Geostiba (Tropogastrosipalia) hasanica, Assing, 2009

Assing, V., 2009, A revision of Geostiba of the Western Palaearctic region. XIX. New species from Turkey and Iran and additional records, with an updated key and a catalogue of the species of the Eastern Mediterranean, the Caucasus, and adjacent regions (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 41 (2), pp. 1191-1246 : 1200-1203

Geostiba (Tropogastrosipalia) hasanica nov.sp. ( Figs 16-23 )

Holotype Ƌ: "TR [38] - Kastamonu, 30 km SE Inebolu , 41°45'39"N, 34°02'36"E 1370 m, calcareous slope, 10.IV.2009, V. Assing / Holotypus Ƌ Geostiba hasanica sp. n. det. V. Assing 2009" (cAss) . Paratypes: 14ƋƋ, 17♀♀: same data as holotype (cAss, OÖLL) ; 10ƋƋ, 19♀♀: same data, but leg. Wunderle (cWun) .

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 2.3-3.1 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 16 . Coloration variable: head reddish brown to blackish; pronotum and elytra reddish to dark brown; abdomen blackish, occasionally with abdominal segments III-IV and VIII-X more or less distinctly paler brown; legs yellowish; antennae brown, with the basal 2-3 antennomeres paler.

Head 1.00-1.07 times as long as wide ( Figs 17-18 ); punctation extremely fine, barely noticeable; surface with very shallow, sometimes almost obsolete microreticulation. Eyes relatively small, 0.35-0.45 times as long as postocular region in dorsal view.

Pronotum with rather weakly pronounced sexual dimorphism ( Figs 17-18 ); punctation extremely fine, barely noticeable; microreticulation somewhat more distinct than that of head.

Elytra with moderately pronounced sexual dimorphism, 0.50-0.55 times as long as pronotum ( Figs 17-18 ); microsculpture very shallow, less pronounced than that of pronotum. Hind wings reduced.

Abdomen ( Fig. 19 ) approximately as wide as elytra; punctation very fine and sparse; microreticulation distinct; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe; tergites IV and V without, VII with sexual dimorphism; posterior margin of tergite VIII weakly convex in both sexes.

Ƌ (with fully developed secondary sexual characters): pronotum 1.00-1.05 times as long as wide, posterior margin convex in the middle, lateral margins smoothly and weakly convex; elytra with short and rather weakly elevated sutural carinae in anterior half, postero-laterally with oblique impressions, punctation weakly to moderately granulose ( Fig. 17 ); abdominal tergites III and IV without distinct median tubercle, occasionally tergite III with very weak indication of such a tubercle ( Fig. 18 ); process of tergite VII moderately long, slender and apically rounded in antero-dorsal view, broad-based and apically acute in lateral view ( Fig. 20 ); median lobe of aedeagus with broad daggershaped cristal process ( Fig. 21 ).

♀: pronotum weakly transverse, posterior margin broadly convex; punctation of elytra not distinctly granulose ( Fig. 18 ); tergites III, IV, and VII unmodified; spermatheca not distinctive ( Fig. 22 ).

E t y m o l o g y: The name (adjective) is derived from the Hasan Dağı, where the type locality is situated.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Using the key in ASSING (2005a), G. hasanica would key out at couplets 83-86, together with two species from central southern Anatolia ( G. simulans PACE 1983 , G. marasica ASSING 2004 , and G. arganthonia PACE 1983 from Istanbul. It is distinguished from all these species by the shape of the cristal process of the aedeagus, from G. arganthonia additionally by the sexual dimorphism of the pronotum (in G. arganthonia absent), as well as by the longer and more erect process of the male abdominal tergite VII, from G. simulans and G. marasica also by the modifications of the male elytra. For illustrations of G. arganthonia , G. simulans , and G. marasica see PACE (1983b) and ASSING (2004a). From the geographically closest consubgeners, G. kastamonuensis and G. heliophila , the new species is readily distinguished by the shallower microreticulation of the head, the weakly pronounced sexual dimorphism of the male pronotum (posterior margin of the male pronotum convex in the middle), and by the shape of the cristal process of the aedeagus, from G. heliophila additionally by the absence of distinct tubercles on the male abdominal tergites III and IV, and by the proximally more distinctly sclerotised spermatheca.

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d b i o n o m i c s: Thespeciesisprobablyendemictothe Hasan Dağı to the northeast of Kastamonu, Kastamonu province, northern Anatolia. The

type specimens were collected by turning stones, partly near snow, on a calcareous slope near a forest margin at an altitude of 1370 m ( Fig. 23 ).

Figures

Figs 16-22: Geostiba hasanica nov.sp. (16-17, 19-20: holotype): (16) male habitus; (17) male forebody; (18) female forebody; (19) male abdomen; (20) male tergites VI-VIII in lateral view; (21) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (22) spermatheca. Scale bars: 16: 1.0 mm; 17-19: 0.5 mm; 20: 0.2 mm; 21-22: 0.1 mm.

Fig. 23: Type locality of G. hasanica nov.sp. (photo: P. Wunderle).