Astenus (Eurysunius) affimbriatus, Assing, 2014

Assing, V., 2014, On the Staphylinidae of Israel II, with a revision of some species of Dinusa SAULCY (Insecta: Coleoptera), Linzer biologische Beiträge 46 (2), pp. 1179-1210 : 1185-1186

Astenus (Eurysunius) affimbriatus nov.sp. ( Figs 10-16, Map 1)

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype: " ISRAEL - Hula N.R., 33°04'N, 35°36'E, 65 m, shore of pond, 27.IV.2010, C. Drees / Holotypus Astenus affimbriatus sp. n. det. V. Assing 2014" (cAss).

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective) alludes to the absence of a palisade fringe at the posterior margin of the male tergite VII.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 5.3 mm; length of forebody 2.3 mm. Habitus as in Fig.

10. Coloration: body black; legs and antennae dark-brown. (Note that the holotype has apparently been subject to post-mortem darkening.).

Head ( Figs 11-12) approximately 1.2 times as broad as long; posterior margin strongly concave; antero-median dorsal portion somewhat elevated, on either side of this elevation with oval impression; punctation shallow, very dense, and umbilicate; interstices reduced to narrow ridges. Eyes approximately as long as postocular region. Antenna ( Fig. 12) 1.0 mm long; antennomeres IV-X distinctly conical, very weakly oblong, nearly as broad as long.

Pronotum ( Fig. 11) approximately as broad as long and 0.9 times as broad as head, laterally shallowly impressed on either side; lateral margins straight, distinctly converging posteriad in dorsal view; anterior and posterior angles each with a seta (broken off in the holotype); punctation similar to that of head.

Elytra ( Fig. 11) short, 0.58 times as long as pronotum; humeral angles moderately marked; punctation distinctly granulose; interstices glossy. Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen approximately as broad as elytra; punctation very dense on anterior tergites, gradually decreasing in density from tergite III to tergite VIII, moderately dense on tergites VII and VIII; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

: sternite VIII shaped as in Fig. 13; aedeagus 0.65 mm long, shaped as in Figs 14-16.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: From the similar and geographically close A. platynotus , the new species differs by the more slender body, the even shorter antennae, the shorter elytra, the absence of a palisade fringe at the posterior margin of tergite VII, and by the shape of the ventral process of the aedeagus (apically more slender and with longer dorsal carina in lateral view and subapically broader in ventral view).

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d n a t u r a l h i s t o r y:Thetypelocalityissituatedin the Hula valley in northern Israel ( Map 1). The holotype was collected with a pitfall trap near the edge of a pond at an altitude of only 65 m. It seems likely that, like many consubgeners of similar habitus, the species is associated with ants of the genus Tetramorium.