Geostiba (Sipalotricha) filabresica, Assing, 2008

Assing, V., 2008, Nine new species and additional records of Staphylinidae from southern Spain, with new synonymies (Insecta: Coleoptera), Linzer biologische Beiträge 40 (2), pp. 1301-1325 : 1308-1310

Geostiba (Sipalotricha) filabresica nov.sp. ( Figs 17-26 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype: "E - Andalucía [15], Sierra de los Filabres, S Serón, 1800 m, grassland, 37°15'44"N, 02°30'30"W, 19.III.2008, V. Assing / Holotypus Geostiba filabresica sp.n. det. V. Assing 2008 (cAss). Paratypes: 3, 4: same data as holotype (cAss, OÖLL).

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 2.0- 2.6 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 17 . Coloration: forebody uniformly yellowish to pale yellowish-brown; abdomen with segments VI-VII dark brown, anterior segments and abdominal apex paler; legs and antennae yellowish.

Head ( Fig. 18 ) weakly oblong, approximately 1.05 times as long as wide; eyes extremely small, composed of approximately 5 ommatidia, not projecting from lateral outline of head; punctation sparse and extremely fine, noticeable only at high magnifications; interstices glossy, microreticulation almost obsolete. Antennae distinctly incrassate apically; antennomeres VII-IX more than twice as wide as long.

Pronotum ( Fig. 18 ) approximately 1.1 times as wide as long and 1.1 times as wide as

head; punctation as fine and sparse as that of head; microsculpture very shallow, but slightly more distinct than that of head.

Elytra at posterior margin approximately 1.1 times as wide and at suture 0.6 times as long as pronotum ( Fig. 18 ); punctation fine, but somewhat more distinct than that of head and pronotum; microsculpture barely noticeable. Hind wings reduced.

Abdomen 1.10-1.15 times as wide as elytra, widest at segments VI-VII ( Fig. 17 ); punc- tation conspicuously sparse and very fine, barely noticeable; microsculpture very shallow on tergites III-VI, somewhat more distinct on tergites VII-VIII; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

: tergite VIII with weakly convex posterior margin ( Fig. 19 ); posterior margin of sternite VIII weakly angled in the middle ( Fig. 20 ); median lobe of aedeagus highly distinctive, with conspicuous projection at base of ventral process, and with pronounced crista apicalis and crista proximalis ( Fig. 23 ); apical lobe of paramere as in Fig. 24 .

: posterior margin of tergite VIII very weakly convex ( Fig. 21 ); sternite VIII strongly transverse, its posterior margin weakly convex and in the middle indistinctly concave; spermatheca with short and stout duct ( Figs 25-26 ).

E t y m o l o g y: The name (adjective) is derived from the Sierra de los Filabres, where the species is probably endemic.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: The new species is characterised by its small size, bicoloured body, extremely weak microsculpture, small size, and by the primary and secondary sexual characters, particularly by the conspicuous morphology of the aedeagus. The geographically closest consubgener with restricted distribution, of similarly small size, with similarly small eyes, and without palisade fringe at the posterior margin of tergite VII is Geostiba jaenica ASSING 2006 from the Sierra Almadén and the Sierra de la Pandera (Jaén). Geostiba filabresica is distinguished from this species by the different coloration ( G. jaenica : whole body uniformly reddish, abdomen not distinctly infuscate), the much weaker microsculpture, the different shapes of the male sternite VIII ( G. jaenica : strongly convex) and the female sternite VIII ( G. jaenica : posterior margin distinctly emarginate in the middle), as well as by the different primary sexual characters. For illustrations of the external and sexual characters of G. jaenica see ASSING (2006a). In the somewhat larger G. cazorlensis (FAGEL 1961) from the Sierra de Cazorla, the abdomen is not distinctly infuscate, the eyes are less strongly reduced, the punctation of the elytra and abdomen is more distinct, the elytral punctation is sexually dimorphic, the microsculpture of the forebody is more pronounced, the male tergite and sternite VIII have a strongly convex posterior margin, and the male and female primary sexual characters are of different morphology. Geostiba besucheti (FAGEL 1961) , an endemic of the Sierra Nevada, is of much darker coloration, has slightly larger eyes, a much more pronounced microsculpture and a more distinct punctation of the forebody, a sexually dimorphic punctation of the elytra, a narrow palisade fringe at the posterior margin of tergite VIII, and different primary and secondary sexual characters.

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d b i o n o m i c s: The type locality is situated in the Sierra de los Filabres, where the species is probably endemic, as can be inferred from the adaptive reductions of eye size, pigmentation, wings, and palisade fringe at the posterior margin of tergite VII. The type specimens were collected in a pasture at an altitude of 1800 m, by turning stones (two specimens) and by sifting grass roots (six specimens) in the shade of a bush. For a photograph of the type locality, which is identical to the type locality of a species of Sunius STEPHENS 1829 and one of Lomechusa GRAVENHORST 1806 see figure 19 in ASSING (in press).

Figures

Figs 17-27: Geostiba filabresica nov.sp. (17-26) and Paraleptusa andujari nov.sp. (27): (17) habitus; (18) forebody; (19) male tergite VIII; (20) male sternite VIII; (21) female tergite VIII; (22) female sternite VIII; (23) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (24) apical lobe of paramere; (25-27) spermatheca. Scale bars: 17: 1.0 mm; 18: 0.2 mm; 19-23, 25-27: 0.1 mm; 24: 0.05 mm.