Typhlocharis deferreri Zaballos & Pérez González, 2011

Zaballos, Juan P. & Pérez-González, Sergio, 2011, A new species of Typhlocharis Dieck, 1869 (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Anillini) from South Spain, with notes on the phylogenetic value of sexually related characters and the presence of stridulatory organ (pars stridens) in the genus, Zootaxa 2786, pp. 42-50 : 43-47

Typhlocharis deferreri Zaballos & Pérez González new species

( Figs. 1–3)

Type series. Holotype: 1 3 (nº 10), 27-01-1998, Cortijo La Mesa–La Nava. Chiclana. Cádiz, 33 m (N 36º 24’ W 6º 03’), J.P.Zaballos leg. Paratypes: 1 3, 9-02-1997, same locality, J.P.Zaballos leg; 34 3, 34 ƤƤ, 27-01-1998, same locality, J.P.Zaballos leg. Holotype in Coll. Zaballos UCM, Paratypes in coll. Pérez-González (4 ex.), coll. Wrase (4 ex.), coll Ruíz-Tapiador (4 ex.) and MNCN, Madrid (4 ex.) (ref. number 2107), rest of Paratypes in Zaballos UCM (52 ex.),

Diagnosis. Anophthalmous, small endogean beetle with yellow-brownish microreticulate integument with scattered pubescence. Body parallel and depressed. Elytra without teeth in the posterior margin, and 4+3 setae in the umbilicate series (fig. 1). Legs I and III with a marked internal angle in the femora. Sexually dimorphic. Abdominal sternum II of males with a median tubercle, absent in females which have deep foveae instead (fig. 2). Genitalia as in figure 3.

Description. Length of Holotype: 1.35 mm. Length of paratypes: 1.16–1.41 mm (males), 1.17–1.48 mm (females). Head wider (0.25–0.3 mm in males, 0.24–0.32 mm in females) than long (0.2–0.21 mm in males, 0.18– 0.21 mm in females), with irregular microsculpture, except in front, clypeus and labrum. Pars stridens present in the posterior region of the head (horizontal ridges near the vertex region). Labrum with a triangle-shaped area and a little bump of thicker cuticle. Mouth parts and antennae without apparent special features. Cephalic chaetotaxy (fig. 1): labrum with three pairs of setae and two minute pairs of setae associated; clypeus with two pairs of setae, those on the side much longer; frontal region with one pair close to the frontal sulcus, two pairs of supraocular setae (anterior and posterior), one supra-antennal pair and one genal pair; two pairs of temporal setae and sparse pubescence.

Pronotum slightly longer (0.31–0.41 mm in males, 0.3–0.42 mm in females) than wide (0.3–0.36 mm in males, 0.3–0.4 mm in females), subquadrate, posterior angles with 2–3 minor rounded denticles. Surface covered with subhexagonal to irregular microsculpture. There is one medial sulcus and one pair of lateral sulci. Chaetotaxy (fig. 1): one pair of setae in the anterior quarter of the pronotum, one pair in the posterior angles, five or six pairs in the anterior margin, and two pairs in the posterior margin. Pubescence in four or five rows on the disc. Margins with a row of pubescence, a little denser in the anterior and posterior margins.

Elytra approximately twice as long (0.65–0.80 mm in males, 0.68–0.85 mm in females) as wide (0.31–0.37 mm in males, 0.31–0.42 mm in females), sides parallel, apex rounded. Lateral margins serrate, with 19–22 small teeth, decreasing in size posteriorly. Apical margin without teeth, but with the sutural angle slightly asymmetric. Surface covered with subhexagonal to irregular microsculpture. Scutellar organ present near the base of the suture. Disc flattened and with lateral carinae in the seventh stria. Chaetotaxy: umbilicate series with four setae in the anterior group and three in the posterior group (4+3). The distribution of the setae of the anterior group is characteristic: the third seta is separated by twice the distance between setae 1º and 2º and the 4º seta is separated twice the distance between 2º and 3º (fig. 1). Pubescence in five rows, lateral margins with one small seta in each denticle and apical margin with a row of small setae. There are two scutellary setae, but no discal or apical long setae.

Legs similar in both sexes. Profemora and metafemora robust, the inner margin with a marked internal angle. The metatrochanters are rounded. There are no mesotibial hairs in males.

Abdomen covered by irregular and large sized microsculpture, except the last segment which has a “belt” of scaly and serrate microsculpture (fig. 2). Females with a deep foveae in the sternum II and very slightly foveae in sterna III and IV. Males typically lack this foveae (if present, it is extremely superficial), but have a small, pointed median tubercle in the sternum II, with two small setae near the basis. Chaetotaxy of the last segment shows sexual dimorphism (fig. 2).

Aedeagus (fig. 3a) with sickle-shaped median lobe, short and robust (0.22 mm), arcuate, with a screw-shaped sclerite in the internal sac. In dorsal view the apex is bent to the left. Both parameres are subtriangular with two short setae in the apex.

Female genitalia (fig. 3b) with long, tubular gonocoxites, with two fused apical setae in each one and scarce sensilae with some degree of individual variation. The gonoduct is short and shows the same thickness along its length, except at the connection with the spermatheca, which is funnel-shaped. The spermatheca is peanut-shaped in lateral view and subspherical in dorsal view. The spermathecal gland is cone-shaped.

Habitat. The majority of the type specimens were captured on a stormy day during January 1998 under deeply buried stones in open land with mainly clay soils (with little sand content), wet, but not saturated. The vegetation was mainly represented by fan palms ( Chamaerops humilis L.), mastic trees ( Pistacia lentiscus L.) and white asphodel ( Asphodelus albus Miller ). In this habitat also lives another Anillini, Geocharis korbi Ganglbauer, 1900 ( Zaballos 2005) .

Etymology. The new species is named in memoriam of Juan de Ferrer Andreu, great entomologist, great friend, a truly great man.

Affinities. This new species can be assigned to the diecki group (sensu Zaballos and Ruíz-Tapiador 1997), because it shows the umbilicate series pattern (4+3); a group that currently includes a further 9 species ( Andújar et al. 2008). Typhlocharis deferreri nov. sp. can be separated from all the other species of the group by having secondary sexual dimorphism on the ventral sternites: males have a median tubercle in the posterior margin of sternum II and females have quite deep posterolateral foveae in sternum II (fig. 2).

This combination of traits (sexual dimorphism with presence of a median tubercle in males and 4+3 umbilicate series) is present also in other species of the genus that are included in different species groups: T. bivari Serrano and Aguiar, 2006 and T. passosi Serrano and Aguiar, 2005 (gomezi group) differ by the presence of a median teeth on clypeus, two teeth in tibiae II and III of males and two teeth in the posterior margin of elytra (absent in the new species). On the other hand, T. navarica Zaballos and Wrase, 1998 ( outereloi group), T. monastica Zaballos and Wrase, 1998 and T. peregrina Zaballos and Wrase, 1998 ( monastica group) have a median tubercle in males, but they have 4+2 umbilicate series and teeth in the posterior margin of elytra (4+3 and unarmed in the new species).

The angle of the inner margin of the profemora relates T. deferreri with T. armata , T. silvanoides and T. algarvensis ; which are geographically close. However, T. deferreri is different from any of these by the combination of traits already commented, specially the sexual dimorphism.

The genitalia characters also support a close relationship of T. deferreri , T. armata and T. silvanoides . These species share similar shape of gonocoxites, spermatheca and spermathecal gland, but in T. deferreri nov. sp. the gonoduct is a tube with regular thickness, while in the other two species the gonoduct has two well differentiated regions of different thickness. The aedeagus is very similar too, being shorter and more robust in the new species. Finally it is interesting to note that the distribution pattern of the anterior group of setae from the umbilicate series (fig. 1) is very similar to that of T. carmenae Zaballos and Ruíz-Tapiador 1995 and T. martini Andújar et al. 2008 , both from the diecki group.