Sunius sandiklicus, Anlaş, 2015

Anlaş, Sinan, 2015, On the genus Sunius Curtis, 1829 of Turkey I. Two new micropterous species from central western Turkey (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae, Paederinae), Turkish Journal of Zoology 39 (5), pp. 799-803 : 801-803

Sunius sandiklicus sp. nov. ( Figure 2 )

Type material. Holotype: TURKEY: ♂ TR – Afyonkarahisar Province, Sandıklı Mountains, Çakmaktepe Pass , 1880 m a.s.l., 38°28′23″N, 30°23′19″E, 04.VI.2014, leg. Yağmur & Örgel / Holotypus ♂ Sunius sandiklicus sp. nov. det. S. Anlaş 2014 (cAZMM); Paratypes: TURKEY: 1♂, 1♀, same data as holotype (cAZMM) ; 1♀, Sandıklı Mountains , 1940 m a.s.l., 38°28′25″N, 30°23′19″E, 20. VI.2013, leg. Yağmur & Örgel (cAZMM) ; 1♀, Sandıklı Mountains , 1782 m a.s.l., 38°28′03″N, 30°22′58″E, 17. V.2014, leg. Örgel (cAZMM) ; 1♂, 1♀, Sandıklı Mountains , 2148 m a.s.l., 5 km N of Başören, 38°24′28″N, 30°25′17″E, 17. V.2014, leg. Yağmur & Örgel ; 2♀♀, Sandıklı Mountains , 1805 m a.s.l., 38°25′47″N, 30°24′43″E, 18. V.2014, leg. Yağmur & Örgel.

Description. Small species; 2.9–3.1 mm. Habitus as in Figure 2A . Coloration: head reddish-brown; pronotum reddish; elytra reddish-brown, with posterior area of elytra yellowish-brown; abdomen dark brown; with the paratergites paler brown; legs yellowish-brown; antennae reddish-brown.

Head ( Figures2A and 2B ) weakly oblong, approximately 1.10 times as long as wide; punctation distinct and well defined, not very dense, somewhat sparser in median dorsal portion; interstices clearly wider than diameter of punctures; eyes small, weakly projecting from lateral outline of head; postocular region in dorsal view more than twice as long as eyes. Antennae moderately slender and 0.74–0.78 mm long.

Pronotum ( Figures 2A and 2B ) weakly oblong, approximately 1.08 times as long as wide, and very slightly narrower than head; microsculpture absent; punctation denser than that of head and coarse; widely impunctate median line.

Elytra ( Figures 2A and 2B ) short and narrow, approximately 0.70–0.75 times as long as pronotum; humeral angles weakly marked; punctation dense, rather fine, and weakly defined; microsculpture absent or indistinct. Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen ( Figure 2A ) about 1.15 times as wide as elytra; punctation fine and moderately dense; interstices with microsculpture; pubescence dark brown; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

♂: Sternite VII without modified pubescence; posterior margin medially very weakly concave ( Figure 2C ), sternite VIII posteriorly with relatively broad emargination, but not very deep ( Figure 2D ), without additional modifications; aedeagus ( Figures 2E–2G ) approximately 0.45 mm long, weakly sclerotized, ventral process slender, acute, and slightly curved, especially in lateral view, internal sac in lateral view with long black structure, in ventral view with two shaped knobs, but without sclerotized spines in both lateral and ventral views.

Comparative notes. The species is distinguished from all its congeners by the completely different shape of the ventral process of the aedeagus. For illustrations of the male sexual characters of these species, see the figures by Assing (2001, 2003, 2005a, 2005b, 2005c, 2006, 2011b). The similarly derived morphology of the male sexual characters suggests that S. sandiklicus is most closely related to S. sultanicus and S. cokelezensis . However, interspecific variation of the shape of the ventral process is generally weakly pronounced in the genus. This species is readily separated from S. sultanicus by the apical portion of the ventral process being very slightly curved in lateral view, and by the longer black structure in the internal sac. The new species is additionally separated from S. sultanicus by different coloration ( S. sultanicus : head reddish to dark brown; pronotum reddish to reddish-brown; elytra reddish; abdomen dark brown; legs and antennae reddishyellow. S. sandiklicus : head reddish-brown; pronotum reddish; elytra reddish-brown, with posterior area of elytra yellowish-brown; abdomen dark brown, with the paratergites paler brown; legs yellowish-brown; antennae reddish-brown). S. sandiklicus sp. nov. is distinguished from S. cokelezensi s by the different coloration, relatively broad emargination of male sternite VIII, and by aedeagus with ventral process slender, acute, and slightly curved in lateral view.

Etymology. The specific epithet is derived from the name of the Sandıklı Mountains, where the type locality is situated.

Distribution and bionomics. The new species was collected from four localities from the Sandıklı Mountains in Afyonkarahisar Province, where it is probably endemic. Acknowledgments

I am most grateful to Dr EA Yağmur and S Örgel for making their staphylinid collections available to me. This

Figures

Figure 2. Details of Sunius sandiklicus sp. nov. A- Habitus; B- forebody; C- male sternite VII; D- male sternite VIII; E and F- aedeagus in lateral view; G- aedeagus in ventral view. Scale bars: 0.5 mm (A and B); 0.2 mm (C and D); 0.1 mm (E–G).