Euplectus assingi BRACHAT, 2019

Assing, Volker, Brachat, Volker & Meybohm, Heinrich, 2019, Monograph of the Staphylinidae of Crete (Greece). Part II. Descriptions of new species (Insecta: Coleoptera), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 69 (2), pp. 239-289 : 284-285

Euplectus assingi BRACHAT spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:B653CFCD-0DF4-4AC8-8BDC-64FCD2FB9599

( Fig.164 )

Type material: Holotype ♂: “GR – Crete [18], SW Sitia , NW Makrigialos , 35°03'31"N, 25°56'49"E, 70 m, soil washing, 30.XII.2017, V. Assing / Euplectus assingi spec. nov. ♂, det. Brachat 2.2019 / Holotypus” ( cBra) . Paratypes: 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀: “GR – Crete [17], SW Sitia, Kimouriotis , 35°10'40"N, 26°03'00"E, 110 m, soil washing, 28.XII.2017, V. Assing ” (cBra); 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀: same data, but 15.III.2019, leg. Meybohm & Brachat (3) (cBra); 2 ♀♀: “GR – Crete [13], Kritsa, 35°08'47"N, 25°38'24"E, 400 m, soil washing, 27.XII.2017, V. Assing ” (cBra); 1 ♂: “GR – Crete [15], Kritsa, SW Kroustas, 35°07'02"N, 25°38'14"E, 760 m, soil washing, 27.XII.2017, V. Assing ” (cBra); 1 ♀: “GR – Crete [56], NE Lassithi Plateau, 35°12'45"N, 25°31'53"E, 850 m, soil washing, 27.III.2018, V. Assing ” (cBra); 1 ♂: “ Greece - Crete, above Ammoudari, sifting 980 m, 35.305663N, 24.175005E, 21.4.2015 M. Kocian lgt.” (cHla) .

Etymology: This species is dedicated to Volker Assing, who, especially by means of the soil-washing technique, succeeded in discovering this and other new species of Cretan Pselaphinae .

Description: Body length 1.55–1.60 mm. Body reddishbrown with slightly paler legs, smooth, glossy, and with relatively short and nearly depressed yellowish pubescence; antennae with long and erect setae.

Head transverse, 1.3 times as broad as long, dorsally with a pair of postantennal foveae and a pair of intraocular foveae, the latter at the level of the posterior margins of the eyes and close, distance between them less than distance between fovea and dorsal margin of eye; frons between antennal insertions with deep impression; median keel on vertex relatively long. Eyes large, composed of 30–35 ommatidia, and projecting from lateral contours of head. Antenna with large and distinct three-jointed club; antennomeres I and II weakly oblong, III smaller, as long as broad and narrower at base, IV–VI as broad as long and orbicular, VII and VIII weakly transverse, shape of club sexually dimorphic.

Pronotum as long as broad and as broad as head, broadest in anterior third; lateral margins convex; disc with median sulcus not reaching anterior margin of pronotum.

Elytra as long as broad and slightly more than 1.5 times as long as pronotum, with four basal foveae; discal sulcus deep, less than half as long as elytron. Hind wings present.

Abdominal tergites IV and V each with two basal keels not reaching middle of tergites, area between these keels approximately half as broad as tergites and with dense and very short pubescence.

♂: antenna 0.63–68 mm long; antennal club large, 0.28 mm long, slightly longer than combined length of antennomeres III–VIII; antennomeres IX as long as broad, broader and longer than preceding antennomeres, X weakly oblong, and XI twice as long as broad; mesotibia subapically with small spine on inner face; sternite VIII with shallow median impression, laterally of this impression with a series of short setae; aedeagus ( Fig. 164 ) 0.25–0.27 mm long.

♀: antenna 0.62–0.63 mm long; antennal club 0.24 mm long, as long as the combined length of antennomeres III–VIII; antennomeres IX twice as broad as long, X 1.25 times as broad as long, and XI large, 1.6–1.7 times as long as broad.

Comparative notes: Euplectus assingi belongs to a group of species including Euplectus meybohmi BRACHAT, 2017 from the Greek island Samos and several undescribed species of the East Mediterranean region, which are characterized by a distinct sexual dimorphism of the antennal club and a deep impression between the antennal insertions. It is distinguished from E. meybohmi and other species of this group particularly by the shape of the aedeagus.

Two additional Euplectus species recorded from Crete are represented exclusively by females, so that they remain undescribed until males are available.

Distribution and natural history: The species is endemic to Crete. Unlike most other congeners which are generally found associated with wood, the specimens of E. assingi were, with one exception, all collected by washing soil from the vicinity of old trees. The altitudes range from 70 to 980 m.

Figures

Figs 156–173: Amauronyx chanianus (156), A. occidens (157),A. askifouicus (158), Bryaxismeybohmianus (159–161), Bythinus creticus (162–163), Euplectus assingi(164),Faronus meybohmi (165), F.lefkamontium (166),F.albimontium(167),Tychus chanianus (168), and Sepedophilus creticus (169–173): aedeagus in dorsal and ventral view (156–158, 160, 163–168, 172); antennomeres I–II (159); internal structures of aedeagus (161); maxillary palpomere IV (162); habitus (169); male sternite VIII (170); male tergites IX–X (171); apical portion of aedeagus (173). Scale bars: 169: 1.0 mm; 170–172: 0.2 mm; 156–161, 163–168, 173: 0.1 mm; 162 without scale.