Typhlocyptus creticus ASSING, 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 : 260

Typhlocyptus creticus ASSING spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:2F3A6D48-5EA3-417D-9DB3-F8E0139432F6

( Figs 57–60 )

Type material: Holotype ♂: “GR – Crete [38], SW Chania , S Nteres , 35°24'15"N, 23°50'58"E, 330 m, soil washing, 22.III.2018, V. Assing / Holotypus ♂ Typhlocyptus creticus sp. n. det. V. Assing 2018” (cAss) . Paratypes: 26 ♂♂, 26 ♀♀: same data as holotype (cAss, cFel); 1 ♂: “GR – Crete [37], SW Chania, S Nteres, 35°24'00"N, 23°51'00"E, 360 m, soil washing, 22.III.2018, V. Assing ” (cAss, cFel); 1 ♀: “GR – Crete [13], S Kritsa, 35°08'47"N, 25°38'24"E, 400 m, soil washing, 27.XII.2017, V. Assing ” (cAss); 1 ♀: “GR – Crete [18], SW Sitia, NW Makrigialos, 35°03'31"N, 25°56'49"E, 70 m, soil washing, 30.XII.2017, V. Assing ” (cAss) .

Etymology: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from Creta.

Description: Length of forebody 0.4–0.5 mm. Colour of body yellow.

External characters as in Typhlocyptus pandellei .

♂: median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 57–60 ) distinctly curved in lateral view and somewhat abruptly narrowed apically in ventral view.

Comparative notes: Typhlocyptus creticus is distinguished from T. pandellei only by the shape of the ventral process of the aedeagus, which is straight in lateral view and gradually tapering apically in ventral view in T. pandellei . For comparison, the apical portion of the aedeagus of T. pandellei is illustrated in Figs 61–62 .

Distribution and natural history: The distribution of T. creticus is most likely confined to Crete, where it is currently known from four localities in the west and in the east. The two female paratypes from East Crete were recorded as T. pandellei in ASSING (2018b). All type specimens were collected by washing soil, three of them as singletons in a dry stream valley with Quercus ilex , in a valley with a temporary small stream with Platanus orientalis , bushes, undergrowth, and reed, and in a stream valley with old chestnut and with fern and herb undergrowth. As many as 53 specimens were found in the type locality, a slope with very old chestnut, fern, and herbs. The altitudes range from 70 to 400 m.

Figures

Figs 57–70: Typhlocyptus creticus (57–60), T. pandellei (61–62), Geomitopsis cretica (63–64), and Allotyphlus foedatus (65–70): aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (57–58, 61–64, 67–70); ventral process of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view (59–60); male sternites VI–VIII (65); male sternite VIII (66). Scale bars: 0.1 mm.