Aleochara (Xenochara) utriculata, Assing, 2009

Assing, V., 2009, On the taxonomy and zoogeography of some Palaearctic Aleochara species of the subgenera Xenochara M & R and Rheochara M & R (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 59 (1), pp. 33-101 : 52-54

Aleochara (Xenochara) utriculata nov. sp. ( Figs 70-83, Map 2)

Aleochara longipes: LIKOVSKÝ (1968) nec LIKOVSKÝ (1965b).

Type material:

Holotype ♂: " Mongolia, Central aimak, 126 km N v. Ulan-Baator, am Wege, 1100 m, Exp. Dr. Z. Kaszab, 1964 / Nr. 290, 9.VII.64 / longipes M., det. Z. Likovsky / Holotypus ♂ Aleochara utriculata sp. n., det. V. Assing 2009" ( HNHM) . Paratypes: 15 exs.: same data as holotype ( HNHM, cAss) .

Description:

Body length variable: 3.0- 4.9 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 70. Coloration: head and abdomen black; antennae, pronotum, and elytra blackish-brown, the latter posteriorly with yellowish to reddishyellow spot of triangular shape and variable size; legs brown to dark-brown.

Head approximately as wide as long or weakly transverse; punctation very fine and sparse; interstices on average 3-6 times as wide as diameter of punctures, with or without very shallow traces of microsculpture; eyes moderately large and moderately convex, longer than (but distinctly less than twice as long as) postocular region in dorsal view ( Fig. 71). Antenna rather slender; antennomere IV weakly transverse and distinctly shorter and narrower than V; V-X only very weakly increasing in width, X only slightly wider than V and at most 1.5 times as wide as long ( Fig. 72).

Pronotum approximately 1.25-1.30 times as wide as long and 1.40-1.45 times as wide as head; widest slightly behind the middle; posterior angles weakly marked; punctation less fine and dens- er than that of head ( Fig. 71).

Elytra approximately 0.8 times as long as pronotum ( Fig. 71); posterior margin near posterior angles obliquely truncate, very weakly sinuate; punctation coarser and denser than that of pronotum; interstices without microsculpture. Legs long and slender; metatarsus approximately 1.1 times as long as metatibia; metatarsomere I elongate, usually slightly longer than the combined length of II and III.

Abdomen widest at segment IV; tergites III-V with moderately deep anterior impressions, tergite VI without anterior impression; punctation of anterior tergites (including anterior impressions) dense and moderately fine, that of posterior tergites distinctly sparser; interstices without distinct microsculpture and glossy ( Fig. 73).

♂: posterior margin of tergite VIII weakly concave; sternite VII with truncate or weakly concave posterior margin, pubescence near posterior margin rather dense, long, and fine, not arranged in distinct clusters ( Fig. 74); posterior margin of sternite VIII distinctly produced posteriorly; median lobe of aedeagus with slender ventral process and internal structures of distinctive shape ( Figs 75-77).

♀: sternite VIII weakly convex posteriorly; spermatheca as in Fig. 78.

Etymology:

The name (Latin, adjective: with a small tube) refers to the short proximal part of the capsule, one of the characters distinguishing this species from the similar A. longipes .

Comparative notes:

Aleochara utriculata is distinguished from other species of the A. cuniculorum group particularly by the shape and the characteristic internal structures of the median lobe of the aedeagus, as well as by the shape of the spermatheca, from the similar A. longipes also by the chaetotaxy of the male sternite VII.

Distribution and bionomics:

The known distribution of this species is confined to the type locality in Mongolia ( Map 2). The type specimens were collected at an altitude of 1100 m .

The species of the Aleochara parvicornis group

Like the representatives of the A. cuniculorum group, the two species placed in the A. parvicornis group below are apparently nidicolous. They are separated from the species of the A. cuniculorum group as follows: body of conspicuously slender and parallel shape, with the head rather large in relation to pronotum; legs slender; median lobe of aedeagus slender (ventral view) and with characteristic internal structures.