Afropselaphus thripticus BRACHAT, 2019

Assing, Volker, Brachat, Volker & Meybohm, Heinrich, 2019, Monograph of the Staphylinidae of Crete (Greece). Part II. Descriptions of new species (Insecta: Coleoptera), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 69 (2), pp. 239-289 : 280

Afropselaphus thripticus BRACHAT spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:E38E8556-0E8F-4C12-BD99-3759694D8E82

( Fig. 155 )

Type material: Holotype ♂: “ N35°05', E025°52, GR Ostkreta, Thripti 1000 m, Meybohm 11.3.2001 / Afropselaphus thripticus spec. nov. ♂, det. Brachat 2.2019 / Holotypus” ( cBra) . Paratypes (all in cBra): 1 ♂: “GR Ostkreta, Thripti 1000 m, Meybohm 14.4.2000 ”; 1 ♂: “GR – Crete [5], Orno Thriptis , SE Thripti, 1130 m, sifted, 35°05'16"N, 25°52'58"E, 25.XII.2017, V. Assing ” .

Etymology: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from Orno Thripti, the mountain in East Crete where the species was collected and where it is probably endemic.

Description: Similar to A. dornfeldae , distinguished as follows: body length 1.7–1.8 mm. Coloration reddishbrown with yellowish maxillary palpi.Head 0.38–0.40 mm long and 0.26–0.28 mm broad; frontal foveae separated by approximately their diameter. Eyes small, composed of 7–8 ommatidia. Antenna longer, 1.00– 1.07 mm long; all antennomeres oblong. Pronotum as long as broad (length and width 0.26–0.28 mm) and as broad as head, with small postero-median impression.

♂: metaventrite convex; sternite IV without median impression; aedeagus ( Fig. 155 ) 0.38–0.42 mm long, slender; internal sac with a long symmetric structure furnished with numerous microsetae; parameres apically each with 4–5 short setae.

Comparative notes: Afropselaphus thripticus is distinguished from all other Cretan representatives of the genus particularly by the distinctive morphology of the aedeagus.

Distribution and natural history: This species is most likely endemic to the Orno Thripti, East Crete. All the specimens were found by sifting litter. The paratype from 2017 was collected by sifting litter, roots, moss, and soil in a rocky slope with Quercus ilex . The altitudes range from 1000 to 1130 m.

Figures

Figs 143–155: Stenichnus creticus (143), S. hummleri (144), S. basimpressus (145), S. aegialioides (146), Leptomastax cretica (147–149), L. thriptica (150), L. bisetosa (151), Afropselaphus doernfeldae (152), A. assingi (153), A. diktianus (154), and A. thripticus (155): aedeagus in lateral and dorsal view (143–145, 148–150, 152–155); male profemur (146); labium (147, 151). Scale bars: 0.1 mm.