Ochthebius hivae, Jäch, Manfred, Irani, Elham & Delgado, Juan A., 2013

Jäch, Manfred, Irani, Elham & Delgado, Juan A., 2013, Ochthebius hivae (Coleoptera: Hydraenidae) from western Iran, a new species of the O. metallescens group with remarkable aedeagal variability, Zootaxa 3700 (1), pp. 195-199 : 195-198

Ochthebius hivae sp. nov.

Type locality: Morvarid spring, 288 m a.s.l., 50°7'38.68"E 30°40'18.68"N, NE of Behbahan, southeastern Khuzestan Province, western Iran ( Fig. 4).

Material examined: Holotype male (Vienna Natural History Museum, Austria): “ IRAN: Prov. Khuzestan Behbahan, Morvarid spring 4.9. 2010, 229 m a.s.l. 50°11'37.94''E / 30°39'02.83''N leg. E. Irani ”. Paratypes (Vienna Natural History Museum, Austria; Insect Taxonomy Research Department, Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, Teheran, Iran): 24 exs. from the type locality. 3 exs.: “ IRAN: Prov. Khuzestan Behbahan Atashkadeh 30.12.2009 leg. E. Irani & M. Keshtkar”, “Khairabad River 50°17'39.67''E 30°20'02.80''N 197 m a.s.l.”. 3 exs.: “ IRAN: Prov. Khuzestan Behbahan, Garmabeh River 0 5.05. 2011, 366 m a.s.l. 50°22'08.53''E / 30°29'39.18''N leg. E. Irani ”. 1 ♂, 1 ♀: “ILAM, Abdanan to Dehloran Rd., Sarab e Baqh, 527m. N 32 46 10.6 E 47 37 57.7 19.VI.2007 leg. Naserzadeh”.

Five additional specimens from the type locality are deposited in the laboratory of I. Ribera (IBE – Institut de Biología Evolutiva, Barcelona, Spain). The soft tissue from a single specimen was digested and the DNA isolated and stored in the DNA collection with voucher number IBE-RA744. The extracted specimen is kept in the IBE with the same reference number.

Differential diagnosis. 1.8–2.0 mm long. Habitus and coloration as in Fig. 1 . Externally, the new species resembles O. khuzestanicus ( Iran) and O. wurayah Jäch & Delgado ( UAE). It differs from these species in the less coarsely granulate elytra, and from O. khuzestanicus also in the less densely punctate pronotum. Head and pronotum of O. hivae are usually more distinctly cupreous than in the two other species.

In Ochthebius puberulus , which is obviously closely related with O. khuzestanicus and O. wurayah the elytra are not granulate.

Aedeagus ( Figs. 2 –3): distal lobe 370?400 µm long. It differs quite significantly from the three species mentioned above (see Jäch 1989, Jäch & Delgado 2010). Its distal lobe does not possess a long, strongly curved tube-like process. The distal lobe of the new species vaguely resembles O. rectilobus Jäch, 1989 (see Jäch 1989: Fig. 23) and O. decianus Orchymont, 1942 (see Jäch 1999: Fig. 19). However, the aedeagus of the new species is definitely longer and the distal lobe is wider. The distal lobe of O. schoedli Jäch, 1999 (see Jäch 1999: Fig. 18) is also somewhat similar but it is characterized by a subacute prominence on the dorsal margin, which is absent in the new species.

Sexual dimorphism: Anterior margin of male labrum slightly upturned. Explanate margin of elytra of females wider than in males. Abdominal apex of female with blunt spines.

Variability. Postocular emargination of pronotum and postocular tooth weakly or well developed. The density of the pronotal punctation also varies to some extent.

Remarkably, the width and the outlines of distal lobe of Ochthebius hivae are very variable, even within the same population (see Fig. 3).

Discussion. In most species of the Ochthebius metallescens group there is hardly any aedeagal variability. Thus the extraordinary variability of the shape of the distal lobe of O. hivae can be regarded as rather exceptional in this group. The specimen from Khairabad River is particularly devious, but there is little doubt that it belongs to the same species.

Distribution. The new species is known from western Iran (Ilam Province and southeastern Khuzestan Province).

Etymology. We take pleasure in naming this species for Hiva Naserzadeh (Insect Taxonomy Research Department, Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, Tehran, Iran), who collected the first specimens of this species in 2007.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Ochthebius hivae, habitus, paratype from Khairabad River; scale: 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 2. Aedeagus of Ochthebius hivae (Ilam: Sarab e Baqh), a) right lateral view (very slightly rotated to dorsal side), b) apex in strict left lateral view, c) dorso-lateral view (maximum outline of distal lobe), and d) ventral view; scale: 0.1 mm.