Oxypoda (Bessopora) cretica, Assing, 2006

Assing, V., 2006, New species and records of Staphylinidae from Greece, with two new synonymies (Insecta: Coleoptera), Linzer biologische Beiträge 38 (1), pp. 333-379 : 360

Oxypoda (Bessopora) cretica sp.n. ( Figs 64-70 )

Holotype 3: N35°11', E25°31', GR Kreta Lassithi, Selia Afhin 1000 m, Meybohm 10.3.2001 / Holotypus 3 Oxypoda cretica sp. n. det. V. Assing 2005 (cAss).

D e s c r i p t i o n: 3.5 mm. Coloration: whole body pale reddish brown, with the anterior areas of abdominal tergites V-VI infuscated; legs and antennae yellowish brown. Habitus as in Fig. 64 .

Head 1.2 times as wide as long; puncturation dense and distinct, interstices narrower than diameter of punctures and without microsculpture ( Fig. 65 ); eyes moderately large ( Fig. 66 ), slightly shorter than postocular region in dorsal view. Antennae relatively long and massive ( Fig. 67 ), antennomeres 4-10 distinctly coniform, antennomere X approximately 1.5 times as wide as long, XI rather large. Preapical joint of maxillary palpus slightly more than twice as long as wide.

Pronotum more than 1.4 times as wide as head and more than 1.3 times as wide as long ( Fig. 65 ); maximal width approximately in the middle; puncturation very dense, denser and less well-defined than that of head; microsculpture absent.

Elytra approximately as wide as pronotum and at suture 0.65 times as long as pronotum; near lateral margins shallowly impressed ( Fig. 65 ); puncturation coarser than that of pronotum, very dense, asperate, and ill-defined; microsculpture absent. Hind wings reduced. Legs moderately slender; metatarsus almost as long as metatibia; metatarsomere I approximately as long as the combined length of metatarsomeres II-IV.

Abdomen approximately as wide as elytra, widest at segments III/IV, moderately tapering posteriad ( Fig. 64 ); puncturation fine and rather dense on tergites III-VI, sparser on tergites VII-VIII; microsculpture absent; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

3: posterior margin of sternite VIII obtusely angled in the middle; median lobe of aedeagus shaped as in Figs 68-69 , ventral process apically bifid; apical lobe of paramere very long, with two long basal setae, short apical seta, and subapical seta of intermediate length ( Fig. 70 ).

E t y m o l o g y: The name (Lat., adj.) is derived from Creta, the name of the island where the type locality is situated.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Based on external and the male sexual characters, O. cretica is closely related to O. cingulum BERNHAUER from the Middle East and to O. hatayana ASSING from central southern Anatolia. It is distinguished from the former, whose male sexual characters are unknown, by the uniformly pale coloration of the forebody (in O. cingulum the head is darker than the pronotum) and from the latter by larger body size and by the shape of the aedeagus (apically straight ventral process in lateral view). From both species, it is additionally separated by the coarser puncturation of the forebody, the absence of microsculpture, the less transverse pronotum, the lateral impressions on the elytra, the relatively longer metatarsus, and the longer first metatarsomere. For illustrations of the habitus and the sexual characters of O. hatayana see ASSING (2004c, in press).

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d b i o n o m i c s: The species is known only from one locality in eastern Crete. The reduced hind wings and palisade fringe at the posterior margin of tergite VII suggest that it is endemic to the island.

Figures

Figs 60-70: Aphaenostemmus rhodicus sp.n. (60-63) and Oxypoda cretica sp.n. (64-70). (60, 64) habitus; (61, 65) forebody; (62) head and pronotum; (63, 67) antenna; (66) head in lateral view; (68) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (69) apex of median lobe of aedeagus in ventral view; (70) apical lobe of paramere. Scale bars: 60, 64: 1.0 mm; 61-63, 65-67: 0.5 mm; 68-70: 0.1 mm.