Leptusa (Neopisalia), SCHEERPELTZ

Assing, V., 2009, On the Leptusa species of Turkey. VII. Notes on distribution, a new species, a new synonymy, and additional records (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 41 (1), pp. 427-436 : 428-429

3.1 Subgenus Neopisalia SCHEERPELTZ

Neopisalia SCHEERPELTZ 1966: 16 .

Stenoleptusa SCHEERPELTZ 1966: 10; nov.syn.

C o m m e n t: The subgenus Neopisalia (type species: Leptusa microphthalma REITTER 1887 ) previously included 26 species, 23 of which are confined to Turkey and the Caucasus region. Only two species were attributed to the subgenus Stenoleptusa (type species: Bolitochara laeviuscula HOCHHUTH 1849 ); both of them are distributed in the western Caucasus (including northeastern Anatolia and Armenia). The separation of both subgenera is mainly based on the morphology of the aedeagus, especially the length of the ventral process and of the long internal tube (see PACE 1989). In the meantime, however, species have been discovered whose aedeagal morphology is transitional between those of the species of Stenoleptusa and Neoleptusa; for a striking example see the illustrations of the aedeagus of L. sica ASSING in ASSING (2003). These observations suggest that the aedeagal morphology of the two species previously attributed to Stenoleptusa is an expression of intra- rather than intersubgeneric variation and that both subgenera are consequently synonymous, a conclusion supported also by the distributions of the two Stenoleptusa species. Since Neopisalia and Stenoleptusa were both described in the same article, the former is here designated as the senior synonym, and the latter is placed in its synonymy.

In all, 14 species of Neopisalia , all of them with more or less restricted distributions, have become known from Turkey ( ASSING 2007), where the distribution of the subgenus is confined to northeastern and central southern Anatolia ( Map 2 ).

Figures

Map 2: Distribution of the Turkish representatives of the subgenus Neopisalia SCHEERPELTZ (all records pooled). For maps illustrating the individual distributions see ASSING (2007) and Map 3.