Oxypoda (Thliboptera) attenuata MULSANT & REY 1853

Assing, V., 2012, On the taxonomy and zoogeography of some Oxypoda species of the West Palaearctic region (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 44 (1), pp. 365-399 : 371-372

Oxypoda (Thliboptera) attenuata MULSANT & REY 1853 ( Fig. 2 , Map 2 )

Oxypoda attenuata MULSANT & REY 1853: 53 ff.

Oxypoda micans KRAATZ 1855: 331 f.; resyn.

Oxypoda luctifera var. rufonitens PEYERIMHOFF 1901: 63 .

Type material examined O. micans : Lectotype [dissected prior to present study]: "micans mihi, Graec. v. Ksw. / Coll. Kraatz / Holotypus / Lectotypus Oxypoda micans Kraatz, 1856 , Zerche desg. 1993 / DEI Müncheberg Col-02784 / Oxypoda attenuata Mulsant & Rey , det. V. Assing 2012" (SDEI) .

Additional material examined: Greece: 4 exs., N Larissa, Kato Olympos, above Goni , 39°54'N, 22°27'E, 550 m, road margin, in nest of Messor sp., 6.IV.1998, leg. Assing (cAss) ; 4 exs., Kato Olympos, E Kallipefki , 39°58'N, 22°29'E, 1500-1580 m, 6.IV.1998, leg. Assing (cAss) ; 1 ex., Fthiotis, 30 km W Lamia, W Kalithea , 38°53'N, 22°06'E, 800 m, oak forest, sifted, 16.IV.2000, leg. Assing (cAss) ; 1, Makedhonía, NW Kavála, Pangéo , beech forest near ski resort, 1650 m, 24.V.1999, leg. Assing (cAss) ; 1 ex., Pelopónnisos, Agios Nikolaos , IV.1999, leg. Wachtel (cAss) ; 12 exs., Levkas, Vouno peak, 1050 m, sifted, 25.IX.1993, leg. Assing (cAss) ; 2 exs., Ikaria, Nas, 37°37'N, 26°03'E, 10-100 m, stream valley, Mastix litter sifted, 26.IV.2003, leg. Brachat & Meybohm (cAss). Italy: 1, Sardinia, Cat. d. Marghine, Mt. Palai , 1000 m, leaf litter sifted, 12.X.1989, leg. Wunderle [" Oxypoda attenuata M. et R., Zerche det. 1992, LT Lyon, cum typ. comp., Zerche 1992"] (cWun) ; 1, Monti del Gennargentu, Brunco Spina , 40°01'N, 09°18'E, 1700 m, edge of snowfield, sifted, 12.V.2005, leg. Hetzel (cFel) ; 1, Monti del Gennargentu, Punta la Marmora, 40°01'N, 09°17'E, 1600 m, 16.V.2005, leg. Hetzel (cAss). Morocco: 6 exs., Haut Atlas , NE Tizi-n-Test , 30°52'N, 8°22'W, 2070 m, Quercus ilex forest, sifted, 26.XII.2002, leg. Assing, Wunderle (cAss, cWun) ; 5 exs., Khénifra, lake Aguelmane, Azizga , under rocks near lakeshore, 10.V.2009, leg. Hlavá (cAss) ; 2 exs., Moyen Atlas, Azrou env., Forêt de Cedres , 33°43'N, 5°18'W, 1600 m, sifted, 9.V.2009, leg. Hlavá (cAss) .

Comment: Oxypoda attenuata was described from an unspecified number of syntypes from "Hyères" (MULSANT & REY 1953). Three type specimens were examined and a lectotype was designated by ZERCHE (1994).

The original description of O. micans is based on an unspecified number of syntypes from " Griechenland " collected by "Herrn von Kiesenwetter" ( KRAATZ 1855). A single female is deposited in the Kraatz collection at the SDEI. In referring to this specimens as " Holotypus " GAEDIKE (1981) designated it as the lectotype. It has a lectotype label by L. Zerche attached to it, but his designation was never published. Most species of Thliboptera can reliably be identified and interpreted only based on the morphology of the aedeagus. Therefore, the female lectotype is hypothesised to be conspecific with the most common representative of the subgenus in Greece. Oxypoda micans was synonymised with O. attenuata by BERNHAUER (1902) and revalidated by ZERCHE (1994), who stated that it was "eine distinkte und allopatrisch verbreitete Art" without providing evidence.

Oxypoda micans was previously known only from Greece and Turkey ( ASSING 2006a, 2007a; SMETANA 2004). The external and sexual characters of the specimens from Morocco (see above) are practically identical to those of the material seen from Greece and Turkey. The same is true of the specimens seen from Sardinia. Slight differences between these populations may be observed in the length of the apical part of the ventral process of the median lobe and in the size of the crista apicalis of the aedeagus, as well as in body size. However, these differences are barely noticeable and, at the same time, there is some variation of these characters even with populations. Moreover, a remarkably discontinuous distribution, as it is currently known ( Map 2 ), would seem as unlikely as the possibility that this species has never been found in the region between Greece, Sardinia, and Morocco. The only plausible explanation, therefore, is that populations from other regions have been recorded under a different name. The most likely candidate would be O. attenuata MULSANT & REY 1853 , which has been reported from North Africa ( Algeria) and in southern Europe from Spain to Greece ( SMETANA 2004). Unfortunately, the type material of O. attenuata is teneral, in poor condition, and the aedeagus figured by ZERCHE (1994) is evidently deformed. In consequence, based on the available evidence, O. micans and O. attenuata are hypothesised to be conspecific and the former is placed in synonymy with the latter. For additional records from Turkey see ASSING (2007a).

According to PEYERIMHOFF (1901), O. rufonitens represents a variety of O. luctifera distributed in the French Alps and the Provence. At present, this treated as a synonym of O. luctifera . Confirmed records of O. luctifera have become known only from Algeria, so that O. rufonitens is most likely a synonym of O. attenuata , which was described from southeastern France.

Oxypoda attenuata was previously attributed to the subgenus Podoxya MULSANT & REY 1875 . It is here transferred to the subgenus Thliboptera . For an illustration of the aedeagus (as O. micans ) see ASSING (2006a). The aedeagus of a male from Sardinia is illustrated in Fig. 2 . The distribution is shown in Map 2 .

Figures

Map 2: Distributions of Oxypoda attenuata MULSANT & REY (squares), O. appenina nov.sp. (triangles), and O. acutior nov.sp. (open diamonds), based on revised records.

Figs 1-9: Oxypoda platyptera FAIRMAIRE (1), O. attenuata MULSANT & REY from Sardinia (2), O. referens KRAATZ (3-4), O. apennina nov.sp. (5-7), and O. acutior nov.sp. (8-9): (1-4, 6, 8) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (5) habitus; (7, 9) spermatheca. Scale bars: 5: 1.0 mm; 1-4, 6, 8: 0.5 mm; 7, 9: 0.1 mm.