Paraleptusa andujari, Assing, 2008

Assing, V., 2008, Nine new species and additional records of Staphylinidae from southern Spain, with new synonymies (Insecta: Coleoptera), Linzer biologische Beiträge 40 (2), pp. 1301-1325 : 1305-1306

Paraleptusa andujari nov.sp. ( Figs 3-4 , 27 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype: "E - Castilla-La Mancha, Sierra de Segura, Calar de Sima ,

1430 m, [4], 38°20'46"N, 02°29'11"W, 15.III.2008, C. Andújar / Holotypus Paraleptusa

andujari sp.n. det. V. Assing 2008 (cAss). Paratype: same data as holotype (cAss).

A d d i t i o n a l m a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d, b u t n o t i n c l u d e d i n t y p e s e r i e s 2, Castilla-La Mancha, Sierra de Segura, ca. 13 km W Yeste, La Moheda , 38°23'03"N, 02°26'44"W, 900 m, 16.III.2008, leg. Andújar (cAss) ; 2, Andalucía, Sierra de Segura , ca. 10 km SW Santiago de la Espada, 38°03'11"N, 02°37'55"W, 1430 m, floated from soil, 16.III.2008, leg. Andújar (cAss) ; 1, Andalucía, Sierra de Segura , ca. 20 km SW Santiago de la Espada, 38°01'24"N, 02°40'56"W, 1550 m, moist grassland with rocks, floated from soil, 16.III.2008, leg. Andújar (cAss) .

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 2.0- 2.2 mm. External and secondary sexual characters as in P. ripicola ASSING ; for a detailed description of this species see ASSING (2007c). Distinguished from P. ripicola only by the morphology of the aedeagus.

: median lobe of aedeagus rather broad in ventral view; crista apicalis distinct; ventral process moderately long in lateral view ( Figs 3-4 ).

: spermatheca of similar shape as that of geographically close congeners ( Fig. 27 ).

E t y m o l o g y: The species is dedicated to my dear friend Carmelo Andújar, Murcia, in gratitude for the generous gift of endogean Staphylinidae collected by him while looking for endogean carabids and for his very pleasant company during a joint excursion in southern Spain in March 2008.

C o m m e n t: The specimens listed as additional material are indistinguishable from the two types. However, since they are all females, the possibility that they refer to other species cannot be ruled out.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Three species of Paraleptusa PEYERIMHOFF 1901 have become known from southern Spain, all of them from the southwest: P. anophthalma (EPPELSHEIM 1884) from the Sierra de Espuña, P. spectans ASSING 2003 (Sierra de Segura), and P. ripicola ASSING 2007 (Sierra de Segura). For a distribution map see ASSING (2007c). The new species is reliably distinguished from all of them only based on the morphology of the aedeagus. In P. ripicola , the median lobe lacks a distinct crista apicalis and has a much longer and more slender ventral process (lateral view). In P. spectans , whose eyes are slightly larger and darker, the ventral process is more strongly arched and apically less acute in lateral view, more slender in ventral view, and the basal portion of the median lobe is larger. In P. anophthalma , the ventral process of the median lobe is apically of different shape (lateral aspect) and the spermatheca has a shorter and differently shaped duct. For illustrations of the habitus and the sexual characters of P. anophthalma , P. ripicola , and P. spectans see ASSING (2003a, 2007c).

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d b i o n o m i c s: The type locality is situated in the Sierra de Segura, Castilla-La Mancha, very close to the border with Andalucía. The two type specimens were collected in a calcareous pasture at an altitude of 1430 m, by washing soil from below the grass-root layer beneath a Crataegus bush. In the same locality, numerous specimens of Geostiba simaica nov.sp. were found by sifting grass roots above the layer where the Paraleptusa sample was taken.

Figures

Figs 1-5: Proteinus lencinai nov.sp. (1-2), P. crenulatus PANDELLÉ (3), and Paraleptusa andujari nov.sp. (4-5): (1, 4) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (2-3, 5) median lobe of aedeagus in ventral view. Scale bars: 0.1 mm.

Figs 17-27: Geostiba filabresica nov.sp. (17-26) and Paraleptusa andujari nov.sp. (27): (17) habitus; (18) forebody; (19) male tergite VIII; (20) male sternite VIII; (21) female tergite VIII; (22) female sternite VIII; (23) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (24) apical lobe of paramere; (25-27) spermatheca. Scale bars: 17: 1.0 mm; 18: 0.2 mm; 19-23, 25-27: 0.1 mm; 24: 0.05 mm.