Anaulacaspis truncata, Assing, 2016

Assing, Volker, 2016, Revision of the Anaulacaspis species of the Palaearctic region (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 66 (2), pp. 201-255 : 231-232

Anaulacaspis truncata spec. nov.

( Figs 70–75 , Map 2 )

Type material: Holotype ♂: “ IRAN, Azarbayjan-e Gharbi, Khoy – Qotur road : 32 km W Khoy ( Qotur River ), 1540 m, N 38°27'33" E 044°39'19", 29.08.2008, lg. Frisch & Serri / Holotypus ♂ Anaulacaspis truncata sp. n., det. V. Assing 2016” ( MNB) . Paratypes: 4 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀: same data as holotype ( MNB, cAss); 4 ♀♀: “ IRAN, Azarbayjan-e Gharbi, Khoy – Siyah Chesmeh road: 21 km W Zar Abad, 2350 m, N 38°44'19" E 044°28'09", 30.08.2008, lg. Frisch & Serri ” ( MNB, cAss) .

Etymology: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective) alludes to the truncate postero-median process of the abdominal tergite VIII.

Description: Body length 1.9–2.5 mm; length of forebody 1.0– 1.2 mm. Coloration: head blackish-brown; pronotum reddish-brown to brown; elytra with an extensive medio-lateral infuscate spot, humeral angles and anterior portion of sutural region reddish-yellow to reddish, posterior margin and posterior portion of sutural region yellowish to dark-yellowish; abdomen blackish; legs yellowish; antennae brown, with the basal 3–4 antennomeres reddish to reddish-brown.

Head 1.15–1.20 times as broad as long, without appreciable sexual dimorphism; punctation fine and moderately dense; interstices without microsculpture. Eyes longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antennae approximately 0.9 mm long; antennomere IV approximately as long as broad; antennomeres V–X of gradually increasing width and increasingly transverse, X approximately 1.5 times as broad as long.

Pronotum 1.05–1.15 times as broad as long and 0.9–1.0 times as broad as head; sexual dimorphism indistinct or absent; in postero-median portion usually weakly impressed and with shallow median sulcus; punctation dense and moderately fine, denser and more distinct than that of head.

Elytra as long as, or slightly longer than, pronotum; punctation dense and fine. Hind wings fully developed.

Abdomen narrower than elytra; punctation distinct, finer on posterior than on anterior tergites and denser in anterior portions than in posterior portions of tergites; posterior tergites sometimes with distinct microreticulation; tergite VIII with weakly pronounced sexual dimorphism, postero-laterally with a cluster of long setae on either side, posterior margin with a conspicuous truncate median process, this process apically with a fringe of dense long setae.

♂: punctation of pronotum on average slightly more distinct than in female; posterior process of tergite VIII more pronounced ( Fig. 70 ); posterior margin of sternite VIII ( Fig. 71 ) produced and obtusely angled in the middle, marginal setae long, thin, and distributed across all of posterior margin; median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 72–73 ) 0.22–0.24 mm long; ventral process strongly curved and narrow in lateral view, basally broad and apically weakly incised in ventral view.

♀: posterior process of tergite VIII less pronounced than in male ( Fig. 74 ); sternite VIII ( Fig. 75 ) with broadly and strongly convex posterior margin.

Intraspecific variation: One of the females from the type locality has the posterior margin of the abdominal tergite VIII smoothly convex. Since no additional characters suggesting that it should represent a different species, this character is interpreted as a teratology.

Comparative notes: As can be inferred from the synapomorphic modifications of the abdominal tergite VIII (posteriorly with a conspicuous median process) and from the similar morphology of the aedeagus, A. truncata is closely allied to A. persica , from which it differs by denser and more distinct punctation of the pronotum, the shape and chaetotaxy of the abdominal tergite VIII, and by the shape of the ventral process of the aedeagus both in lateral and in ventral view.

Distribution: The known distribution is confined to two localities (altitudes: 1540 and 2350 m) in Azarbayjan-e Gharbi province, Iran ( Map 2 ).

Figures

Map 2: Distributions of Anaulacaspis nigra (black circles), A. pseudonigra (white circle), A. reticulata (white triangle), A. libanotica (black triangles), A. caucasica (white diamonds), A. truncata (black diamonds), and A. sinuata (stars) in the West Palaearctic and Middle Asia, based on revised records.

Figs 70–90: Anaulacaspsis truncata (70–75), A. convexa (76–83), and A. eminens (84–90): male tergite VIII (70, 76, 84); male sternite VIII (71, 77, 85); median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (72–73, 78–80, 86–88); female tergite VIII (74, 82, 89); female sternite VIII (75, 83, 90); apical portion of aedeagus in ventral view (81). Scale bars: 0.1 mm.