Oxypoda ahirica, Assing, 2006

Assing, V., 2006, On some species of Oxypoda MANNERHEIM from Turkey and adjacent regions (Insecta: Coleoptera: Staphylinidae Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 38 (1), pp. 277-331 : 290-291

Oxypoda ahirica sp.n. ( Figs 163-171 , Map 4 )

Holotype 3: Turkey (Kahramanmaraş): Ahır Dağı , 9 km ENE Kahramanmaraş, pass, 37°38'19"N, 37°01'39"E, 1850 m, NE slope with snow, small Cedrus and Juniperus, grass, sifted, 11.IV.2004, leg. M. Schülke [ T04-35 ] / Holotypus 3 Oxypoda ahirica sp. n. det. V. Assing 2006 (cAss).

D e s c r i p t i o n: Small species, 2.9 mm; abdomen fully extended. Habitus as in Fig. 163 . Coloration: head and pronotum light brown; elytra dark yellowish; abdomen dark brown, with the margins of segments III-VI, the posterior third of segment VII, and the following segments dark yellowish; legs yellowish; antennae brown.

Head weakly transverse, puncturation dense, very shallow, ill-defined, and barely noticeable; microsculpture shallow ( Fig. 164 ); eyes relatively small ( Fig. 165 ), slightly more than half the length of postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna with distinctly transverse antennomeres IV-X ( Fig. 166 ).

Pronotum 1.2 times as wide as head and 1.3 times as wide as long ( Fig. 164 ); maximal width approximately in the middle; puncturation dense, more distinct than that of head, somewhat asperate and ill-defined; microsculpture shallow. Penultimate joint of maxillary palpus about 3 times as long as wide.

Elytra slightly wider than pronotum and at suture 0.9 times as long as pronotum; puncturation rather dense and asperate, coarser than that of pronotum; surface without distinct microsculpture ( Fig. 164 ). Hind wings of reduced length, protruding from under the elytra by about half their length when unfolded. Metatarsomere I of moderate length, slightly longer than the combined length of metatarsomeres II-III, but shorter than the combined length of II-IV.

Abdomen from segment III to VII subparallel, slightly narrower than elytra; puncturation fine, dense, and distinct on anterior tergites, very fine and sparse on posterior tergites; maximal width at segments IV/ V; puncturation and pubescence extremely fine and dense, barely noticeable; microsculpture absent on anterior tergites, very shallow on posterior tergites; posterior margin of tergite VII with narrow palisade fringe.

3: sternite VIII weakly oblong, its posterior margin strongly convex in the middle ( Fig. 167 ); median lobe of aedeagus shaped as in Figs 168-170 , with pronounced crista apicalis and crista proximalis, apically unincised ventral process, and with weakly sclerotised structures and a flagellum of moderate length in internal sac; apical lobe of paramere relatively short, with short fine apical and three long subapical and basal setae ( Fig. 171 ).

♀: unknown.

E t y m o l o g y: The name (Lat., adj.) is derived from the name of the mountain where the type locality is situated.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: The only described species of similarly small size and with reduced hind wings known to occur in central southern Anatolia is the highly variable and wing-dimorphic O. biformis ASSING. Based on the similar morphology of the median lobe of the aedeagus, the paramere, and of on the similar external characters, both species are closely related. From O. biformis , the new species is distinguished by larger (in relation to pronotum) and more transverse head, the longer antennae with more strongly transverse antennomeres IV-X (especially antennomere IV), the more oblong third joint of the maxillary palpi, the more pronounced puncturation of the pronotum and the elytra, the sparser and more distinct puncturation of the abdomen, the more pronounced shine of the abdomen, and by the different morphology of the aedeagus, especially the longer and apically much more slender ventral process of the median lobe, the weakly pronounced internal structures, and the even more pronounced crista apicalis. From similar species of the O. brachyptera group from Greece, it is readily separated by the shorter apical lobe of the paramere and by the apically unincised ventral process of the aedeagus.

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d b i o n o m i c s: The species is currently known only from one locality in the Ahır Dağı, Kahramanmaraş, central southern Anatolia ( Map 4 ). The holotype was collected by sifting litter of small cedar, juniper, and grass on a dry slope with snow at an altitude of 1850 m.

The eastern Mediterranean species of the subgenus Thliboptera THOMSON 1859 ,

Figures

Map 4: Distributions of Oxypoda judaea (square), O. flavocaudata (filled circles), and O. ahirica (open circle) in southern Turkey.

Figs 163-171: Oxypoda ahirica sp.n. (163) habitus; (164) forebody; (165) head in lateral view; (166) antenna; (167) 3 sternite VIII; (168 -169) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view; (170) apical part of median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (171) apical lobe of paramere. Scale bars: 163: 1.0 mm; 164: 0.5 mm; 165-167: 0.2 mm; 168-171: 0.1 mm.