Gyrophaena (s. str.) fontanedai Enushchenko, 2018

Enushchenko, Ilya V., 2018, Five new species of the tribe Gyrophaenina Kraatz 1830 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae) from the southern part of the United States, Zootaxa 4504 (2), pp. 209-224 : 212-214

Gyrophaena (s. str.) fontanedai Enushchenko , sp.n.

( Figs. 6–10 )

Type material examined: Holotype: 1 ♂ [Specimen from was re-glued by me on white rectangular card; a plastic plate with a preparation of the aedeagus and abdominal segments VIII in Canada balsam was pinned under the card with specimen]: USA: ‘ALA[bama]: Shalby Co[unty]; | Helena 684B | I-3-1959 | leg. H.R. Steeves Jr.’, ‘CNHM 1962 | H.G. Steeves| Gen. Coleop. Colln. | Acc. Z–13, 050’ ‘Tree Hole’, ‘ HOLOTYPE | Gyrophaena | fontanedai sp.n. | Enushchenko I.V. | 2018 des.’ <red printed label> (FMNH).

Paratypes: 1 ♂ [Specimen from was re-glued by me on white rectangular card; a plastic card with a preparation of the abdominal tergite VIII in Canada balsam was pinned under the card with specimen; aedeagus is lost]: ‘ U.S.A. Florida | Monroe Co[unty].; Lignum | Vitae Key. 14:III:1 968 | leg. S. Peck, Ber.: #109’, ‘FM(HD) #68-15, | Ber.: hardwood | forest litter. 28 lbs.’, ‘ PARATYPE | Gyrophaena | fontanedai sp.n. | Enushchenko I.V. | 2018 des.’ <red printed label> (FMNH); 1 ♂ [Specimen was cleaned and reglued by me on white rectangular card; a plastic card with a preparation of the abdominal tergite VIII and aedeagus in Canada balsam was pinned under the card with specimen]: ‘ Gyrophaena | breviuscula | Motch.[ulskiy] | Am.[erica] bor.[ealis]’ <green handwritten label>, ‘ PARATYPE | Gyrophaena | fontanedai sp.n. | Enushchenko I.V. | 2018 des.’ <red printed label> (ZMM).

Description. Body red-yellow to red-brown; length 1.50 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 6 . Antennae, mouthparts and legs yellow-red or red-brown. Body with distinct reticulate microsculpture, weaker on abdomen. Head almost twice as wide as long; vertex with small, sparse punctures; median area impunctate. Antennomeres IV and V as wide as long, quadrate to slightly elongate, antennomeres VI–X subquadrate to feebly transverse, apical antennomere flattened, conical, 1.5 times longer than wide. Pronotum 1.6 times as wide as long and 1.4 times as wide as head; microsculpture as that on head, with two median rows consisting of three small, shallow, weakly defined punctures; basal portion of pronotum impunctate. Elytra approximately as long as pronotum, almost twice as wide as long; with distinct reticulate microsculpture, surface covered by indistinct, small punctures and welldefined tubercles, most densely in the middle part and in the posterior margins of elytra.

Male. Apical margin of abdominal tergite VIII with four teeth, with lateral pair rather stout and slightly curved inwards and medial pair blunt, equal to margin carinae ( Fig. 9 ). Ventral plate of aedeagus long, widely curved latero-ventrally, with acute apex ( Fig. 7 ); apical part of median lobe very short; dorsal projection of internal sac long but distinctly shorter than ventral plate, inclined to the ventral plate, slightly widening to apex.

Female unknown.

Comparative notes. Based on the morphological features both of habitus and aedeagus, G. fontanedai sp.n. differs from all known Nearctic species and is more similar to the Euro-asiatic G. nitidula (Gyllenhal 1810) and, especially by the distinct reticulate microsculpture of the body, shapes of antennomeres IV–IX and shape of the aedeagus to G. pseudonitidula Semenov 2015 , described recently from the Chuvash Republic of Russia and known from a vast range extending from the European part of Russia to the Russian Far East ( Semenov et al., 2015). From both these species, G. fontanedai sp.n. differs by the significantly smaller body (see the key below) and by the shape of elongated teeth on the apical margin of abdominal tergite VIII of male (these teeth in G. nitidula and G. pseudonitidula are significantly smaller).

For illustrations of G. nitidula and G. pseudonitidula see Semenov et al. (2015: Figs. 2, 3 ).

Etymology. The new species is dedicated to the Spanish shipwreck survivor Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda (1536–1575, dates uncertain) who lived among the Indians of Florida for 17 years. His memoir, written in 1575, is one of the most valuable contemporary contributions to the history and ethnography of the life of American Indians.

Remarks. The specimen (paratype) with green label “Am. bor.” in the collection of V.I. Motschulsky (ZMM) were collected by him between November 1853 and March 1854, when he visited the USA (Krivokhatskiy, 2013). The specimen was noted by him as a “ G. breviuscula Motch. ”, but no description was published.

The nitidula species group is erected here for this new and two above-mentioned species. This group is characterized by similar shape of the male tergite VIII and aedeagus (see the key below). Additionally, species of this group have long antennae with elongated antennomere V and subquadrate antennomeres VI–X; surface of head and pronotum moderately glossy, with well pronounced microsculpture; elytra with coarse and widely distributed punctures.

Figures

FIGURES 6–10. Gyrophaena fontanedai sp.n.: 6—habitus, 7—aedeagus, lateral view (Holotype), 8—aedeagus, lateral view (Paratype), 9—male abdominal tergite VIII, dorsal view (Holotype), 10—male abdominal tergite VIII, dorsal view (Paratype). Scale bars: 1 mm (6), 0.1 mm (7–10).

FIGURES 1–5. Gyrophaena affinifera sp.n.: 1—habitus, 2—aedeagus, lateral view, 3—male abdominal tergite VIII, dorsal view, 4—female abdominal tergite VIII, dorsal view, 5—female abdominal sternite, dorsal view. Scale bars: 1 mm (1), 0.1 mm (2–5).