Aleochara (Xenochara) eremita ( PEYERIMHOFF , 1931) Assing, 2014

Assing, V., 2014, On the genus Crataraea (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae: Oxypodini), Linzer biologische Beiträge 46 (2), pp. 1111-1118 : 1116-1117

Aleochara (Xenochara) eremita ( PEYERIMHOFF, 1931) , nov.comb. ( Figs 12-14 )

Crataraea eremita PEYERIMHOFF, 1931: 35 f.

T y p e m a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d: Holotype [in poor condition]: "Mission du Hoggar, février-mai 1928 / Fort Lallemand, Sud d'Ouargla, 8 mai 1928, lumière / Type / Crataraea eremita Peymh. typ. unic. / Holotypus Crataraea eremita Peyerimhoff , rev. V. Assing 2014 / Aleochara eremita (Peyerimhoff) , det. V. Assing 2014 " (MNHNP).

C o m m e n t: The original description is based on a single specimen from "Grand Erg oriental: Fort Lallemand, au sud d'Ouargla" collected at a light source ( PEYERIMHOFF 1931). An examination of the holotype revealed that the species belongs to the subgenus Xenochara of the genus Aleochara .

R e d e s c r i p t i o n: Body length ca. 2.9 mm; length of forebody ca. 1.6 mm. Coloration: head and pronotum dark-brown; elytra pale-yellowish, with narrowly infuscate anterior margins; abdomen dark-brown with reddish apex; legs yellow; antennae brown, with yellowish antennomeres I-III.

Head with pronounced microreticulation; punctation moderately dense and fine, barely visible in the microsculpture. Eyes weakly convex, approximately as long as postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna short; antennomere IV weakly transverse; V much broader than IV and distinctly transverse, approximately 1.5 times as broad as long; VI- X weakly increasing in width; X nearly twice as broad as long; XI nearly as long as the combined length of VIII-X.

Pronotum 1.25 times as broad as long and 1.3 times as broad as head; punctation fine and rather dense; interstices with pronounced microsculpture.

Elytra 0.75 times as long as elytra; posterior margins not sinuate near posterior angles; punctation defined, much more distinct than that of head and pronotum; interstices with shallow microsculpture. Legs long and slender; metatarsus as long as metatibia; metatarsomere I longer than the combined length of II and III.

Abdomen with rather dense and conspicuously distinct punctation; interstices with very shallow transverse microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VIII ( Fig. 12 ) with modified short and stout marginal setae.

: sternite VIII ( Fig. 13 ) obtusely produced posteriorly, posterior margin with long and dense marginal setae in the middle; median lobe of aedeagus ( Fig. 14 ) 0.53 mm long and of very distinctive morphology, with very slender and strongly curved ventral process in lateral view.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Based on the similar external characters, the similar chaetotaxy of tergite VIII, and the general morphology of the aedeagus, this species is closely allied to A. rubripennis , from which it differs by the longer antennomere XI, the finer punctation and more pronounced microsculpture of the forebody, the presence of microscupture on the abdomen, the different shape of the male sternite VIII, and by the completely different shape of the median lobe of the aedeagus.

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: The species is known only from the type locality in the Hoggar range, South Algeria.

Figures

Figs 12-14: Aleochara eremita (PEYERIMHOFF): (12) posterior portion of male tergite VIII; (13) male sternite VIII; (14) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view. Scale bars: 13: 0.2 mm; 12, 14: 0.1 mm.