Typhloreicheia monacha, Casale, Achille & Marcia, Paolo, 2011

Casale, Achille & Marcia, Paolo, 2011, Two new Typhloreicheia species from Sardinia and their biogeographical significance (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Scaritinae), ZooKeys 134, pp. 15-31 : 16-18

Typhloreicheia monacha sp. n.

Type locality.

Italy, Central-Eastern Sardinia: Dorgali (Nuoro province), Cala Gonone: Bue Marino cave (speleological inventory number: 12 Sa/NU), 0 m a.s.l., 40°14'51"N; 9°37'29"E

Type material.

Holotype male with the following data: I - Sardegna, Dorgali (NU), Gr. Bue Marino 10.IX.2006 P. Marcia leg.; paratypes: female, same data as holotype; female: I - Sardegna, Urzulei (NU) Codula di Luna, Gr. Su Spiria 1988 Sa/NU 23.VII.1995 R. Loru leg. (CCa).

Etymology.

The Latin noun “monachus–a” (= monk) recalls themonk seal Monachus monachus (Hermann, 1779), the so-called "Bue Marino", in the tradition of the Mediterranean languages, from which the type locality cave derives its name. Monk seal is presently one of the most endangered mammalian species of the Mediterranean fauna, although it was still present in the Eastern coast of Sardinia until the '60s of the past century.

Diagnosis.

Typhloreicheia monacha new species, for both its external features and characteristics of male genitalia, seems to be related to Typhloreicheia onnisi Casale & Magrini, 2004, known from three caves in the Gairo region (Central-Eastern Sardinia), and, to a lesser extent, to Typhloreicheia elegans (Dodero, 1916) known from a cave of Arcuerì Mt. near Seui. The male features of the latter, however, are still unknown.

From Typhloreicheia onnisi the new species can be distinguished mainly by its stouter and wider head, with more convex genae; by its wider pronotum, with anterior angles larger and more prominent, and lateral margins more rounded and less constricted toward the base; by the elytra shorter, with lateral margins with more numerous (23-25) (14-16 in Typhloreicheia onnisi ) and more prominent marginal teeth; and by the different shape of the aedeagus (see Figures 3-4).

Description.

A medium-large sized Typhloreicheia species (TL: 2.95-3.08 mm; L: 3.28-3.40 mm).

Body elongate, convex (Figure 1). Colour testaceous reddish, antennae and mouthparts slightly paler. Integument shiny, polished; microsculpure with fine, hardly visible microlines in form of isodiametric mesh pattern on head and elytra, almost vanished on pronotum.

Head with ocular part of genae regularly convex, constricted toward the neck. Eyes absent. Supra-antennal plates separated from genae by deep and broad furrow; frontal furrows very deep, transversally wrinkled; vertex with an evident, convex tubercle in the middle; antennae moderately elongate (AL: 1.31 mm in male holotype), antennomeres 3-10 slightly longer than wide.

Pronotummoderately convex, elongate (PL/PW: 1.0), with its maximum width at the anterior third; sides moderately rounded, slightly attenuated in front, markedly constricted to the basal peduncle; anterior angles acutely prominent; median furrow narrow and deeply impressed; lateral furrows very narrow and superficial.

Elytraelongate-ovate (EL/EW: 1.6), distinctly wider than pronotum (EW/PW: 1.21), convex, with their maximum width in the middle; humeri broadly rounded; lateral furrows wide, flattened, not narrowed at apex; lateral margin reflexed, with numerous (23-25), small but acutely prominent marginal teeth; striae all evident, deeply punctuate, gradually disappearing at apex; elytral intervals moderately convex, intervals 2-7 each bearing a series of short, erected setae; umbilicate series of 16-19 punctures along stria 8.

Male genitalia as in Figure 3. Median lobe of aedeagus markedly curved, with short, rounded and flattened apex. Endophallus with developed, apical copulatory piece and an elongate packet of serrate scales in the middle. Parameres each with two apical setae.

Female genitalia (examined, not illustrated) without any peculiar characteristic: gonocoxites 2 rather short, regularly curved outwards, each with two moderately elongate, robust spiniform setae on the outer side, the distal of them being distinctly longer and thickener than the proximal one.

Distribution and habitat.

Two specimens of Typhloreicheia monacha sp. n. were collected during one of bio-speleological expeditions organized in the last years by the authors. The specimens were walking on sandy, humid soil on the banks of the subterranean lakes in the inner parts of the Bue marino cave, in the same habitat as those noted for the molopine carabidbeetle Speomolops sardous Patrizi, 1955 and its larva ( Casale et al. 2010). The Bue Marino cave, with 48 subterranean species reported so far, is the Sardinian cave richest in hypogean fauna ( Casale et al. 2008). An additional female individual was collected by Roberto Loru in the same environmental conditions during a speleological exploration in the nearby Su Spiria cave (1988 Sa/NU) 40°10'42"N; 9°33'54"E, 165 m a.s.l. (Urzulei, Codula Ilune, hypogean system of Su Palu - Grutta de Monte Longos caves), and was erroneously attributed to Typhloreicheia henroti (Casale & Magrini 2004).

In spite of many subsequent investigations in both these caves, including setting pitfall traps, no further individuals of this species have been obtained. Typhloreicheia monacha , like other species of the same genus in Sardinia (and most so-called troglobiont species: Giachino and Vailati 2010), seems to be a deep crevices dweller, which occasionally penetrate in large hypogean systems accessible to the humans, and are never collected by shifting soil.

Relationships.

The following features of Typhloreicheia monacha sp. n. suggest its affinities with the elegans species group ( Jeannel 1957; Casale and Magrini 2004): medium-large sized body, elytra with intervals 2-7 each bearing a series of erected setae and lateral margins serrate from the humeral angle to apex, shape of aedeagus and structure of endophallus. With the discovery of Typhloreicheia ilianae new species, however, this group appears non-monophyletic (see below, in relationships of Typhloreicheia ilianae ). Therefore, Typhloreicheia elegans , Typhloreicheia onnisi and Typhloreicheia monacha sp. n. are separated in the elegans species group (in the new sense) distinct from the henroti species group (see below).