Aleochara (Xenochara) signata ( SAHLBERG , 1876)

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 : 64-66

Aleochara (Xenochara) signata ( SAHLBERG, 1876) ( Figs 119-123)

Baryodma signata SAHLBERG, 1876: 75 .

Aleochara navicularis FAUVEL, 1900: 247 ; synonymy by SEMENOV (2003).

Aleochara tertiaria SEMENOV, 1998: 15 ff.; synonymy by NIKITSKY & SEMENOV (2001).

Material examined:

Germany: 1 ♂, Berlin-Lübars, moist slope, 21.IX.1981, leg. Winkelmann (cAss) ; 1 ♀, Lebus/Oder, wheat field, 31.VI.1997, leg. Barndt (cAss).

Mongolia: 1 ♂, Central aimak, SE Somon Bajanzogt, 1600 m, 11.VI.1966, leg. Kaszab [paratype of A. accepta , see type material of A. accepta ].

Comment:

The original description of A. signata is based on an unspecified number of syntypes from "Wiborgs län" (today St. Petersburg region) and "Åbo" in southern Finland ( SAHLBERG 1876). These localities are not accounted for by SMETANA (2004). The type material was studied and a lectotype was designated by SEMENOV in NIKITSKY & SEMENOV (2001), who also placed A. tertiaria in synonymy with A. signata .

Aleochara navicularis , whose original description is based on a single specimen from " Irkoutsk " ( FAUVEL 1900), was recently synonymised with A. signata by SEMENOV (2003), who also designated a lectotype for A. navicularis . For illustrations of the genitalia and descriptive details see NIKITSKY et al. (1998). Only recently, ÁDÁM (2008) synonymised also A. accepta LIKOVSKÝ with A. signata , but this synonymy is incorrect (see the following section).

Redescription:

Body length: 4.5-5.5 mm, according to NIKITSKY et al. (1998). External characters as in A. laevigata , but distinguished as follows:

Coloration paler: elytra extensively reddish, usually with the anterior and lateral margins, as well as the suture more or less distinctly darkened. Metatarsus clearly (approximately 0.8 x) shorter than metatibia.

♂: median lobe of aedeagus large, approximately 0.85-0.90 mm long, somewhat resembling that of A. lonae , with pronounced carinae at base of ventral process ( Figs 119-120); apical lobe of paramere small and only approximately twice as long as broad ( Figs 121-122).

♀: spermatheca distinctly larger and less slender than that of A. laevigata , and with distal portion of capsule of different shape ( Fig. 123).

Distribution:

The distribution of this species is insufficiently known, with scattered records reported from eastern Scandinavia, from the northern and central parts of European Russia, eastern Siberia, Mongolia, and Germany ( ASSING & SCHÜLKE 2001; SEMENOV 1998; SAHLBERG 1876; SMETANA 2004).