Stichoglossa graeca BERNHAUER, 1905

Assing, Volker, 2019, Monograph of the Staphylinidae of Crete (Greece). Part I. Diversity and endemism (Insecta: Coleoptera), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 69 (2), pp. 197-238 : 229

Stichoglossa graeca BERNHAUER, 1905

( Figs 6–10 )

Stichoglossa graeca BERNHAUER, 1905: 593 f.

Type material: Lectotype ♂, present designation: “ Achaja / Lappa / Mir nicht bekannt?, Genus ??! / graeca Brh. Typus / graeca Brh. det. Bernhauer / Chicago NHMus, M. Bernhauer Collection / Lectotypus ♂ Stichoglossa graeca Bernhauer , desig. V. Assing 2018” ( FMNH).

Comment: The original description is based on an unspecified number of syntypes, among them at least one male, from “ Griechenland, Achaja” ( BERNHAUER 1905). The single male syntype located in the Bernhauer collection at the FMNH is designated as the lectotype.

Redescription: Body length 2.3–2.5 mm; length of forebody 1.1–1.2 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 6 . Coloration: head blackish-brown; pronotum bright reddish; elytra brown with the humeral angles and the postero-sutural portions diffusely yellowish; abdomen blackish with the anterior segments slightly paler and with the posterior portion of segment VII and all of segments VIII–X yellowish; legs yellowish; antennae dark-reddish with the basal two antennomeres slightly paler; maxillary palpi yellowish with palpomere III weakly infuscate.

Head ( Fig. 7 ) approximately as broad as long; punctation rather sparse and very fine, barely visible in the pronounced microreticulation. Eyes moderately large, slightly shorter than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna 0.65 mm long and distinctly incrassate apically; antennomeres IV distinctly transverse, V–X of increasing width and increasingly transverse, X approximately three times as broad as long, and XI of conical shape, slightly longer than the combined length of IX and X.

Pronotum ( Fig. 7 ) 1.2 times as broad as long and 1.2 times as broad as head; posterior angles obtusely marked; punctation fine and moderately dense, barely visible in the pronounced microreticulation.

Elytra ( Fig. 7 ) as long as pronotum; punctation dense, more distinct than that of head and pronotum; interstices with microsculpture, but glossy. Hind wings fully developed.

Abdomen narrower than elytra; anterior impressions of tergites III–V shallow; punctation dense and distinct on tergite III, gradually decreasing in density towards posterior tergites, sparse on tergite VII; interstices with shallow microsculpture and glossy; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

♂: tergite VII ( Fig. 8 ) with small, but distinct median tubercle; tergite VIII ( Fig. 8 ) with small median tubercle posteriorly, posterior margin concave and distinctly serrate; sternite VIII obtusely produced in the middle; median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 9–10 ) 0.23 mm long, with broad ventral process (ventral view) and with weakly sclerotized internal structures; parameres approximately 0.3 mm long and with rather large apical lobe.

♀: unknown.

Comparative notes: Stichoglossa graeca is distinguished from other West Palaearctic congeners by its slender ( Leptusa -like) habitus, its coloration, and its small body size alone.

Distribution and natural history: The species was previously known only from the type locality in the north of the PelopÓnnisos. The male from Crete ( Tab. 1 ) represents the first record of this evidently very rare species since the original description. It was collected by sifting bark of dead chestnut trees at an altitude of 280 m.

Figures

Figs 6–10: Stichoglossa graeca from Crete: habitus (6); forebody (7); male abdominal tergites VII–VIII (8); median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (9–10). Scale bars: 6: 1.0 mm; 7: 0.5 mm; 8: 0.2 mm; 9–10: 0.1 mm.