Aleochara (Xenochara) parvicornis FAUVEL , 1900

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 : 54-57

Aleochara (Xenochara) parvicornis FAUVEL, 1900 ( Figs 79-90, Map 3)

Aleochara parvicornis FAUVEL, 1900: 248 .

Aleochara (Rheochara) bobaci KRÁSA, 1933: 134 f.; syn. n.

Aleochara (Isochara) gracilis LIKOVSKÝ, 1965b: 48 f.; syn. n.; preocc.

Type material examined:

Aleochara parvicornis : Holotype ♀: "Sarepta / parvicornis Fvl. / Type / Coll. I. R. Sc. N. B. / Holo-

typus ♀ Aleochara parvicornis Fauvel , rev. V. Assing 2009 / Aleochara parvicornis Fauvel , det. V. Assing 2009" ( IRSNB).

Aleochara gracilis : Holotype ♂: " Mongolia, Ostgobi aimak, 13 km SSO v. Chara-Eireg, 1100 m, Exp. Dr. Z. Kaszab, 1963 / Nr. 56, 29.VI.63 / Holotypus / Holotypus Aleochara gracilis m., Zb. Likovský det. 64 / Aleochara parvicornis Fauvel , det. V. Assing 2009 ( HNHM).

Additional material examined:

Russia: A ♂, Samarskaja oblast , Tockoe (cAss) .

Mongolia: 1 ♀, 20 km S Somon Delgerzogt , 1480 m, 9.VI.1967, leg. Kaszab [" Allotypus 1970, Aleochara gracilis Likowsky [sic]" ( HNHM); 1 ♂, Archangaj aimak, Changaj range, 8 km W Somon Urdtamir, 1620 m, 19.VI.1966, leg. Kaszab ( HNHM).

Comment:

The original description of A. parvicornis is based on a single specimen from "Sarepta (Becker)" ( FAUVEL 1900). The holotype, a female, was located in the collections of the IRSNB and examined. The species was previously attributed to the subgenus Ophiochara .

Aleochara bobaci was described from at least 17 syntypes collected in Tockoje ( KRÁSA 1933). A lectotype was designated by LIKOVSKÝ (1965b). The present interpretation of this species is based on a male from the type locality.

LIKOVSKÝ (1965b) described A. gracilis explicitly from a single male holotype from " Mongolia, Ostgobi aimak, 13 km SSO von Chara-Eireg"; paratypes are not mentioned in the original description. The type label attached to the female from Mongolia listed as additional material above is a curator label. The holotype of A. gracilis and the additional material from Mongolia, which was identified by Likovský as A. gracilis , are conspecific with the holotype of A. parvicornis . The aedeagus and spermatheca of the Mongolian material ( A. gracilis ) are identical to those of the material seen from Russia ( A. parvicornis , A. bobaci ). Hence the synonymies proposed above. Moreover, A. gracilis LIKOVSKÝ is a secondary junior homonym of Aleochara gracilis (SHARP 1883) from Central America.

Redescription:

Body length 3.2-5.3 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 84. Coloration: head blackish-brown; pronotum and abdomen dark-brown, with the abdominal apex somewhat paler; elytra yellowish, with the anterior margin and usually also the suture narrowly infuscate; legs and antennae yellowish to reddish-yellow; antennomeres IV-XI sometimes weakly infuscate.

Head transverse, approximately 1.05-1.15 times as wide as long ( Fig. 85); punctation fine, shallow, and moderately dense; interstices with micropunctation of variable density; eyes large and more or less strongly convex, approximately twice as long as postocular region in dorsal view or longer. Antennae short; antennomere III slightly shorter than II; IV moderately transverse; V-X of gradually increasing width and increasingly transverse; X almost twice as wide as long ( Fig. 86).

Pronotum approximately 1.30-1.35 times as wide as long and 1.25-1.35 times as wide as head; punctation fine and conspicuously dense; interstices with micropunctation.

Elytra approximately 0.75 times as long and 1.1 times as wide as pronotum; punctation very dense and and rather fine, less defined than that of pronotum ( Fig. 85). Legs moderately long; metatibia 0.55-0.80 mm long; metatarsus approximately as long as metatibia; metatarsomere I slightly to distinctly longer than the combined length of II and III.

Abdomen with segments III-VI of subequal width ( Fig. 87), posteriorly only weakly tapering; tergites III-V anteriorly with shallow impressions; punctation rather coarse and conspicuously dense; posterior margin of tergite VIII with modified short and stout marginal setae ( Figs 79, 88-89).

♂: tergite VIII with weakly convex posterior margin ( Figs 79, 88); sternite VIII posteriorly strongly produced ( Fig. 80); aedeagus as in Figs 81-82.

♀: posterior margin of tergite VIII convex ( Fig. 89); posterior margin of sternite VIII weakly produced, almost obtusely angled in the middle ( Fig. 90); spermatheca as in Fig. 83.

Comparative notes:

This highly distinctive species is readily distinguished from its congeners based on external characters alone, particularly the slender and almost parallel body, the dense punctation, the coloration, the large eyes, and the chaetotaxy of tergite VIII. The aedeagus somewhat resembles that of the following species in general morphology and lacks the characteristic arrangement of internal structures typical of the A. cuniculorum group.

Distribution:

This species has been recorded from the environs of Volgograd and Samara, southwestern Russia, and from three localities in Mongolia ( Map 3), suggesting that it is probably rare and much more widespread than currently known. The type material of A. bobaci was collected from the burrows of Marmota bobak (MÜLLER) , the bobak (or steppe) marmot ( KRÁSA 1933).