Leptusa (Adexiopisalia) meybohmi, Assing, 2014

Assing, V., 2014, On the Staphylinidae of Sardinia, Italy (Insecta: Coleoptera), Linzer biologische Beiträge 46 (1), pp. 415-428 : 423-425

Leptusa (Adexiopisalia) meybohmi nov.sp. ( Figs 11-16 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l Holotype 6: "I-Sardinia, Lanusei, Bosco Selene , 900 m, 39°52'N, 9°31'E, 30.III.2013, Meybohm / Holotypus 6 Leptusa meybohmi sp. n. det. V. Assing 2013" (cAss) . Paratypes: 2666, 19♀♀: same data as holotype (cAss, MNHUB) ; 16, 1♀: "I Sardinien Nuoro , 6 km S Lanusei 340 m, 26.3.2013 l. Meybohm, N39°50'56 E9°32'55" (cAss, MNHUB) .

E t y m o l o g y: This species is dedicated to Heinrich Meybohm (Grosshansdorf), who collected all the type specimens.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Size variable; body length 1.8-2.7 mm; length of forebody 0.8-1.1 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 11 . Coloration: body reddish to dark-reddish, with abdominal segment VI and sometimes also the anterior portion of segment VII infuscate; legs and antennae yellowish-red to red.

Head ( Fig. 12 ) approximately as broad as long; punctation fine, shallow, and rather sparse, barely noticeable in the pronounced microreticulation. Eyes approximately half as long as postocular region and composed of 10-15 rather large ommatidia.

Pronotum ( Fig. 12 ) 1.15-1.20 times as broad as long and approximately 1.15 times as broad as head; posterior angles very weakly marked, nearly obsolete; punctation and microsculpture similar to those of head.

Elytra ( Fig. 12 ) approximately 0.65 times as long as pronotum; humeral angles rather marked; lateral margins often more or less distinctly elevated and more or less sharply marked, particularly near the humeral angles; disc with pronounced microreticulation and matt. Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen distinctly broader than elytra; punctation fine, moderately sparse on anterior tergites, gradually decreasing in density posteriad, and sparse on posterior tergites; tergite VII and VIII with sexual dimorphism; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

6: tergite VII with glossy oblong median tubercle posteriorly; tergite VIII ( Fig. 13 ) with small oblong median tubercle (sometimes missing particularly in smaller males), posterior margin weakly concave in the middle and serrate; sternite VIII ( Fig. 14 ) transverse, posterior margin distinctly produced in the middle; median lobe of aedeagus 0.23-0.24 mm long, shaped as in Figs 15-16 ; apical lobe of paramere short.

♀: posterior margin of tergite VIII not serrate; sternite VIII with convex posterior margin; spermatheca not distinctive.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Three species of endemic Leptusa KRAATZ 1856 were previously known from Sardinia: L. (Adexiopisalia) hummleriana , L. (Lasiopisalia) sulcicollis , and L. (L.) brigantii PACE 1979. The new species is readily distinguished from the latter two by the presence of median keels on the male tergites VII and VIII and by the different shapes of the median lobe and of the internal structures of the aedeagus. In external and the sexual characters, it is most similar to L. hummleriana , from which it differs by darker coloration ( L. hummleriana : body yellowish-red to pale-reddish), by the absence of a distinct sexual dimorphism of the elytra ( L. hummleriana : male elytra with granulose punctation and usually with pair of elevations anteriorly), and by the slightly smaller and differently shaped median lobe of the aedeagus. For illustrations of L. sulcicollis and L. brigantii see PACE (1989); the aedeagus of L. hummleriana is illustrated in Figs 17-20.

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d n a t u r a l h i s t o r y Leptusa meybohmi is currently known only from two localities near Lanusei in the northeast of Sardinia. The specimens were sifted from leaf litter in an oak forest and under bushes and Quercus ilex at altitudes of 900 and 340 m, respectively (MEYBOHM pers. comm.). The low altitudes suggest that the species may be more widespread in the island.

Figures

Figs 11-20: Leptusa meybohmi nov.sp. (11-16) and L. hummleriana BERNHAUER (17-20; 17: paralectotype of L. hummleriana; 18: paralectotype of L. sardoa from Dorgali; 19: male from Catena del Márghine; 20: male from Monte Arci): (11) habitus; (12) forebody; (13) male tergite VIII; (14) male sternite VIII; (15-20) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view. Scale bars: 11: 1.0 mm; 12: 0.5 mm; 13-14: 0.2 mm; 15-20: 0.1 mm.