Leptusa (Neopisalia) longalata, Assing, 2017

Assing, Volker, 2017, On the Leptusa fauna of the Caucasus region (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 49 (2), pp. 1049-1074 : 1072

Leptusa (Neopisalia) longalata nov.sp. ( Figs 24-27 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype 3 [both elytra missing]: " Iran - Mazandaran, 10 km S Part Kola, 1540 m, 36.05°N, 53.29°E, Carpinus trap 3, VI.2015, leg. Barimani / Holotypus 3 Leptusa longalata sp. n. det. V. Assing 2016" (cAss). Paratype ♀: same data, but " 1620 m ... Carpinus trap 2 ... VII.2015 " (cAss).

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet (adjective) alludes to the fully developed hind wings.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 3.2-3.3 mm; length of forebody 1.35 mm. Coloration: head brown to dark-brown; pronotum reddish to reddish-brown, distinctly contrasting with the much darker head; elytra reddish-brown; abdomen reddish, with segment VI and the anterior half of segment VII infuscate; legs yellowish-red; antennae brown to darkbrown, with the basal three and the apical 1-3 antennomeres paler, reddish to yellowishred.

Head ( Fig. 24 ) weakly transverse; punctation fine and moderately dense; interstices with fine microreticuation. Eyes large, distinctly longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna approximately 0.8 mm long; antennomeres IV approximately as long as broad, V weakly transverse, VI-X of gradually increasing width and increasingly (but weakly) transverse, X barely 1.5 times as broad as long.

Pronotum ( Fig. 24 ) approximately 1.3 times as broad as long and 1.25 times as broad as head; maximal width in anterior half; posterior angles moderately marked; punctation rather dense and fine; interstices with pronounced microsculpture.

Elytra ( Fig. 24 ) 1.15 times as long as pronotum; punctation more distinct than that of head and pronotum; interstices with pronounced microsculpture. Hind wings fully developed.

Abdomen narrower than elytra; punctation not particularly fine, denser on anterior than on posterior tergites; interstices with shallow microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe; tergites VII and VIII with sexual dimorphism.

3: tergite VII with median carina in posterior half; tergite VIII with small median tubercle posteriorly, posterior margin weakly concave in the middle; sternite VIII obtusely pointed posteriorly; median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 25-26 ) 0.47 mm long and of distinctive shape, ventral process apically distinctly dilated and sharply obliquely truncate, ventrally not distinctly sinuate in lateral view; paramere ( Fig. 27 ) approximately as long as median lobe, apical lobe of moderately length and subapically somewhat constricted.

♀: posterior margin very indistinctly concave in the middle; spermatheca not distinctive. C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: This species is easily distinguished from all its consubgeners particularly by the conspicuous shape of the ventral process of the aedeagus. In other species of the subgenus the ventral process is apically less strongly dilated and at least slightly sinuate ventrally (lateral view). In external appearance (coloration, long elytra), L. longalata somewhat resembles L. xanthopyga , from which it additionally differs by sparser punctation on the abdomen. For illustrations of the aedeagi of other Neopisalia species see PACE (1989, 1996) and ASSING (2002, 2003a, b, 2007, 2011).

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d n a t u r a l h i s t o r y: The type locality is situated in Mazandaran province, North Iran. The specimens were collected with eclectors hanging above and near dead and alive trunks of Carpinus betulus at altitudes of 1540 and 1520 m.

Figures

Figs 17-27: Leptusa migrituber nov.sp. (17-20), L. triangulata nov.sp. (21-23), and L. longalata nov.sp. (24-27): (17) male tergite VIII; (18) male sternite VIII; (19, 21) female tergite VIII; (20, 22) female sternite VIII; (23) spermatheca; (24) forebody; (25-26) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view; (27) paramere. Scale bars: 17-22, 24: 0.2 mm; 23, 25-27: 0.1 mm.