margin of sternite VIII ( Figs 28-29 View Figs 20-28 View Figs 29-32 ) produced, somewhat truncate, in the middle weakly concave, with a conspicuous fringe of dense stout modified setae; spermatheca as in Figs 30-32. View Figs 29-32

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Thisspeciesismostsimilarto M. lesbia ASSING, 2016 from Lesbos, not only in external characters, but also regarding the morphology of the aedeagus, suggesting that these species are closely related. They are distinguished, however, by the length of the elytra (M. lesbia: elytra 0.80-0.85 times as long as the pronotum), and especially by the completely different shapes of the female tergite VIII (M. lesbia: posterior margin acutely angled in the middle), of the female sternite VIII (M. lesbia: posterior margin strongly convex and without modified setae), and of the spermatheca. The aedeagus of M. cretica differs from that of M. lesbia only by the slightly less slender apex of the ventral process (lateral view), the shape of the base of the ventral process (more strongly curved in M. lesbia in lateral view), and by the shapes of the internal structures. For illustrations of M. lesbia see ASSING (2016).

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d n a t u r a l h i s t o r y: The absence of records from other East Mediterranean regions suggests that Myllaena cretica is probably endemic to Crete. The type locality is situated in the Katharo plateau in the Dikti range, to the southwest of Agios Nikolaos, East Crete ( Map 1 View Map 1 ). The specimens were floated from gravel on the banks of a small stream surrounded by cultivated land at an altitude of 1110 m.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Coleoptera

Family

Staphylinidae

Genus

Myllaena

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