Aleochara (Xenochara) falcata, Assing, 2009

Assing, V., 2009, On the taxonomy and zoogeography of some Palaearctic Aleochara species of the subgenera Xenochara M & R and Rheochara M & R (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 59 (1), pp. 33-101 : 67-68

Aleochara (Xenochara) falcata nov. sp. ( Figs 127-128)

Type material:

Holotype ♂: "Russland: Baschkirien, Maginsk, Pavlovsker Stausee, Birken-Kiefern-Wald, BF, 27.06.1989, Schnitter / Holotypus ♂ Aleochara falcata sp. n., det. V. Assing 2009" (cAss) . Paratypes: 1 ♂: same data as holotype (cSch) ; 1 ♂: "Russia. centr. RSFSR, Gebiet Tul, 301860- Jefremow , 28.V.1986, leg. A. Pütz " (cWun) .

Description:

External and secondary sexual characters similar to those of A. laevigata ; distinguished only as follows:

Antenna distinctly longer and more slender; antennomere IV as long as wide or weakly transverse; antennomeres V-X weakly transverse, at most 1.5 times as wide as long.

♂: median lobe of aedeagus with weakly arcuate and apically more slender ventral process in lateral view; apical internal structures slender ( Figs 107-108).

♀: unknown.

Etymology:

The name (Latin, adjective: shaped like a sickle) refers to the shape of the apical internal structures of the aedeagus.

Comparative notes:

Aleochara falcata is reliably distinguished from other species of the A. laevigata group by the slen- der antennae and by the morphology of the median lobe of the aedeagus. From A. accepta , whose aedeagus is of somewhat similar shape, it is separated also by larger average size, more slender and longer antennae, the more delimited and less extensive reddish spot on the elytra, the larger median lobe of the aedeagus, the shorter flagellum in the internal sac of the aedeagus, the differently shaped and more strongly sclerotised apical internal structures, and the differently shaped apex of the ventral process of the aedeagus.

Distribution and bionomics:

The species is currently known only from two localities in Russia. Two of the type specimens were collected with pitfall traps in a mixed pine and birch forest .