Stenichnus (Stenichnus) orientalis MEYBOHM, 2019

Assing, Volker, Brachat, Volker & Meybohm, Heinrich, 2019, Monograph of the Staphylinidae of Crete (Greece). Part II. Descriptions of new species (Insecta: Coleoptera), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 69 (2), pp. 239-289 : 275-276

Stenichnus (Stenichnus) orientalis MEYBOHM spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:06558FCA-3A62-4019-BFB7-EF06448C1956

( Figs 134–136 )

Holotype ♂: “ N35°06'57 E26°13'10, GR Ostkreta , Ano Zakros 14.3.2019, Brachat & Meybohm (1) / Stenichnus orientalis m. Meybohm 2019 det. / Holotypus” ( cMey) . Paratypes: 2 ♀♀: same data as holotype (cMey); 1 ♂: “ N35°08'57 E25°38'30, GR Kreta Lassithi 390 m, Kritsa s 16.3 .2019, Brachat & Meybohm (4)” (cMey) .

Etymology: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective: eastern) indicates that the species is endemic to the eastern part of Crete.

Description: Habitus as in Fig. 134 . External characters as in S. brachati , except as follows:

Body length 1.58 mm (♂) and 1.63 mm (♀). Width of head including eyes 0.29 mm. Pubescence on vertex and frons not sexually dimorphic, in both sexes about 0.06 mm long, distinctly curved, and directed mediad. Antenna slender, sexually dimorphic: 0.94 mm (♂) and 0.89 mm (♀) long, antennomeres IX and X in female distinctly broader than in male. Pronotum 0.36 mm broad and 0.39 mm (♂) and 0.42 mm (♀) long, at base laterally with two foveae of similar size as the two median pits.

Elytra oblong, 1.00– 1.05 mm long and 0.63–0.67 mm broad, on average 1.57 times as long as broad, strongly convex in cross-section and dorsally not flattened; pubescence very long and erect, setae as long as the combined length of antennomeres III and IV, or nearly so.

♂: profemur distally broadly dilated, externally broadly rounded, not angular; median process of sternite III more slender and laterally more distinctly concave than in S. brachati , apically with fovea, sternite III without shallow impression, shallow impressions on sternites IV and V more distinctly transverse than in S. brachati , with few minute setae anteriorly ( Fig. 135 ); aedeagus as in Fig. 136 , dorsal sclerotized portion rather short and narrow.

Intraspecific variation: The male paratype from Kritsa differs from the holotype by distally more dilated profemora, less erect, shorter, but more strongly curved setae on the elytra, and a more distinct fovea on the median process of the male sternite III. However, since the aedeagi are identical, these differences are interpreted as intraspecific variation.

Comparative notes: The similar modifications of the male abdominal sternites III–V suggest that the species is closely related to Stenichnus brachati , S. chius MEYBOHM, 2016 , and S. lesbius MEYBOHM, 2016 .

Distribution and natural history: This species is most likely endemic to East Crete, where it was found at low elevations up to 390 m.

Figures

Figs 127–142: Cephennium chanianum (127–129), Euconnus zakrius (130), Stenichnus brachati (131–133), S. orientalis (134–136), S. aegialioides (137–138), S. aegialius (139–140), and S. godarti (141–142): habitus (127, 134); aedeagus in lateral, ventral, and dorsal view (128–130, 132, 136–137, 139, 141); male abdomen in ventral view (131, 135); spermatheca (133, 138, 140, 142). Scale bars: 127, 134: 0.5 mm; 131, 135: 0.2 mm; 128–130, 132–133, 136–142: 0.1 mm.