Leptusa (Neopisalia) svanetica, Assing, 2017

Assing, Volker, 2017, On the Leptusa fauna of the Caucasus region (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 49 (2), pp. 1049-1074 : 1066

Leptusa (Neopisalia) svanetica nov.sp. ( Figs 6-8 , Map 7 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype 3: " GEORGIA, Caucasus [4] (Kvemo Svaneti), N slopes of Svaneti Mts.rng., nr., NW of Tsanashi vill., pitfall traps, sift, 1356 m, 42°48'26.2''N, 42°39'55.9''E, 04.VII.2015, leg. A. Pütz / Holotypus 3 Leptusa svanetica sp. n. det. V. Assing 2016" (cAss). Paratypes: 2♀♀: same data as holotype (Püt).

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from the name of the region where the type locality is situated.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 2.3-2.4 mm; length of forebody 0.95-1.05 mm. Coloration: forebody reddish to reddish-brown; abdomen reddish brown to brown, with segment VI and the anterior portion of segment VII blackish-brown to black, and the apex (posterior portion of segment VII and segments VIII-X) pale-reddish; legs yellowish-red; antennae reddish.

Head ( Fig. 6 ) weakly transverse, of orbicular shape; punctation fine and moderately dense; interstices with distinct microsculpture. Eyes small, composed of barely ten ommatidia with pigmentation, and approximately one-fourth as long as postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna relatively long, distinctly incrassate apically; antennomere IV approximately as long as broad; antennomeres V-X of increasing width and increasingly transverse; antennomere X approximately twice as broad as long.

Pronotum ( Fig. 6 ) 1.20-1.25 times as broad as long and 1.15-1.20 times as broad as head; maximal width in anterior half; posterior angles weakly marked; punctation rather dense and extremely fine, barely noticeable in the pronounced microsculpture.

Elytra ( Fig. 6 ) short, approximately 0.7 times as long as pronotum; punctation much less fine and sparser than that of head and pronotum; interstices without distinct microsculpture and glossy. Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen significantly broader than elytra; punctation fine and moderately sparse; interstices with distinct microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without, or with indistinct rudiment of a palisade fringe; posterior margin of tergite VIII shallowly concave in the middle; tergites VII and VIII without sexual dimorphism.

3: sternite VIII with posterior margin convexly produced in the middle; median lobe of aedeagus ( Fig. 7 ) small, 0.32 mm long and of distinctive shape; paramere approximately as long as median lobe, apical lobe moderately long, not distinctive.

♀: posterior margin of sternite VIII broadly convex; spermatheca ( Fig. 8 ) not distinctive. C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Regarding the shape and the internal structures of the median lobe of the aedeagus, L. svanetica is most similar to L. diecki PACE, 1983 from North Turkey and to L. xanthopyga from the Caucasus. It is, however, readily distinguished from them by smaller body size, different habitus, much shorter and smaller elytra and larger eyes, a relatively broader abdomen, the absence of keels or tubercles on the male tergites VII and VIII, as well as by the shape of the ventral process of the the aedeagus and by the more slender sclerotized internal structures. For illustrations of L. xanthopyga and L. diecki see PACE (1989).

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 the Svaneti mountain range, Kvemo Svaneti, northwestern Georgia ( Map 7 ). The specimens were sifted at an altitude of approximately 1360 m.

Figures

Map 7: Distributions of species of the subgenus Neopisalia in the Caucasus region: L. gibbera (black circles), L. subnivalis (white circles), L. migrituber (white diamonds), L. svanetica (black diamond), L. substricta (white star), L. triangulata (black star), and L. sica (black triangles).

Figs 1-8: Leptusa substricta nov.sp. (1-5) and L. svanetica nov.sp. (6-8): (1, 6) forebody; (2) male tergite VIII; (3) male sternite VIII; (4, 7) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (5) paramere; (8) spermatheca. Scale bars: 1: 0.5 mm; 2-3, 6: 0.2 mm; 4-5, 7: 0.1 mm; 8: 0.05 mm.