Leptusa (Neopisalia) microphthalma REITTER 1887

Assing, V., 2011, New species and additional records of Leptusa from the Caucasus region and the Himalaya (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 43 (1), pp. 253-265 : 257-259

Leptusa (Neopisalia) microphthalma REITTER 1887 ( Figs 15-26 )

M a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d: Russia: Krasnodarskiy Kray : 14 exs., Temnolesskaia near Mezmai [= Mezmay], 800 m, 8. VI.1999, leg. Smetana (cSme, cAss) ; 10 exs., same data, but 750 m, 7. VI.1999 (cSme, cAss) ; 1 ex., same data, but 850 m, 8. VI.1999 (cSme) ; 4 exs., same data, but 850 m, 9. VI.1999 (cSme, cAss) ; 40 exs., Guama near Mezmai, 1000 m, 10.VI.1999, leg. Smetana (cSme, cAss); 1 ex., "Kuban", leg. Leder & Reitter ( SDEI). 8 exs., "Circassien", leg. Leder & Reitter ( SDEI) ; 1 ex., "Circassia" ( SDEI) ; 2 exs., "Swanetien", leg. Leder & Reitter ( SDEI) .

C o m m e n t: The original description is based on an unspecified number of syntypes from "Utsch-Dere in Circassien. Von Herrn Eugen König entdeckt" ( REITTER 1887). PACE (1989) designated a female syntype as the lectotype. Based on the illustrations of the aedeagus of L. microphthalma provided by PACE (1989), the recently collected material listed above was at first assumed to represent a distinct species. A subsequent comparison with old material from "Circassia" deposited in the collections of the SDEI, however, revealed that they are conspecific. In order to facilitate future identification, a redescription and new illustrations are provided below.

R e d e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 2.6-3.5 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 15 . Coloration: forebody yellowish-brown to reddish-brown; abdomen brown to dark-brown, with the posterior margins of the segments and the apex (posterior portion of segment VII, segments VIII-X) yellowish to yellowish-brown; legs and antennae dark-yellowish to yellowish-brown.

Head ( Fig. 16 ) weakly transverse; punctation fine and sparse, barely visible in the pronounced microsculpture ( Fig. 17 ); dorsal surface with subdued shine; eyes weakly convex, not projecting from lateral contours of head, and small, less than half the length of postocular portion in dorsal view. Antenna slender ( Fig. 18 ), approximately 0.9 mm long; antennomeres I-III distinctly oblong and of subequal length; IV approximately as long as wide or indistinctly oblong; V as wide as long or weakly transverse; VI-X gradually increasing in width and increasingly transverse; X approximately 1.5 times as wide as long, or nearly so. Maxillary palpi moderately slender; preapical palpomere approximately 3 times as long as broad.

Pronotum ( Fig. 16 ) approximately 1.25 times as wide as long and 1.20-1.25 times as wide as head; maximal width slightly before middle; posterior angles obtusely marked; punctation fine and rather sparse, barely visible in the pronounced microsculpture ( Fig. 19 ); surface with subdued shine.

Elytra ( Fig. 16 ) short, approximately 0.75 times as long as pronotum; posterior margin distinctly sinuate near postero-lateral angles; punctation much more pronounced than that of head and pronotum; interstices more shiny than those of head and pronotum, with shallow microsculpture composed of larger meshes than that of head and pronotum. Hind wings reduced. Legs moderately slender; metatarsomere I as long as the combined length of II and III, or nearly so.

Abdomen 1.15-1.20 times as wide as elytra, widest at segments V/VI; tergites III-V with rather shallow and finely punctate anterior impressions; punctation fine, moderately dense on anterior and rather sparse on posterior tergites; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe; tergite VII without sexual dimorphism.

: posterior margin of sternite VII broadly and rather weakly concave, on either side of this concavity with two very long marginal setae; posterior margin of tergite VIII indistinctly concave in the middle ( Fig. 20 ); sternite VIII transverse, posterior margin convexly produced in the middle ( Fig. 21 ); aedeagus ca. 0.48 mm long, with pronounced additional projection of somewhat variable shape at the base of the ventral process ( Figs 22-23 ); apical lobe of paramere slender and moderately long.

: posterior margin of tergite VIII weakly convex ( Fig. 24 ); posterior margin of sternite

VIII somewhat produced in the middle ( Fig. 25 ); spermatheca as in Fig. 26.

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 species is rather widespread in the West Caucasus region. The recently collected specimens were collected near Mezmay, at altitudes of 750-1000 m, together with L. storkani , L. persica , L. venusta , and L. gibbera . They were sifted from deep leaf litter in mature, mixed beech and fir forests, partly near a stream, and from moist to wet leaf litter in a mature oak forest (SMETANA pers. comm.).

Figures

Figs 15-26: Leptusa microphthalma REITTER: (15) habitus; (16) forebody; (17) median dorsal portion of head; (18) antenna; (19) median portion of pronotum; (20) male tergite VIII; (21) male sternite VIII; (22-23) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (24) female tergite VIII; (25) female sternite VIII; (26) spermatheca. Scale bars: 15: 1.0 mm; 16: 0.5 mm; 18, 20-25: 0.2 mm; 17, 19, 26: 0.1 mm.