Ochthebius (Asiobates) sanabrensis Valladares & Jäch, 2008

Valladares, Luis F. & Jäch, Manfred A., 2008, Revision of the Paleartic species of the genus Ochthebius Leach (Coleoptera: Hydraenidae) XXIV. Description of Ochthebius (Asiobates) sanabrensis n. sp. from northwestern Spain, Zootaxa 1818, pp. 65-68 : 65-68

Ochthebius (Asiobates) sanabrensis Valladares & Jäch , n. sp.

Type locality: Small pool near Laguna de la Yegua [lake], 1790 m a.s.l. (coordinates: 42º11'N, 6º44'W), Parque Natural del Lago de Sanabria y alrededores, Zamora province, northwest Spain.

Type material: Holotype ɗ ( NMW): “E [ España]: Zamora, Sanabria, 04.VII.2007 Laguna de la Yegua leg. L.F. Valladares”. Specimen dry mounted.

Paratypes (24 ɗ and 33 Ψ, same date and locality data as holotype): 6 ɗ, 7 Ψ ( NMW); 8 ɗ, 17 Ψ (CVL); 3 ɗ, 3 Ψ (CDM); 2 ɗ, 2 Ψ ( CGUV); 4 ɗ, 4 Ψ ( MNCN, types catalogue No. 9977); 1 ɗ, (No. MNCN /ADN15634, GenBank accession number EU660055 ).

Additional material examined (3 ɗ and 4 Ψ, same date and locality data as holotype): 1 ɗ and 2 Ψ preserved in absolute ethanol ( MNCN, I. Ribera tissue collection,); 2 ɗ and 2 Ψ in 70 % ethanol (CVL).

Description: Habitus as in Fig. 1 . Length: 2.00– 2.24 mm. Head shining black with greenish glint, frontal area densely and deeply punctate, shagreened in male, with small deep interocular foveae. Labrum with long, white setae and small punctures, anterior margin more or less distinctly rimmed, hardly perceptibly emarginate in males, rather distinctly emarginate in females. Clypeus with small punctures, in male more strongly shagreened than in female. Antennae dark brown. Maxillary palpi brown, apex of penultimate and base of terminal segment darkened and dilated. External margin of male mandibles with a fringe of stiff bristles, with conspicuous setae in female. Explanate pronotal margin short. Pronotal disc sparsely punctate, punctures coarse and superficial. Median sulcus narrow and moderately impressed. Pronotal hyaline membrane narrowed in the posterior edge. Elytra quite convex, more or less shining black or dark greenish. Six striae between suture and humeral callus. Elytral intervals convex; in female more strongly wrinkled and therefore less glabrous than in male. Elytral gutter slightly explanate and rimmed, with fine hairs, especially in posterior half. Elytral apex moderately acuminate. Protibiae apically dilated in males, with strong spines in the external margin or the anterior third. Protarsal segments dilated in males. Meso- and metatibiae not dilated, with row of spines. Fifth mesotarsal segment of male long and strongly curved, fourth mesotarsal segment of male with a pair of setae on the underside. Aedeagus ( Fig. 2 ): Main piece comparatively long (PL: ca. 360 µm), rather evenly curved. Distal lobe: lateral sclerite (LS) rather wide, ventral margin strongly convex, apex short, hook-like; hyaline cone (HC) wrinkled, especially dorsally; apical tube (AT) short and peg-like, not enlarged distally, forming a narrow angle with HC.

Variability: Females slightly larger (2.08–2.24 mm long, mean 2.22 mm) than males (2.00– 2.20 mm, mean 2.11 mm). The anterior margin of female labrum can be slightly to rather distinctly emarginate. The shagreen of the head in males is not equally conspicuous in all the specimens.

Differential diagnosis: The aedeagus of Ochthebius sanabrensis n. sp. resembles those of O. rugulosus Wollaston, 1857 , O. minervius d’Orchymont, 1940 , O. alpinus (Ieniştea, 1979) and O. hungaricus Endrödy-Younga, 1967 . It can be distinguished from all these species by the peculiar shape of the distal lobe: LS wide, with short apical hook, AT short and peg-like. In addition, the aedeagi of O. alpinus and O. hungaricus differ in the curvature of the main piece.

Molecular data: The analyses of the molecular data shown that O. sanabrensis n. sp. forms a monophyletic lineage with (at least) O. minimus (Fabricius, 1792) , O. aeneus Stephens, 1835 and O. rugulosus (I. Ribera, personal communication).

Distribution: So far known only from the type locality in the province of Zamora, northwestern Spain.

Habitat: The Laguna de la Yegua or de Cubillas is part of a pond and lake system of glacial origin located on siliceous substrate. It is an oligotrophic, low-mineralized lake of about 7.8 hectares, 6.6 m deep. The specimens were collected in a small pool next to the lake outflow. The water beetle fauna associated with O. sanabrensis includes Haliplus (Haliplus) heydeni (Wehncke, 1875) , Hydroporus decipiens Sharp, 1877 , H. nigrita (Fabricius, 1792) , Nebrioporus (Nebrioporus) carinatus (Aubé, 1838) , Helophorus (Ropalhelophorus) flavipes Fabricius, 1792 and Hydraena brachymera d’Orchymont, 1936 .

Etymology: Named in reference to the type locality, the mountainous region of Sanabria.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Photograph of Ochthebius (Asiobates) sanabrensis n. sp., holotype, habitus.

FIGURE 2. Ochthebius (Asiobates) sanabrensis n. sp., paratype (CDM), aedeagus in ventral (a) and lateral (b) view. Scale: 100 μm. AT: apical tube; HC: hyaline cone; LS: lateral sclerite.