Euplectus baizakovi, Hlavá & Nakládal, 2014

Hlavá, Peter & Nakládal, Oto, 2014, Contribution to the knowledge of Pselaphinae (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) from Kazakhstan, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 54 (2), pp. 529-537 : 530-533

Euplectus baizakovi sp. nov.

( Figs 1–13 )

Type locality. Eastern Kazakhstan, Almaty reg., Talgar env.

Type material. HOLOTYPE: J ( NMPC), KAZAKHSTAN or.: Almaty reg., Talgar env. Kazstroy , 5-7.V.2013, GPS N43.291295, E77.308041, sifted from old Populus, Oto Nakládal leg . PARATYPES: 10 JJ 15 ♀♀, same data as holotype ( NMPC, CPH, CON) ; 2 JJ 1 ♀, same data as holotype, but collected 4.V.2013 ( CPH) .

Description. Body shiny, sub-parallel, light reddish-brown, maxillary palpi, antennae and legs slightly lighter, yellow, length: 1.13–1.16 mm, maximal body width 0.35–0.36 mm, body covered with long, sparse uneven pubescence.

Head ( Figs 1–2 ) slightly rhombic, about 1.40–1.60 times as wide as long, surface smooth, sides strongly punctured, with well-de¿ned, asetose frontal (ff) and vertexal (vf) foveae, frontal foveae located on sides, close to antennal tubercles which are only slightly de¿ned and largely separated, all foveae of same size, frons slightly convex, with shallow U-shaped impression, posterior arms almost indistinct, eyes large, temples rounded, posterior lateral part of head lobe-like, frontal rostrum large, truncate, with short occipital carina (oc) that merges into neck region. Venter ( Fig. 2 ) with sparse setation, with two well-separated gular foveae (gf), gula and submentum fused, gular carinae absent, neck region shagreened.

Antennae ( Fig. 3 ) short, about 0.38 mm long, scape cylindrical, slightly longer than wide and 1.20 times as long as pedicel, pedicel 1.10 times as long as wide, antennomeres III–X transverse, about same length, VIII slightly shorter, X slightly longer, III–VIII subequal in size, IX twice as wide as long, X about 2.20 times as wide as long, terminal antennomere about twice as long as wide, 5.20 times as long as X. Relative length of antennomeres: 2.50 / 1.00 / 1.00 / 1.00 / 1.00 / 1.00 / 1.00 / 0.75 / 1.00 / 1.25 / 6.50.

Pronotum ( Fig. 4 ) almost as long as wide and about 1.3–1.4 times as long as head, widest in anterior third, smooth on whole surface, with sparse uneven pubescence, with two lateral foveae (lpf), lacking median fovea, carinae or sulci.

Elytra ( Fig. 5 ) about 1.10–1.20 times as wide as long, with four basal subequal asetose foveae (bef) and one subhumeral fovea (shef), discal stria (ds) weak, only in basal third, sutural stria (ss) entire.

Prothorax ( Fig. 6 ) with anterior margin toothed like a gear wheel, lateral procoxal (lpcf) and anteroprosternal foveae (apsf) present, median procoxal foveae absent.

Mesoventrite ( Fig. 6 ) shagreened with median pentagonal smooth surface, with two median (mmvf) and two lateral (lmvf) mesoventral foveae, mesocoxae separated, mesoventral process acute, longer than anterior triangular metaventral process. Metaventrite ( Fig. 7 ) smooth, with sparse uneven setation, about twice as long as mesoventrite, with lateral mesocoxal foveae (lmcf) only, posterior metaventral process wide, triangular, with two small lobes in middle.

Abdomen ( Fig. 8 ) 1.15–1.30 times as long as elytra and about as wide as elytra, parallel sided, with tergites IV–VI equal in length, IV and V with pair of mediobasal foveae (mbf), tergite VII about 1.50 times as long as VI, with minute lateral paratergal foveae (lptf). Venter in males ( Fig. 9 ), ventrites IV–VI subequal in length, IV with basolaterl fovea (blf), VI with median bunch of setae, VII with wide median depression with bunch of setae on each side, VIII with six short stout median setae on posterior margin, ventrite IX longitudinally divided into two subequal halves (tribal character).

Legs short, with enlarged tibiae in apical half, tarsi ( Fig. 11 ) with tarsomere II longest.

Aedeagus ( Figs 12–13 ) with basal bulb ovoid in dorsal view, dorsal diaphragm larger, round, parameres fused, about as long as basal bulb, with some setae on lateral view.

Sexual dimorphism. Females dorsally very similar to males, dorsally indistinguishable, ventrally easily separated from males by completely different structure of all visible ventrites as described above (see Fig. 9 vs. Fig. 10 ). Venter in females ( Fig. 10 ), ventrites VI–VII subequal in length, IV with basolateral fovea (blf), other ventrites unmodi¿ed.

Differential diagnosis. Euplectus is one of largest genera of Pselaphinae with 120 described species with world-wide distribution. So far, 58 species have been described from the Palaearctic Region (NEWTON, pers. database; LÖBL & BESUCHET 2004). The relation of species within the genus is unclear; many characters used to separate species may be homoplasies ( LÖBL & MATTILA 2010), not giving any information on their relationships. Euplectus baizakovi sp. nov. belongs to the E. karsteni (Reichenbach, 1816) species group characterized by the following combination of characters: 1) body small, 1.10–1.40 mm long, 2) posterior margin of head lacking triangular depression, 3) carinae of ¿rst and /or second (IV–V) visible tergites absent, short if present, not reaching half of tergite length, 4) frontal U-shaped sulcus weakly de¿ned, longitudinal branches shallow, almost indistinct, 5) pronotum and elytra smooth or only with ¿ne, uneven punctures. BESUCHET (1974) attributed following species to this group: E. bonvouloiri Reitter, 1881 , E. frater Besuchet, 1964 and E. karsteni (Reichenbach, 1816) . Euplectus baizakovi differs from all by the unique structure of ventrites in males and by the shape of the aedeagus.

Etymology. Patronymic, dedicated to Professor Sabit Baizakov, member of the National Academy of Science of the Kazakhstan Republic, for his assistance and friendship during the stay of O. Nakládal in Kazakhstan.

Biology. All specimens were collected by sifting of leaf litter in well-preserved old poplar alley.

Distribution. The species is known only from the type locality in Kazakhstan (Almaty Region).

Figures

Figs 1–6. Euplectus baizakovi sp. nov., male. 1 – head dorsal (ff – frontal fovea, oc – occipital carina, vf – vertexal fovea), 2 – head ventral (gf – gular foveae), 3 – left antenna, 4 – pronotum and base of elytra (bef – basal elytral fovea, lpf – lateral pronotal fovea), 5 – left elytron (bef – basal elytral fovea, ds – discal stria, shef – subhumeral elytral fovea, ss – sutural stria), 6 – prosternum and mesoventrite (apsf – anteroprosternal fovea, lmsf – lateral mesoventral fovea, lpcf – lateral procoxal fovea, mmsf – medial mesoventral fovea)

Figs 7–11. Euplectus baizakovi sp. nov.7 – mesoventrite and metaventrite, male (lmcf – lateral metacoxal fovea); 8 – abdomen dorsal, male (mbf – mediobasal foveae, lptf – lateral paratergal fovea); 9 – abdomen ventral, male (blf – basolateral fovea, md – median depression); 10 – abdomen ventral, female (blf – basolateral fovea); 11 – metatarsus, male.

Figs 12–17. Aedeagi. 12–13 – Euplectus baizakovi sp. nov. (12 – dorsal view, 13 – lateral view). 14–15 – Aphiliops asiaticus sp. nov. (14 – dorsal view, 15 – lateral view). 16 – Trissemus melinus (Solsky, 1861) (dorsal view). 17 – Brachygluta iranica (Saulcy, 1876) (dorsal view).