Stenichnus (Stenichnus) kerpensis MEYBOHM, 2016

Assing, Volker, 2016, On the Staphylinidae of the Greek island Karpathos (Insecta Coleoptera), Linzer biologische Beiträge 48 (1), pp. 235-263 : 257-258

Stenichnus (Stenichnus) kerpensis MEYBOHM nov.sp. ( Figs 31 , 35-37 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype 3: "GR Karpathos 500 m Olympos Passhöhe südl. Prof. Ilias, Meyohm 18.4.1999 / Stenichnus kerpensis m. Meybohm 2016 det. / Holotypus " (cMey) . Paratypes: 13: same data as holotype (cMey) ; 233, 2♀♀: " Greece: Karpathos [12], S Olympos , 35°43'19''N, 27°10'19''E, 460 m, shrub litter sifted, 26.XII.2015, V. Assing" (cAss) .

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from Kerpe, the Turkish name for Karpathos.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Male. Habitus as in Fig. 35 . Body length 1.20-1.25 mm. Body bicoloured, with head and pronotum pale reddish-brown and elytra dark reddish-brown to blackish-brown; legs, antennae, and palpi slightly paler than head and pronotum.

Head (including eyes) strongly transverse, 0.28 mm broad and 0.20 mm long, 0.9 times as broad as pronotum, distinctly tapering behind eyes; supra-antennal elevations weakly pronounced; between eyes with a large impression on either side, these impressions gradually becoming deeper mediad and posteriad, posteriorly delimited by an oblique carina (completely visible only when head is fully protracted) ( Fig. 36 ); anterior end of each carina with a cluster of few minute setae. Eyes large and prominent, composed of approximately 20 ommatidia, twice as long as postocular region in dorsal view.

Pronotum ( Fig. 36 ) weakly oblong, 0.34 mm long and 0.31 mm broad, broadest at anterior two-fifths; pubescence long, directed posteriad in anterior half and mediad in posterior half; basally only with two more or less minute pits separated from each other by a greater distance than from the posterior margin; lateral margins anteriorly straight or weakly concave in dorsal view; anterior angles weakly prominent, between them with short setae at anterior margin directed towards the middle of anterior margin.

Elytra broadly oval and strongly convex in cross-section, 0.70 mm long and 0.57 mm broad, broadest at anterior two-fifths, height approximately three-fifths of elytral length (lateral view); humeral angle or fold absent; at base of each elytron with a circular impression; pubescence very long and erect, longest setae approximately as long as the combined length of antennomeres III-V; punctation very fine.

Legs relatively long and slender, with weakly dilated femora; profemora without sexual dimorphism, only slightly more dilated than meso- and metafemora.

Aedeagus ( Fig. 37 ) slender, 0.24 mm long and 0.12 mm broad; sclerotized portion of dorsal aspect relatively long.

Female. Characters as in male, except as follows: dorsal surface of head weakly convex in cross-section, without impressions and carinae; eyes slightly smaller, less prominent, composed of approximately 15 ommatidia; pronotum anteriorly with smoothly convex lateral margins in dorsal view, not angled and without special setae at anterior margin; pronotum in one female as long as broad.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: This species is readily distinguished from all described congeners by its bicoloured body, the long and erect pubescence, and the male secondary sexual characters on the head and the pronotum. The latter are unique among the species of the genus.

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: This island endemic is currently known only from one locality ( Fig. 31 ), which is identical to the type locality of Cephennium kerpense and Euconnus kerpensis .

Figures

Fig. 31: Type locality of Cephennium kerpense nov.sp., Euconnus kerpensis nov.sp., and Stenichnus kerpensis nov.sp. (sample number 12).

Figs 32-37: Cephennium kerpense nov.sp. (32), Euconnus kerpensis nov.sp. (33-34), and Stenichnus kerpensis nov.sp. (35-37): (32-33, 35) habitus; (34, 37) aedeagus in dorsal view; (36) male head and pronotum. Scale bars: 32-33, 35: 0.5 mm; 34, 36-37: 0.1 mm.