Anaulacaspis taiwanica PACE, 2008

Assing, Volker, 2016, Revision of the Anaulacaspis species of the Palaearctic region (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 66 (2), pp. 201-255 : 245-246

Anaulacaspis taiwanica PACE, 2008

( Figs 178–183 , Map 7 )

Anaulacaspis taiwanica PACE, 2008: 255 .

Type material examined: Paratypes: 1 ♂, 1 ♀: “ TAIWAN, Taitung Hsien, Foothills of Hsinkangshan nr. Chengkung , 350–400 m, 19.VII.93, A. Smetana [T155] / Paratypus Melagria [sic] taiwanica mihi, det. R. Pace, 2005 / Melagria [sic] taiwanica mihi, det. R. Pace, 2005 / Anaulacaspis taiwanica Pace , det. V. Assing 2016” ( NSMT) .

Comment: The original description is based on seven specimens collected in two localities in Hsinkangshan (near Chengkung), Taitung Hsien, Taiwan ( PACE 2008).

Redescription: Body length 2.2–2.3 mm; length of forebody 0.95–1.05 mm. Coloration: head and abdomen black; pronotum and elytra blackish-brown, with the postero-sutural portion slightly and diffusely paler; legs yellowish; antennae dark-brown to blackish-brown, with the basal 2–3 antennomeres somewhat paler. Forebody without microsculpture and glossy.

Head transverse, 1.10–1.15 times as broad as long, without sexual dimorphism; punctation extremely fine and moderately sparse. Eyes longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna 0.7–0.8 mm long; antennomeres IV weakly oblong, V approximately as broad as long, and VI–X increasingly transverse and of gradually increasing width, X approximately twice as broad as long.

Pronotum approximately 1.15 times as broad as long and as broad as head, with moderately pronounced sexual dimorphism; punctation dense and very fine, but more distinct than that of head.

Elytra approximately as long as pronotum; punctation dense and very fine. Hind wings fully developed.

Abdomen slightly narrower than elytra; tergites III– IV with deep anterior impressions, tergite V without distinct anterior impression; tergites III–VI with dense and distinct, tergite VII with fine and sparse punctation; tergite VIII ( Figs 178, 182 ) with moderate sexual dimorphism, anteriorly with distinct median excision, without postero-lateral clusters of setae.

♂: pronotum with shallow, but extensive median impression in posterior two-thirds; posterior margin of tergite VIII ( Fig. 178 ) broadly concave and with a row of long and dense marginal setae, this row broadly interrupted in the middle; sternite VIII ( Fig. 179 ) broadly and convexly produced posteriorly; median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 180–181 ) rather large in relation to body size, approximately 0.4 mm long; ventral process apically curved in lateral view, basally with subparallel lateral margins in ventral view.

♀: pronotum with the usual posterior impression, otherwise unmodified; posterior margin of tergite VIII ( Fig. 182 ) truncate, marginal setae moderately dense and moderately long, present also in the middle of posterior margin; posterior margin of sternite VIII ( Fig. 183 ) weakly concave in the middle.

Comparative notes: Among East Palaearctic Anaulacaspis species of similar body size, coloration, and fine punctation, A. taiwanica is characterized by the modifications of the male pronotum, the sexually dimorphic shape and chaetotaxy of tergite VIII, and particularly by the shape of the median lobe of the aedeagus. Based on the chaetotaxy of tergite VIII (marginal setae unmodified; postero-laterally without a cluster of long setae on either side) and on the morphology of the aedeagus, the species is tentatively assigned to the A. naevula group.

Distribution: The currently known distribution is confined to two close localities in Taitung Hsien, Taiwan ( Map 7 ).

Figures

Map 7: Distributions of Anaulacaspis beesoni (black circles), A. pectinata (white star), A. schuelkei (black triangle), A. beijingensis (white circles), and A. taiwanica (black star) in the East Palaearctic region, based on revised records.

Figs 164–186: Anaulacaspsis iberica (164–166), A. nigrina (167–172), A. beijingensis (173–177), A. taiwanica (178–183), and A. gilva (184–186): male tergite VIII (164, 167, 173, 178, 184); male sternite VIII (165, 168, 174, 179, 185); female sternite VIII (166, 172, 177, 183); median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (169–171, 175–176, 180–181); female tergite VIII (182); spermatheca (186). Scale bars: 0.1 mm.