Kenotyphlus virgatus ASSING, 2019

Assing, Volker, Brachat, Volker & Meybohm, Heinrich, 2019, Monograph of the Staphylinidae of Crete (Greece). Part II. Descriptions of new species (Insecta: Coleoptera), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 69 (2), pp. 239-289 : 262

Kenotyphlus virgatus ASSING spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:1967E04F-CD26-4976-928F-B9A195790332

( Figs 71–73 )

Type material: Holotype ♂: “GR – Crete [17], S Kissamos , NE Sirikari , 35°24'44"N, 23°38'36"E, 500 m, soil washing, 19.III.2018, V. Assing / Holotypus ♂ Kenotyphlus virgatus sp. n. det. V. Assing 2018” (cAss) . Paratypes: 4 ♂ # ♂, 13 ♀♀: same data as holotype (cAss, MNB); 1 ♂, 4 ♀♀: “GR – Crete [32], S Kissamos, Elos, 35°21'49"N, 23°38'18"E, 500 m, soil washing, 21.III.2018, V. Assing ” (cAss, MNB); 5 ♀♀: “GR – Crete [14], S Kissamos, Aikirgianis, 35°25'45"N, 23°40'36"E, 290 m, soil washing, 19.III.2018, V. Assing ” (cAss, MNB); 1 ♀: “GR – Crete [18], S Kissamos, W Sirikari, 35°24'28"N, 23°37'37"E 470 m, soil washing, 19.III.2018, V. Assing ” (cAss); 2♀♀: “GR – Crete [31], S Kissamos, NE Elos, 35°22'04"N, 23°38'19"E, 460 m, soil washing, 21.III.2018, V. Assing ” (cAss, MNB); 2♀♀: “GR– Crete [11], SW Ch ania, Mavros stream valley, 35°23'56"N, 23°53'46"E, 380 m, 18.III.2018, V. Assing ” (cAss, MNB); 1 ♀: “GR – Crete [44], Asigonia , 35°16'08"N, 24°16'55"E, 380 m, soil washing, 23.III.2018, V. Assing ” (cAss) .

Etymology: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from the Latin noun virga (rod) and alludes to the long and slender sclcrotized internal structure of the aedeagus.

Description: 1.1–1.4 mm (abdomen extended), length of forebody 0.4–0.5 mm. Colour of body dark-yellowish to yellowish-red.

External characters as in Kenotyphlus creticus ASSING, 2018 , distinguished only by the male sexual characters.

♂: posterior margin of tergite VIII weakly convex; sternite VIII distinctly oblong and with rather large and deep posterior excision of trapezoid shape ( Fig. 71 ); median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 72–73 ) approximately 0.25 mm long and strongly asymmetric; ventral process of distinctive shape; parameres strongly asymmetric, right paramere (ventral view) with four long apical setae; internal sac with a long sclerotized rod-shaped structure.

♀: tergite VIII similar to that of male; sternite VIII longer than the corresponding sternite and with strongly convex posterior margin.

Comparative notes: Kenotyphlus virgatus is distinguished from the externally practically identical K. creticus from East Crete only by the slightly different shape of the posterior excision of the male sternite VIII and especially by the completely different shapes of the ventral process, the parameres, and the internal structures of the distinctly longer aedeagus. For illustrations of K. creticus see ASSING (2018b).

Distribution and natural history: The vast majority of specimens was collected in five localities to the south of Kissamos in the extreme west of Crete. The female-based records from one locality in the Mavros stream valley and another locality in the immediate vicinity of Asigonia require confirmation. The specimens from the type locality, where as many as 18 individual were found, were collected from soil in a stream valley with old Platanus orientalis , those from Elos (five specimens) in a ruderal habitat with old oak trees, those from Aikirgianis (five specimens) in a steep stream valley with Platanus orientalis . The remaining two localities in the region to the south of Kissamos include a slope with old Platanus orientalis with rich undergrowth and the vicinity of a stream with Platanus orientalis and Quercus sp. The altitudes range from 290 to 500 m. In two localities, the species was collected together with Allotyphlus foedatus . The sex ratio is biased: only six in a total of 34 specimens are males.

Figures

Figs 71–84: Kenotyphlus virgatus (71–73), Cretotyphlus hamatus (74–80), and C. idanus (81–84): male sternite VIII (71, 77); aedeagus in lateral and in ventral, or in latero-ventral view (72–73, 78–79, 83–84); habitus (74, 81); forebody in dorsal view (75); forebodyin ventral view (76); femalegenital segment (80);male meso-and metathorax and abdomen in ventralview (82). Scale bars: 74, 81–82: 0.5 mm; 71–73, 75–80, 83–84: 0.1 mm.