Astenus (Eurysunius) wunderlei, Assing, 2014

Assing, V., 2014, On the Staphylinidae of Sardinia, Italy (Insecta: Coleoptera), Linzer biologische Beiträge 46 (1), pp. 415-428 : 418-421

Astenus (Eurysunius) wunderlei nov.sp. ( Figs 1-7 , 10 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype 6: " ITALY: Sardinia [27], 18 km SSW Dorgali , 40°05'53''N, 9°31'48''E, 740 m, pasture, u. stones, 28.XII.2012, P. Wunderle / Holotypus 6 Astenus wunderlei sp. n. det. V. Assing 2013" (cAss) . Paratypes: 2♀♀: same data as holotype (cWun) ; 2♀♀ [one with two workers of Tetramorium sp. attached to the pin]: same data, but leg. Assing (cAss) .

E t y m o l o g y: This species is dedicated to Paul Wunderle (Mönchengladbach), who collected the holotype.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 5.0-5.5 mm; length of forebody 2.3-2.4 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 1 . Coloration: head blackish-brown to blackish; pronotum dark-reddish, with the area near the anterior angles diffusely and more or less extensively infuscate; elytra yellowish, with the scutellum and sometimes also the adjacent elytral portions somewhat infuscate; abdomen blackish, with the posterior margins of segments III-VI narrowly, and the posterior margins of segments VII-VIII more broadly reddish; legs and antennae yellowish.

Head ( Fig. 2 ) approximately 1.1 times as broad as long; posterior margin strongly concave; punctation shallow, very dense, and umbilicate ( Fig. 3 ); interstices reduced to

narrow ridges. Eyes approximately 0.8 times as long as postocular region. Antenna ( Fig. 4 ) 1.1-1.2 mm long; antennomeres V-IX nearly twice as long as broad.

Pronotum ( Fig. 2 ) 1.10-1.15 times as long as broad and approximately 0.85 times as broad as head, laterally with a shallow impression on either side; lateral margins straight to weakly convex, distinctly converging posteriad; anterior and posterior angles without long setae; posterior margin convexly produced in the middle; punctation similar to that of head.

Elytra ( Fig. 2 ) 0.65-0.70 times as long as pronotum; humeral angles moderately marked; punctation distinctly granulose; interstices with subdued shine. Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen 1.10-1.15 times 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 with narrow rudiment of a palisade fringe.

6: sternite VIII shaped as in Fig. 5 ; aedeagus 0.65 mm long, shaped as in Figs 6-7 ; ventral process weakly bisinuate in lateral view.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s:AccordingtoCICERONI & ZANETTI (1995), nine species of Astenus have been recorded, and three additional species have doubtfully been reported from Sardinia. From all of these species, A. wunderlei is distinguished by the different coloration and by the morphology of the aedeagus. Astenus cerrutii COIFFAIT 1960 (holotype in IZUR examined), whose original description is based on a single female from Su Gologone [approx. 40°17', 9°29'E; close to the type locality of A. wunderlei ] near Oliena ( COIFFAIT 1960), is smaller (body length 4.0 mm; length of forebody 1.95 mm), has a more robust body with a much more transverse head (1.25 times as broad as long), a transverse pronotum (1.05 times as broad as long) with concave lateral margins, distinctly transverse elytra (combined width 1.6 times the length of the suture), a broader abdomen with more transverse segments III-VI, a less defined punctation of the head and pronotum, blackish-brown elytra with reddish-brown margins, and an aedeagus with a ventral process of different shape (broader and apically more acute in ventral view, not bisinuate and somewhat curved in lateral view, subapically slightly emarginate, dorso-apical carina shorter). The aedeagus of A. cerrutii is figured by COIFFAIT (1984). The respective male was looked for, but not found in the Coiffait collection at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle Paris. Based on the illustrations provided by COIFFAIT (1984), the aedeagus of A. wunderlei is most similar to that of A. italicus COIFFAIT 1960, whose description is based on a single male from Molise. From this species (holotype examined; deposited in IZUR), A. wunderlei differs by the much finer and shallower punctation of the forebody, the coloration of the pronotum and the elytra (A. italicus: pronotum black; elytra black with yellowish anterior and posterior margins), and by the different shape of the aedeagus. For illustrations of the aedeagus of A. italicus see Figs 8-9.

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:Thetypelocalityissituatedto the southwest of Dorgali near the east coast of Sardinia. The specimens were collected from under stones, one of them in a nest of Tetramorium sp., in a stony pasture at an altitude of 740 m ( Fig. 10 ).

Figures

Figs 1-9: Astenus wunderlei nov.sp. (1-7) and A. italicus COIFFAIT, holotype (8-9): (1) habitus; (2) forebody; (3) median dorsal portion of head; (4) antenna; (5) male sternite VIII; (6) aedeagus in lateral view; (7, 9) apical portion of aedeagus in ventral view; (8) apical portion of aedeagus in lateral view. Scale bars: 1: 1.0 mm; 2: 0.5 mm; 4-9: 0.2 mm; 3: 0.1 mm.

Fig. 10: Type locality of Astenus wunderlei nov.sp.