Aleochara (Xenochara) breiti GANGLBAUER , 1897

Assing, V., 2009, On the taxonomy and zoogeography of some Palaearctic Aleochara species of the subgenera Xenochara M & R and Rheochara M & R (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 59 (1), pp. 33-101 : 44-47

Aleochara (Xenochara) breiti GANGLBAUER, 1897 ( Figs 29-41, Map 2)

Aleochara (Polychara) breiti GANGLBAUER, 1897: 566 f.

Aleochara (Ophiochara) breiti BERNHAUER, 1901: 483 f.

Type material examined:

Lectotype ♂, present designation: "Umg. Wien, Breit / Breiti / Cotypus / Lectotypus ♂ Aleochara breiti Ganglbauer , desig. V. Assing 2008 / Aleochara breiti , det. V. Assing 2008" ( NHMW) . Paralectotypes: 6 exs.: same data as lectotype ( NHMW) .

Additional material examined: Austria: 5 exs., Wien, Rodaun, leg. Breit, Curti [2 exs. labelled " Typus Aleochara breiti Ganglbauer "]

( NHMW); 10 exs., Wien env., leg. Breit, Hille, Hoffmann ( HNHW, SDEI) ; 6 exs., Wien, Bisamberg , leg. Luze, etc. ( SDEI, cAss) ; 1 ex., Mödling , 4.IV.1955, leg. Malicky (cAss) ; 7 exs., Mödling , leg. Wagner ( SDEI) ; 2 exs., Niederösterreich, Ulrichskirchen , leg. Spurny ( SDEI) ; 2 exs., Burgenland, Apetlon , pasture, pitfall, 1967, leg. Malicky (cAss) ; 1 ♀, Burgenland, Illmitz , gravel pit, 4.VI.1962, leg. Weise ( WMN) ; 1 ex., Leithagebirge , leg. Mandl ( SDEI) ; 2 exs., Neusiedler See , suslik burrows, 3.IV.1913, leg. Pinker ( NHMW, cAss) .

Hungary: 2 exs., Neusiedler See ( SDEI) ; 1 ex., locality not specified ( SDEI) .

Comment:

The original description is based on an unspecified number of syntypes collected by J. Breit "in den Gängen des Ziesels ... bei Wien " and by C. Chyzer "in Nordungarn" ( GANGLBAUER 1897). Seven syntypes were found in the collection of the NHMW; one of the males is here designated as the lectotype.

Redescription:

Size very variable; body length: 3.8-6.4 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 33. Coloration: head, pronotum, and abdomen blackish; elytra usually with extensive and weakly delimited reddish spot, in most specimens leaving only the scutellar region, as well as the anterior and lateral margins more or less distinctly infuscate; legs reddish to reddish-brown; antennae blackish-brown, with the basal 2-3 antennomeres usually slightly paler.

Head 1.12-1.16 times as wide as long; punctation somewhat variable, macropunctures fine to moderately fine, shallow, and rather sparse; interstices with micropunctation, on average wider than diameter of punctures; microsculpture absent; eyes conspicuously large and bulging, particularly so in large specimens (less convex in smaller specimens), 3-4 times as long as postocular region in dorsal view ( Fig. 34). Antenna rather slender ( Fig. 35).

Pronotum moderately convex in cross-section, 1.28-1.36 times as wide as long and 1.32-1.42 times as wide as head, widest in or slightly behind the middle; posterior angles weakly marked; punctation slightly more distinct, more defined, and denser than that of head; interstices with micropunctures, usually distinctly wider than diameter of macropunctures (except sometimes in posterior median area) and without microsculpture ( Fig. 34).

Elytra approximately 0.75-0.80 times as long as pronotum; posterior margin near posterior angles obliquely truncate, not sinuate; punctation usually distinctly coarser and denser than that of pro- notum; interstices usually narrower than diameter of punctures ( Fig. 34). Legs long and slender; metatarsus approximately as long as metatibia; metatarsomere I slightly longer than the combined length of II and III.

Abdomen: tergites III-V with moderately deep anterior impressions, tergite VI without distinct anterior impression; tergite III, tergites IV-VII in anterior half (including anterior impression), and tergite VIII with dense or very dense and moderately coarse punctation, posterior half of tergites IV-VII with somewhat less coarse and less dense punctation; interstices without microsculpture ( Fig. 36).

♂: posterior margin of tergite VIII weakly and broadly concave; sternite VI at posterior margin with numerous, in the middle particularly dense long marginal setae ( Fig. 37); posterior portion of sternite VII with dense long setae, posterior margin in the middle weakly concave ( Fig. 38); posterior margin of sternite VIII distinctly produced in the middle; median lobe of aedeagus 0.60-0.72 mm long, ventral process relatively stout ( Fig. 39-40); internal structures of similar arrangement as in A. cuniculorum , but flagellum and apical structures of slightly different shape ( Figs 29-32).

♀: posterior margin of tergite VIII truncate or weakly concave; posterior margin of sternite VIII broadly convex; spermatheca as in Fig. 41.

Comparative notes:

The species is distinguished from other nidicolous large-eyed congeners particularly by the distinctly transverse head, as well as by the shape and internal structures of the aedeagus.

Distribution and bionomics:

The distribution of this species is remarkably restricted ( Map 2). According to HORION (1967), LIKOVSKÝ (1974), and SMETANA (2004), A. breiti is distributed in the southeast of Central Europe ( Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia), and Hungary. Recently, it was reported from Romania for the first time ( STAN & CHIMIŞLIU 2005). For additional records see JÁSZAY & MAJZLAN (2004) and LIKOVSKÝ (1965a). STANIEC (1992) reports the species from southeastern Poland, but the illustrations of the habitus and the primary sexual characters provided with his records, as well as the fact that the specimens were collected from burrows of Spermophilus suslicus (GÜLDENSTÄDT, 1779) suggest that these records refer to A. gontarenkoi (see below). The same may apply to the record from Romania, where Spermophilus suslicus is present, too. Similarly, the presence of this species in the Czech Republic requires confirmation. In the material from the collections examined, the species was frequently misidentified.

On numerous occasions, A. breiti has been collected from the burrows of the European ground squirrel, Spermophilus citellus (LINNÉ, 1766) , also known as the European suslik (or souslik). According to BERNHAUER (1936a) and HORION (1967), the species is found by sifting the soil and grass roots around the entrance holes of the burrows and by examining the soil from within the burrows in spring (March through May). BERNHAUER (1936a) reports the species also from mole nests in areas where ground squirrels are present, too. FRANZ (1938) found it in fox burrows. JÁSZAY & MAJZLAN (2004) collected two specimens with a malaise trap in May-June. Three of the specimens listed above were caught with pitfall traps, one of them in April.