Xantholinus (Helicophallus) multispinosus Assing, 2007, sp. n.
Creators: name: Assing, Volker
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2007
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Xantholinus
Xantholinus multispinosus

description: Xantholinus (Helicophallus) multispinosus sp. n.
(Figs. 63–74, 84)
Type material. Holotype: ɗ, " TR [8] - Mersin, 1390 m, N Silifke, W Kirobasi, 36°44'02"N, 33°51'16"E, 19.IV.2005, leg. Brachat & Meybohm / Holotypus ɗ Xantholinus multispinosus sp. n. det. V. Assing 2006" (cAss). Paratype: ɗ, Mersin: Hacıahmetli, e. Mut, 1300 m / Anatolia mer., Heinz leg. 19.IV.1989 (cKor).
Description. Measurements (in mm) and ratios (holotype, paratype): AL: 2.20, 2.01; HL: 1.59, 1.51; HW: 1.27, 1.16; PW: 1.15, 1.01; PL: 1.60, 1.51; EL: 1.18, 1.04; EW: 1.39, 1.31; AW: 1.33, 1.28; TiL: 0.95, 0.89; TaL: 0.72, 0.72; ML: 1.39, – [squeezed]; TL: 10.3, 9.6; HL/HW: 1.25, 1.30; PW/HW: 0.90, 0.87; PL/PW: 1.39, 1.49; EL/PL: 0.740.69; EW/PW: 1.21, 1.30; AW/EW: 0.96, 0.98; TiL/TaL: 1.31, 1.22.
Habitus as in Fig. 63. Distinctly bicoloured species: head, pronotum, and abdomen blackish; elytra bright reddish; legs reddish brown; antennae dark reddish brown.
Head strongly oblong (see measurements and ratio HL/HW), weakly dilated posteriorly; lateral margins weakly convex in dorsal view (Fig. 64); eyes moderately small (Fig. 65), weakly projecting from lateral outline of head, little more than 1/4 the length of postocular region in dorsal view; dorsal surface with sparse, well-defined, and relatively coarse puncturation and with very few interspersed micropunctures, median dorsal area almost without coarse punctures; microsculpture absent. Antenna with antennomeres V–X weakly transverse, less than 1.5 times as wide as long (Fig. 66).
Pronotum distinctly narrower than head (see ratio PW/HW), distinctly tapering posteriad; lateral margins almost straight in dorsal view; dorsal series composed of 11–12 punctures; microsculpture absent (Fig. 64).
Elytra somewhat shorter and distinctly wider than pronotum (see ratios EL/PL and EW/PW), weakly dilated posteriad (Fig. 64); puncturation mostly well-defined, interstices on average slightly wider than diameter of punctures. Hind wings apparently fully developed. Legs relatively long (see measurements).
Abdomen slightly narrower than elytra, subparallel, segments III–VII of subequal width; puncturation fine, but distinct; all tergites with distinct transverse microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.
ɗ: posterior margins of tergite and sternite VIII weakly convex; aedeagus relatively large (Figs. 67–68), with internal structures composed of a long series of 35–40 long sclerotised spines (with some interspersed smaller spines), distally with a brush-like cluster of long and slender semitransparent spines and 3 additional short series of sclerotised spines: one of them composed of approximately 13–15 large and oblong spines (proximally extending into a series of numerous distinctly smaller semitransparent spines), one composed of 10 proximally very large and distally gradually smaller spines, and a central series composed of approximately 10 smaller spines (Figs. 69–74).
Comparative notes. Unlike many other subgenera and species groups of Xantholinus, the subgenus Helicophallus is characterised by relatively little interspecific variation of the aedeagal morphology, so that a separation of species based on an examination of an intact aedeagus may prove difficult. The internal structures are best evaluated after dissecting them, squeezing them (in order to make all spines visible), and examining them under a compound microscope.
From other Helicophallus species occurring in southern Turkey, X. multispinosus is separated as follows:
from X. tauricus (see Fig. 60) by a larger aedeagus, by much more numerous spines of less oblong shape, and by the presence of a distal brush-like cluster of semitransparent spines;
from X. luteipennis (see Figs. 61–62) by larger body size and by a larger aedeagus with distally longer and more slender spines, and distally with shorter and less slender spines;
from X. lividipennis (see figure 98C in Coiffait 1982) by larger body size and by an aedeagus with more numerous and distally larger and longer spines.
Since it was not possible to examine the holotype of X. lividipennis, which is deposited in the Fagel collection (see comments in section on X. rufipennis), the comparison has to be based on the illustration by Coiffait (1972), which depicts an aedeagus with half-extruded internal structures and provides only rough details on the morphology of the internal structures.
Etymology. The name (Lat., adj.) refers to the great number of spines in the aedeagus. Distribution and bionomics. The species was discovered in two localities in Mersin, central southern Anatolia (Fig. 84), at altitudes of 1300 and nearly 1400 m.
description: Published as part of Assing, Volker, 2007, On the Xantholinini of Turkey and adjacent regions (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylininae), pp. 1-54 in Zootaxa 1474 on pages 33-35, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.176738