Anaulacaspis elegans ( BAUDI DI SELVE, 1857 )

Assing, Volker, 2016, Revision of the Anaulacaspis species of the Palaearctic region (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 66 (2), pp. 201-255 : 251-252

Anaulacaspis elegans ( BAUDI DI SELVE, 1857)

( Figs 212–220 , Map 3 )

Falagria elegans BAUDI DI SELVE, 1857: 97 .

Comment: The original description is based on an unspecified number of syntypes collected “in insula Cypro” ( BAUDI 1857). According to FAGEL (1969), who designated a lectotype, there are two type specimens, a male and a female, in the Baudi collection. A loan request addressed to the current curator at the museum in Torino, where the Baudi collection is deposited, remained without reply. Although no material of A. elegans from Cyprus was available, there is little doubt that the present interpretation of A. elegans is correct, since this is the only species in the region that matches the details indicated in the original description and FAGEL (1969), who examined the types, reports numerous records from the Middle East.

Material examined: Lebanon: 4 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀, Beyrouth, 1878, leg. Appl ( NHMW, cAss) ; 1 ♀, locality not specified, leg. Hofmann ( NHMW) .

Israel: 9 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀, Wadi Qelt, St. George Monastery, 31°50'N, 35°24'E, – 110 m, 15.III.2011, leg. Meybohm (cAss); 4 ♀♀, West Bank , Wadi Qelt , St. George Monastery , 31°51'N, 35°25'E, – 70 m, stream bank, 15.III.2011, leg. Hetzel (cFel); 1 ♀, En Prat Nature Reserve , 31°50'N, 35°19'E, 230 m, 13.III.2011, leg. Meybohm (cAss); 5 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀, Lake Genezareth , Jordan river , 32°54'N, 35°37'E, – 215 m, 19.III.2011, leg. Meybohm (cAss); 1 ♂, Mt. Meron , Ya’ar Bar’am, 33°02'N, 35°25'E, 22.II.2005, leg. Assmann (cFel); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Dead Sea region , Wadi Boqeq , 31°12'N, 35°21'E, – 370 m, 27.III.2011, leg. Meybohm (cAss); 1 ♂, Dead Sea region , Ein Gedi, Wadi Arugot , 20.XI.2009, leg. Drees (cFel); 4 ♂♂, 17 ♀♀, Negev Desert, Wadi En Avdat , 30°36'N, 34°47'E, 850 m, 30.III.2011, leg. Meybohm (cAss); 3 ♂♂, 1 ♀, Ma’agar, Yeroham, 30°59'N, 34°54'E, 450 m, pitfall, 3.VIII.2010, leg. Drees (cAss); 2 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀, same data, but 14.III.2011 (cAss); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Negev, Yeroham Reservoir, 30°59'N, 34°54'E, 460 m, 28.II.2009, leg. Starke (cFel); 1 ♂, Negev, W Ofakim, Ha-Bsor road, 31°17'N, 34°29'E, 2.XII.2007, leg. Assmann (cAss); 1 ♂, Ma’agan, 32°43'N, 35°45'E, – 210 m, tamarisk plain, 26.IV.2010, leg. Drees (cAss); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, same data, but 30.I.2011 (cAss); 1 ♀, same data, but 16.VII.2010 (cFel); 7 ♀♀, En Avedat, 700 m, spring, 24.IV.2011, leg. Drees (cAss); 1 ♀, same data, but 1.XII.2010 (cAss); 1 ♂, Shoham, 32°00'N, 34°58'E, 140 m, pitfall, 15.XI.2010, leg. Drees (cAss); 1 ♂, Upper Galilee , Ziv’on, 33°01'N, 35°25'E, 29.IV.2006, leg. Assmann (cFel); 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀, Upper Galilee , north shore of Sea of Galilee , between Kfar Nakhum and Jordan river, – 200 m, tamarisk floodplain forest, 31.III.–1.IV.2008, leg. Wrase ( MNB, cAss); 16 ♂♂, 16 ♀♀ [partly teneral], Upper Galilee , north shore of Sea of Galilee , Kfar Nakhum (Capernaum), 32°53'N, 35°35'E, – 200 m, shore with stones and gravel, 22.IV.2006, leg. Wrase ( MNB, cAss); 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀, Sea of Galilee , Capernaum, Jordan river , 26.III.2008, leg. Assmann (cFel, cAss); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Capernaum, 32°53'N, 35°35'E, 19.IV.2005, leg. Assmann (cFel); 1 ♀, same data, but 9.III.2007 (cFel); 1 ♂, same data, but 26.III.2008 (cFel); 2 ♂♂, 5 ♀♀, Upper Galilee , north shore of Sea of Galilee , Kfar Nakhum , 32°53'N, 35°35'E, – 200 m, shore with stones and gravel, 12.III.2008, leg. Wrase ( MNB, cAss); 2 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀, Upper Galilee , Jordan river near north shore of Sea of Galilee , – 200 m, loamy bank with Cardamine officinalis , 26.III.2008, leg. Wrase ( MNB, cAss); 1 ♂ [teneral], 1 ♀, Sea of Galilee , Beit Tsaida Reserve , 32°53'N, 35°38'E, 0 m, 19.IV.2005, leg. Assmann (cFel); 1 ♂, 3 ♀♀, Upper Galilee , Batika N.R., Batika river near north shore of Sea of Galilee , – 200 m, fine gravel bank, 26.III.2008, leg. Wrase ( MNB, cAss); 1 ♂, North District, Upper Galilee , 3 km W Ma’ala Gamla, 32°53'N, 35°40'E, – 200 m, stony stream bank, 22.IV.2006, leg. Wrase (cAss); 1 ♂, 5 ♀♀, Central District, Nitsanim, dunes between Ashdod and Ashkelon, 29.III.2008, leg. Wrase ( MNB, cAss); 3 ♀♀, Central District, SW Khadera, brackish pond, 27.III.2008, leg. Wrase ( MNB, cAss); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, South District, Negev, W Yerukham, Re’em, in irrigated soil, 19.III.2008, leg. Wrase ( MNB, cAss) .

Jordan: 3 ♀♀, Madaba, Wadi Manshala , 31°41'N, 35°35'E, – 370 m, 4.III.2015, leg. Hetzel, Meybohm, Ziegler (cAss, cFel) ; 2 ♀♀, Madaba, Wadi Manshala , 31°41'N, 35°35'E, – 280 m, 1.III.2014, leg. Meybohm (cAss) ; 1 ♀, Wadi Rum, Camp Site , 29°29'N, 35°23'E, 970 m, 27.II.2014, leg. Meybohm (cAss) ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Wadi Rum, Lawrence Spring , 29°34'N, 35°25'E, 1010 m, 11.III.2014, leg. Hetzel (cFel, cAss) ; 2 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀, Irbid, Wadi Yabis , 32°24'N, 35°35'E, – 210 m, 3.III.2014, leg. Hetzel (cFel, cAss) ; 1 ♀, Ma’an, N Wadi Musa , 30°24'N, 35°30'E, 1670 m, 9.III.2014, leg. Hetzel (cFel) ; 2 ♂♂, S Madaba , Wadi Wala , 500 m, 9.II.1958, leg. Klapperich ( MHNG) .

Saudi Arabia: 1 ♀, Al Bahah, W Elzaraeb, 20°04'N, 41°23'E, 2090 m, 9.V.2011, leg. Sharaf (cAss) .

Egypt: 1 ♂, “ Sinaï ” ( NHMW) .

Redescription: Body length 2.2–3.2 mm; length of forebody 1.2–1.5 mm. Coloration variable: head reddish to dark-brown; pronotum pale-reddish to reddish-brown; elytra yellowish to yellowish-red with a more or less distinct and more or less extensive medio-lateral infuscate spot; abdomen bicoloured: segments III and IV reddish and segments V–VIII dark-brown to blackish; legs yellowish; antennae reddish to dark-brown with the basal 2–3 antennomeres yellowish to reddish.

Head relatively weakly transverse, approximately 1.1 times as broad as long, with weakly pronounced sexual dimorphism; punctation dense, fine, but distinct. Eyes much longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antennae slender, 0.9–1.1 mm long; antennomeres IV–V usually at least weakly oblong, VI–VII approximately as long as broad, VIII–X increasingly transverse, X barely 1.5 times as broad as long.

Pronotum weakly transverse and approximately as broad as head; sexual dimorphism pronounced; punctation dense.

Elytra approximately as long as pronotum; punctation very fine and moderately dense. Hind wings fully developed.

Abdomen as broad as, or slightly narrower than, elytra; punctation fine, but distinct, rather dense, and more or less regularly distributed; posterior margin of tergite VIII ( Figs 212, 218–219 ) convex or obtusely pointed in the middle, with a row of distinctly modified short and stout setae.

♂: punctation of head and pronotum on average more distinct than in female; pronotum with pronounced and extensive median impression, this impression deeper posteriorly than anteriorly; posterior margin of sternite VIII ( Fig. 213 ) broadly convex or weakly pointed in the middle; median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 214–217 ) 0.40–0.46 mm long; ventral process rather long, straight in lateral view, and apically weakly incised in ventral view.

♀: posterior margin of sternite VIII concave in the middle ( Fig. 220 ).

Comparative notes: As can be inferred from the similar external and sexual characters, and particularly from the synapomorphically derived chaetotaxy of tergite VIII (posterior margin with distinctly modified marginal setae), A. elegans is closely allied to the allopatric A. formosa , from which it is distinguished above all by the pronounced impression on the male pronotum and the much longer ventral process of the aedeagus. It differs from the sympatric and syntopic A. desertorum by a usually more dark-yellowish posterior margin of the elytra, longer antennae, a less transverse pronotum, less densely punctate elytra and abdomen, modified setae at the posterior margin of tergite VIII, and a median lobe of the aedeagus with a longer and differently shaped ventral process.

Distribution and natural history: Anaulacaspis elegans is distributed in Cyprus and the Middle East ( Lebanon; Israel; Jordan; Egypt: Sinai Peninsula; Saudi Arabia) ( Map 3 ). As can be inferred from the label data, the specimens were primarily collected on the banks of streams and rivers, as well as on lake shores at a wide range of altitudes (- 370–1670 m). Teneral specimens were found in April.

Figures

Map 3: Distributions of Anaulacaspis formosa (black circles), A. elegans (white circles), A. nigrina (black diamonds), A. eminens (white diamonds), and A. nigerrima (stars) in the West Palaearctic and Middle Asia, based on revised records.

Figs 211–232: Anaulacaspsis formosa (211), A. elegans (212–220), A. beesoni (221–228; 224–225: lectotype), and A. inexpectata (229–232; 231–232: holotype): habitus (211; photo by Marc Tronquet); male tergite VIII (212, 221); male sternite VIII (213, 222); median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (214–217, 224–227, 229–232); female tergite VIII (218); posterior margin of female tergite VIII (219); female sternite VIII (220, 228); postero-lateral portion of sternite VIII (223). Scale bars: 211: 1.0 mm; 212–218, 220–222, 224–232: 0.1 mm; 219, 223: 0.05 mm.