Typhlocharis quadridentata ( Coiffait, 1969 )

Pérez-González, Sergio & Zaballos, Juan P., 2012, Re-description of two species of Typhlocharis (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Anillini) and revision of the models of female genitalia within the genus, Zootaxa 3279, pp. 46-62 : 53-56

Typhlocharis quadridentata ( Coiffait, 1969)

(fig. 6)

Material. HOLOTYPE: 1 3 Portugal, Algarve, Estoï, H. Coiffait 3-64 ( MNHNP); PARATYPE: 1 3 Portugal, Algarve, Alportel, H. Coiffait 3-64 ( MNHNP). 4 33, 2 Ƥ Ƥ Portugal, Algarve, Sta. Barbara de Nexe, H. Coiffait 19-2-70 ( MNHNP); 1 3, 2 Ƥ Ƥ Portugal, Algarve, Boliquiéme, H. Coiffait, 11-70 ( MNHNP); 1 3 Sta. Barbara de Nexe 12-2-1970, H. Coiffait, Coll. Zaballos ( UCM); 1 Ƥ Portugal, Algarve, Moncarapacho 12-1965, H. Coiffait, Coll. Zaballos ( UCM).

Diagnosis. Anopthtalmous, very small endogean beetle. Parallel body, subrectangular and narrow with pale brown, microreticulated tegument and scattered pubescence. Vertex without pars stridens. Subtrapezoidal pronotum narrower in posterior region. Apical edge of elytra with four strongly developed teeth, a pair at the end of the 7th stria and a pair near the suture. Umbilicate series with six setae (4+2) and one pair of scutellar setae. No discal setae. Abdominal sternum II with slight foveae in both sexes and a pair of lateral teeth in the last ventrite (fig. 6). The scaly microsculpture “belt” is diffuse. Sickle-shaped, robust aedeagus (fig. 7b). Female genitalia with short, angled unguiform-like gonocoxites; subspheric spermatheca (fig. 7c).

Description. Length: 0.97–1.11 mm (males), 1.00– 1.07 mm (females).

Head wider (0.22–0.26 mm) than long (0.20–0.24 mm), covered with subhexagonal microreticulation. There is no stridulatory organ in the vertex region. Posterolateral region of the head with semilunar notch. Labrum with rounded edges, slightly depressed in the middle of the anterior margin, with a triangle-shaped region and a subcircular button of thicker cuticle. Clypeus with straight anterior margin. Moniliform antennae, with 11 antennomeres, progressively more square-shaped, except the last one, pyriform.

Right mandible with two teeth along the internal margin. Left mandible with a prominent edge in the anterior region. Labium with a low middle tooth. Ligula with prominent, convex middle lobe and long paraglossae. Wide gula, partially fused to the cephalic capsule (suture is only visible in the anterior region). Cephalic chaetotaxy: 5 pairs of labral setae (s-l-m-s-m / m-s-m-l-s), 2 pairs of clypeal setae (l-s / s-l), 1 pair of frontal setae, 2 pairs of supraocular setae (anterior and posterior), 1 pair of supra-antennal setae, 3 pairs of occipital setae and 1 pair of genal setae, as well as scattered pubescence. Labium with a pair of setae near the base of the middle tooth, a pair of long setae near the base of the epilobes and a pair of very short setae near the posterior suture (sometimes there is another pair of small setigerous pores). Prebasilar with a lateral pair of setae near the anterior margin, a pair of short setae in the mid region and two pairs of setae in the posterior region.

Pronotum slightly longer (0.26–0.3 mm) than wide (0.25–0.29 mm), subtrapezoidal, narrowed in the posterior region. Anterior margin almost straight, slightly crenulated, with medial hiatus, approximately as long as two adjacent intersetae spaces. Lateral margins with 5–6 low, irregular denticles, preceding the posterior angles. Surface covered with subhexagonal microreticulation. Flattened disc, with a medial line and two pairs of faint lateral sulci. Chaetotaxy: 1 pair of long setae in the first third of the lateral margins, 1 pair of long setae in the posterior angles, a row of 6 pairs of setae (l-l-l-l-l-l / l-l-l-l-l-l) parallel to the anterior margin, 4 pairs of setae parallel to the posterior margin (s-m-l-m / m-l-m-s), a row of small, thin and regularly placed setae in anterior and posterior margins, lateral margins with a row of short setae. Disc covered by approximately 8 longitudinal rows of pubescence in the disc.

Proepisternal suture is almost invisible. Prosternal apophysis rounded. Anterior margin of prosternum with a row of long and thin setae and 5–6 pairs of short setae parallel to it [s-(s)-s-s-s-s / s-s-s-s-(s)-s] (fig. 6). Prosternum covered in scattered pubescence, homogeneously distributed, without distinction of glabrous proepisternum.

Elytra approximately 2.1 times longer (0.51–0.57 mm) than wide (0.23–0.28 mm), with subparallel margins. Lateral margins with 17–20 denticles, slightly marked and progressively smoother towards posterior. Apical margin with four strongly marked teeth, two lateral, associated to the end of the 7th stria and two submedial, near the suture. Disc flattened, with a longitudinal carinae associated to the 7th stria, typical in the genus. Surface covered with subhexagonal to irregular microreticulation. Scutellar and disc region punctured, the pores are small and extend through the 7th stria, from the shoulder region to approximately a half of the length of the elytra. Transverse scutellar organ and a pair of “buttonholes” are present. Chaetotaxy: umbilicate series composed by an anterior group of 4 setae and a posterior group of 2 setae (fig. 6). There is 1 pair of scutellar setae. There are no discal setae differentiated from the surrounding pubescence, which is relatively long and distributed in 5–6 irregular longitudinal rows. There are 3 pairs of apical setae near the end of the 7th stria and numerous pubescence setae bordering the apical margin. A short seta is associated to every denticle forming a row in the lateral margins.

Legs are similar in both sexes. Very narrow intermetacoxal space. Inner edge of metafemora is slightly angular. Rounded metatrochanters. Metatibia with slightly dilated distal region.

Abdomen with irregular pattern of microreticulation, except the last segment, with faint, scaly and imbricate microsculpture, but not forming the clearly defined “belt” observed in other species. First ventrite (sternum II) with slight posterolateral foveae in both sexes. Last ventrite with a pair of lateral teeth associated with a notch and 6–7 pairs of setae in the posterior margin, with sexual dimorphism: l-(s)-s-s-l-s-s / s-l-l-s-s-(s)-l (fig. 6).

Median lobe of aedeagus (length: 0.16 mm) sickle-shaped and robust. Basal lamina almost straight, slightly curved downwards in the apical region (fig. 7b). Apex subtriangular, with a prominent edge in the right margin, giving an asymmetric “arrowhead” shape. Median lobe of edeagus straight in dorsal view (fig. 7a). Internal sac with two irregular, “stick-shaped” sclerites in lateral view. Left paramere is triangular, with two long apical setae; right paramere is subtriangular, shorter and narrower, also ending in two long apical setae (fig. 7b).

Female genitalia do not conform to the models described for the genus ( Vigna-Taglianti 1972; Zaballos & Wrase 1998; Andújar et al. 2010; Ortuño & Gilgado 2011). Gonocoxites are short and robust, strongly bended in the apical region, almost forming a right angle (fig. 7c), with a subapical seta and a short associated seta. Gonoduct is progressively thicker towards the distal region, but not forming two differentiated regions. Subspheric spermatheca (diameter: 0.012 mm). Spermathecal gland tubular to conical in shape (length: 0.024 mm), slender and sclerotized in the distal region.

Habitat. Coiffait, (1969) does not provide data about the sort of habitat where the species was collected, cited by this author in localities far away from each other (south of the Sierra de Caldeirao and Monchique). Some data in the labels are shared ( Zaballos & Pérez-González 2010a) with some type specimens of T. algarvensis Coiffait, 1971 , thus inferring a similar habitat for both species (clayey, wet soils).