Alfieriella sp. nr. denticulata, 1935

Chen, Yan-Dong, Leschen, Richard A. B., Bai, Ming & Yang, Xing-Ke, 2020, A new Himalayan species of Alfieriella (Coleoptera: Cryptophagidae), Zootaxa 4819 (3), pp. 571-581 : 576-577

Alfieriella sp. nr. denticulata

( Fig. 5 )

Material examined. 14 unsexed, ‘Kreta, Paganetti.’ ‘ Cyprogenia denticulata .’ ‘ Alfieriella denticulata, Det. by R. Leschen. To Cryptophagids.’ ( NMPC)

Comments. These specimens from Crete were first mentioned by Ratti (1976). They were originally identified as Cyprogenia denticulata by Obenberger and this species identification was followed by Leschen (1996). After dissecting these specimens, the true species identification is doubtful. These specimens are 1.14–1.43 mm long and the male genitalia are illustrated in Fig. 6 . The elytra together are about 1.41 times longer than wide. The male genitalia and the elytral length-to-width ratio are close to Ratti’s description of Alfieriella rabinovitchi . The material of A. rabinovitchi examined by Ratti is questionable as the specimens were labeled as ‘Typus- Alfieriella decemarticulata m.—Det. W. Wittmer’ ( Ratti 1976). Ratti regarded them as A. rabinovitchi because they were collected from the same locality mentioned in Wittmer (1935). The exact identification of these specimens, as well as the types of A. rabinovitchi and A. denticulata , require more study.

Figures

FIGURE 5. The Alfieriella species collected from Crete housed in NMPC. sc1: scale bar for habitus = 1 mm; sc2: scale bar for aedeagus = 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 6. Outline map of part of Eurasia and northeastern Africa with marked distributions of Alfieriella species (shapes represent different species and colors represent altitude).