Cousya deminuta, Assing, 2010

Assing, V., 2010, Four new species and additional records of Staphylinidae from Spain, primarily from the south (Insecta: Coleoptera), Linzer biologische Beiträge 42 (2), pp. 1105-1124 : 1120-1122

Cousya deminuta nov.sp. ( Figs 20-22 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype: "E- Murcia, Jumilla, Sierra del Carche , pitfall, 30°25'N, 1°08'W, 1050 m, 5.VI.2010, leg. J. L. Lencina / Holotypus Cousya deminuta sp. n. det. V. Assing 2010 " (cAss).

D e s c r i p t i o n: Very small species, body length 1.9 mm. Habitus subparallel ( Fig. 20 ). Coloration: head and abdomen dark-brown; pronotum and elytra brown; legs yellowish; antennae dark-brown, with the basal 3 antennomeres yellowish.

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Head of suborbicular shape ( Fig. 21 ), approximately as wide as long; punctation dense and extremely fine, barely noticeable; interstices with shallow microsculpture. Eyes weakly convex, not distinctly projecting from lateral contours of head, and moderately large, approximately as long as postocular portion from posterior margin of eye to posterior carina in dorsal view. Antennae 0.55 mm long, distinctly incrassate apically; antennomere III weakly oblong; IV distinctly transverse; IV-X gradually increasing in width; X approxiamtely twice as wide as long; XI of ovoid shape, barely as long as combined length of IX and X ( Fig. 22 ).

Pronotum small in relation to head, 1.28 times as wide as long and 1.18 times as wide as head, widest approximately in the middle ( Fig. 21 ); posterior angles weakly marked, almost obsolete; punctation and microsculpture similar to those of head.

Elytra approximately 0.95 times as long and 1.1 times as wide as pronotum ( Fig. 21 ); punctation fine, but slightly more distinct than that of pronotum; interstices with shallow microsculpture. Legs short; metatarsomere I approximately twice as long as broad and about as long as the combined length of metatarsomeres II and III.

Abdomen approximately as wide as elytra, widest at segment VI; punctation fine, dense on anterior tergites and somewhat sparser on posterior tergites; interstices with distinct microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.

: posterior margin of tergite VIII weakly convex; sternite VIII with strongly convex posterior margin; median lobe of aedeagus 0.27 mm long, shaped as in Figs 23 ; apical lobe of paramere moderately long ( Fig. 24 ).

: unknown.

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E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet is the past participle of the Latin verb deminuare (to diminish, to reduce) and refers to the conspicuously small size of the species.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: This species is readily distinguished from all other Cousya species known from the Western Mediterranean by its small size alone. In addition, it is characterized by its parallel habitus, the fine punctation, and by the shape of the aedeagus. According to SMETANA (2004), two species of Cousya MULSANT & REY 1875 have been reported from Spain, C. nigrata (FAIRMAIRE & LABOULBÈNE 1856) and C. nitidiventris FAGEL 1958 . The types of the latter have not been examined, but it appears likely that they may be conspecific with C. nigrata .

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 del Carche near Jumilla, Murcia, southeastern Spain. The holotype was collected with a pitfall trap in June.

Figures

Figs 20-24: Cousya deminuta nov.sp.: (20) habitus; (21) forebody; (22) antenna; (23) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (24) apical portion of paramere. Scale bars: 1: 1.0 mm; 21-22: 0.2 mm; 23-24: 0.1 mm.