Geostiba (Tropogastrosipalia) kazica, Assing, 2010

Assing, V., 2010, A revision of Geostiba of the Western Palaearctic region. XX. Four new species from Turkey and Albania, and additional, Linzer biologische Beiträge 42 (2), pp. 1125-1138 : 1130-1132

Geostiba (Tropogastrosipalia) kazica nov.sp. ( Figs 7-14 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype: "N 39°43'29 E 27°11'01 (13), TR Canakkale, 14.4.2010, Kurucam Tepe, 430 m, leg. Brachat & Meybohm / Holotypus Geostiba kazica sp. n. det. V. Assing 2010" (cAss) . Paratypes: 1 ex.: same data as holotype (cAss) ; 3 exs.: "TR - Çanakkale (13), Kaz Da ÷i-Gebiet [sic], ca. 30 km NO Edremit, Kuruçam Tepe , 428 m, 14.IV.2010 / N39°43'29,2, E27°11'1,1, leg. Meybohm & Brachat " (cAss) ; 34 exs.: "N 39°41'39 E 27°08'31 (11), TR Balikesir, 13.4.2010, Kurucam Tepe, 710 m, leg. Brachat & Meybohm " (cAss, OÖLL) ; 3 exs.: "TR - Balikesir (11), Kaz Da ÷i-Gebiet, ca. 20 km NO Edremit, Kuruçam Tepe , 708 m, 13.IV.2010 / N39°41'39,2, E27°8'31,7, leg. Meybohm & Brachat " (cAss) ; 1 ex.: "N 39°41'09 E 27°09'33 (12), TR Balikesir, 13.4.2010, Kurucam [sic] Tepe, 740 m, leg. Brachat & Meybohm " (cAss) ; 3 exs.: "N 39°42'45 E 27°10'23 (14), TR Canakkale, 14.4.2010, Kurucam Tepe, 600 m, leg. Brachat & Meybohm " (cAss) ; 2 exs.: "TR - Çanakkale (14), Kaz Da ÷i-Gebiet, ca. 30 km NO Edremit, Kuruçam Tepe , 604 m, 14.IV.2010 / N39°42'45,8, E27°10'23,1, leg. Meybohm & Brachat " (cAss) .

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 2.0- 2.9 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 7 . Coloration variable: head reddish to blackish-brown, usually somewhat darker than pronotum; pronotum and elytra bright reddish to dark-brown; more or less extensively infuscate (ranging from only segment VI blackish in pale-coloured specimens to practically all of abdomen blackish in dark-coloured specimens); legs yellowish; antennae reddish to reddishbrown, with the bases more or less extensively reddish-yellow.

Head weakly oblong ( Figs 8-9 ); punctation extremely fine, barely noticeable; microsculpture somewhat variable, usually shallow, occasionally almost obsolete or more pronounced. Eyes small ( Fig. 10 ), approximately 1/3 the length of postocular region in dorsal view.

Pronotum approximately as wide as long and usually 1.20-1.25 times as wide as head ( Figs 8-9 ), with pronounced sexual dimorphism (but see remarks on intraspecific variation below); punctation extremely fine, barely noticeable; microreticulation similar to that of head or slightly more pronounced.

Elytra with pronounced sexual dimorphism, approximately half as long as pronotum, in

with pronounced modification of pronotum even relatively shorter ( Figs 8-9 ); microsculpture very shallow, less distinct than that of head and pronotum. Hind wings absent.

Abdomen slightly wider than elytra; punctation very fine, moderately dense on anterior tergites and sparse on posterior tergites; microsculpture present, but shallow; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe (very narrow rudiments may occasionally be visible; anterior tergites without, tergite VII with sexual dimorphism; posterior margin of tergite VIII convex in both sexes.

(with fully developed secondary sexual characters): pronotum oblong, approximately 1.1 times as long as broad and produced posteriorly, posterior margin truncate to indistinctly concave in the middle, lateral margins posteriorly not sinuate, posterior angles not marked ( Fig. 8 ); elytra with narrow and moderately elevated sutural carinae extending from apex of scutellum along approximately 2/3 of suture, punctation relatively finely

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granulose, disc shallowly and extensively impressed ( Fig. 8 ); anterior abdominal tergites unmodified; tergite VII at posterior margin with rather short, stout (lateral view), parallel-sided and apically rounded (antero-dorsal view) spine-like process ( Fig. 11 ); posterior margin of sternite VIII convex; median lobe of aedeagus approximately 0.25 mm long, with short and slender cristal process ( Figs 12-13 ).

: pronotum approximately as wide as long, posterior margin regularly and weakly convex; elytra with fine non-granulose punctation; sternite VIII with broadly convex posterior margin; spermatheca as in Fig. 14.

I n t r a s p e c i f i c v a r i a t i o n: The male secondary sexual characters are subject to extreme intraspecific variation. Among the total of 23 males of the type series, only two males had fully pronounced secondary sexual characters. In the vast majority of

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specimens, the pronotum is of similar shape as in the females ( Fig. 9 ), the elytral modifications are more or less reduced (shorter sutural carinae, less pronounced or absent impressions, punctation weakly granulose), and the spine-like process of the abdominal tergite VII is shorter.

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet (adjective) is derived from the name of the mountain range (Kaz Da÷ı) where the species was discovered.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: In the key in ASSING (2009), males with fully pronounced secondary sexual characters would key out at couplet 89, together with G. turcica BERNHAUER , from which they are distinguished by the shape of the pronotum ( G. turcica : posterior margin broadly and distinctly concave, posterior angles pronounced, lateral margins posteriorly sinuate) and the shape of the spine-like process of the abdominal tergite VII ( G. turcica : long, slender, erect, and apically acute). Males with weakly pronounced secondary sexual characters are distinguished from the geographically close G. arganthonia by the smaller body, as well as by the more slender pronotum and elytra.

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d b i o n o m i c s: Geostiba kazica is probably endemic to the Kaz Da÷ı in western Anatolia. The type specimens were collected at relatively low altitudes (430-710 m) by sifting leaf litter and grass under shrubs close to a pine forest margin and by sifting leaf litter in mixed forests (MEYBOHM pers. comm.)

Figures

Figs 7-14: Geostiba kazica nov.sp. (7-8, 10-11: holotype): (7) male habitus; (8-9) male forebody; (10) head in lateral view; (11) male abdominal segments VI-X in lateral view; (12-13) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (14) spermatheca. Scale bars: 7: 1.0 mm; 8-11: 0.5 mm; 12-14: 0.1 mm.

Fig. 8: Type locality of G. devia nov.sp.