Gabrius candicus ASSING, 2019

Assing, Volker, Brachat, Volker & Meybohm, Heinrich, 2019, Monograph of the Staphylinidae of Crete (Greece). Part II. Descriptions of new species (Insecta: Coleoptera), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 69 (2), pp. 239-289 : 265-266

Gabrius candicus ASSING spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:4FAC0FC1-20F7-4DC4-BAA9-FBC4DDF3175D

( Figs 97–101 )

Type material: Holotype ♂: “GR – Crete [4a], S Kissamos , NW Elos , Limni , 35°22'16"N, 23°37'55"E, 580 m, pond margin, 23.XII.2018, V. Assing / Holotypus ♂ Gabrius candicus sp. n. det. V. Assing 2019” (cAss) . Paratypes: 11 ♂♂, 6 ♀♀: same data as holotype (cAss, cFel, NHMW); 4 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀: “ N35°22'17 E23°37'57, GR Westkreta, Limni 590 m, 20.3.2019, Brachat & Meybohm (12)” (cAss) .

Etymology: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from Candia, the Venetian name for Crete.

Description: Body length 4.2–6.0 mm (measured to posterior margin of tergite VIII); length of forebody 2.4–2.9 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 97 . Coloration: body black, except for the partly dark-yellowish abdominal segments VIII–X; legs dark-yellowish with the femora and tibiae partly infuscate; antennae blackish with (parts of) antennomere I, the base of antennomere II, and often also the base of antennomere III paler.

Head without sexual dimorphism, approximately 1.15 times as long as broad, lateral margins behind eyes usually weakly converging in dorsal view; dorsal surface with fine microsculpture. Eyes more or less distinctly shorter than postocular region in dorsal view. punctation rather coarse and dense, sparse in median dorsal portion; interstices without microsculpture. Eyes large, approximately 0.7 times as long as postocular portion in dorsal view. Antenna 1.3–1.4 mm long; preapical antennomeres weakly transverse.

Pronotum approximately 1.25 times as long as broad and 1.15 times as broad as head; dorsal series composed of 1+5 punctures; disc with nearly obsolete to distinct transverse microsculpture.

Elytra approximately 0.7 times as long as pronotum; punctation moderately dense and moderately coarse; interstices without microsculpture. Hind wings fully developed.

Abdomen with dense and fine punctation, the density gradually decreasing from anterior towards posterior tergites; interstices with very fine and shallow transverse microsculpture visible only at high magnification; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

♂: sternite VIII ( Fig. 100 ) posteriorly membranous, with shallowly concave posterior excision, and with long setae and longitudinal sculpture in posterior third; aedeagus ( Figs 98–99 ) 1.00– 1.05 mm long and of highly distinctive shape.

♀: terminalia as in Fig. 101 .

Comparative notes: Based on external and the male sexual characters, G. candicus belongs to the G. nigritulus group. It is easily distinguished from other representatives of this group only by the male sexual characters, particularly the conspicuous shape of the aedeagus. It is additionally distinguished from the similar G. nigritulus (GRAVENHORST, 1802) , the only other Gabrius species known from Crete, by more distinctly infuscate femora and tibiae, a posteriorly usually tapering head, on average larger eyes, less pronounced microsculpture on the abdomen, and by a posteriorly more acute female tergite IX with more numerous long apical setae.

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated to the south of Kissamos in West Crete. The specimens were sifted from debris and grass roots at the margin of an artificial pond at an altitude of 580 m. The species is most likely endemic in Crete and was probably widespread in the island. The fact that it had never been recorded before suggests that it is very rare today, presumably because suitable habitats (natural lakes, ponds, swamps) have almost completely disappeared as a result of extensive agricultural and other human activity.

Figures

Figs 85–99: Cretotyphlus idanus (85), C. chanianus (86–91), Pseudobium creticum (92–96), and Gabrius candicus (97–99): male sternite VIII (85, 88, 94); habitus (86, 92, 97); forebody in ventral view (87); aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (89–90, 95–96, 98–99); female genital segments (91); forebody (93). Scale bars: 92–93, 97: 1.0 mm; 86: 0.5 mm; 98–99: 0.2 mm; 85, 87–91, 94–96: 0.1 mm.

Figs 100–113: Gabrius candicus (100–101) and Cephennium spp. of the C. arcuatum group: C. arcuatum (102–103), C. thripticum (104–105), C. selinonum (106–108), C. meybohmi (109–110), and C. idanum (111–113): male sternite VIII (100); female abdominal segments IX–X (101); habitus (102, 106); aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (103–105, 107–113). Scale bars: 102, 106: 0.5 mm; 100–101: 0.2 mm; 103–105, 107–113: 0.1 mm.