Acinopus (Acinopus) arabicus W & M 2016, nov.sp.
Creators: name: W, David
name: M, Boris
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Carabidae
Acinopus
Acinopus arabicus

description: Acinopus (Acinopus) arabicus nov.sp. (Figs 4, 11, 12, 16)   
T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype 6, labelled: " SAUDI ARABIA / Asir Prov., 2800-3050 m / Al Soudah, ca. 50 km NW Abha / 4.1.1994 / H.J. Bremer leg." (black print on white label), (MFNB). Paratypes: 16, 1♀: same data (MFNB, cWR).  
E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet is a latinizid adjective, based on the name of the region in which this species was found.  
 D i a g n o s i s: A micropterous species of small to medium size for Acinopus, with excision of dorsal edge of right mandible (subgenus Acinopus), black, tarsomeres and antennae dark reddish-brown, labrum moderately incised at anterior margin, clypeus with one setiferous pore puncture at anterior angles, pronotum laterally almost rectilinearly or very weakly convexly narrowed toward the obtuse-angled posterior angles and weakly convexly narrowed apicad, anterior angles somewhat protruding, narrowly rounded at tip, posterior angles widely rounded, elytra short-oval, moderately convex on disc, metepisternum very short, pro- and mesotarsi in males moderately widened, apical lamella of median lobe short, about somewhat elongate-triangular (dorsal view). Habitus see Fig. 4.   
D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length in males 14.4-14.7 mm, in holotype 14.7 mm, in the female paratype 12.9 mm; width in males 5.4-5.5 mm, in holotype 5.5 mm; in the female paratype 5.1 mm.  
Colour: Black, tarsomeres and antennae reddish-brown.  
 Head: Wide (as normal in Acinopus), only somewhat narrower than pronotum (PW/HW in males 1.18-1.21, in holotype 1.18; in the female paratype 1.24). Eyes small and relatively flat, tempora oblique, about three fourth as long as diameter of eye or somewhat shorter in female paratype (dorsally seen), rectilinearly converging to neck. Disc smooth, laterad with small, weakly impressed and widely spaced punctures. Labrum strongly and somewhat angulately incised at anterior margin, clypeus weakly semicircularly incised, with anterior angles with one setiferous pore puncture each. Mentum tooth small, submentum with one long seta laterally each side. Excision of dorsal lateral edge of right mandible well developed, almost semicircular, relatively close to base of mandible, basal angle of excision situated distinctly anterior to level of anterior margin of clypeus (with mandibles closed).   
Pronotum (Fig. 4): Transverse (PW/PL in males 1.52-1.58, in holotype 1.52; in the female paratype 1.50), widest at about end of anterior third, where the lateral seta inserted. Anterior margin a little wider than posterior margin, only weakly excavate, anterior angles moderately projecting forward, relatively narrowly rounded at tip. Sides moderately curved apicad, basad from widest point almost rectilinear at a short distance, and anterior to posterior angles gently convexly narrowed. Posterior angles somewhat obtuse-angled, widely rounded at tip. Basal edge almost rectlinear between the basal foveae, posterior angles very weakly shifted backwards. Basal foveae short, elongate, distinctly converging basad, shallowly or more strongly impressed, some punctures of unequal size in and around fovae, more or less widely spaced and continuing to the area of posterior angles. Disc convex, area of posterior angles more or less strongly flattened, anterior and posterior transverse impressions very shallow or only indicated, median line weakly impressed, terminated anterior to apical margin and hardly reaching basal margin. Lateral gutter narrow, somewhat widened toward anterior angles.  
Elytra (Fig. 4): short-oval (EL/EW in males 1.39-1.43, in holotype 1.39; in female paratype 1.42), somewhat wider than pronotum (EW/PW in males 1.08-1.11, in holotype 1.11; in female paratype 1.12). On disc moderately convex, humeri distinctly developed, rounded at tip, without humeral tooth, not fused at suture; toward behind somewhat convexely enlarged, widest about in middle. Basal bead weakly sinuate, arcuately curving inside humerus and weakly angled or round towards lateral margin. Scutellar pore puncture present, scutellar stria long. Striae fine, smooth, intervals flat on disc, becoming convex toward elytral declivity, interval 3 without pore puncture (two paratypes), holotype with pore puncture on right elytron only at about beginning of apical fourth close to stria 2. Interval 5 with one to tree pore punctures apically, interval 7 with two to four pore punctures apically (holotype), or such punctures lacking (remaining two paratypes). Preapical sinuation weak in males, only suggested in female paratype.  
Hindwings: Reduced, about one third as long as elytral length.  
Ventral surface: Prosternum with short setae, apex of prosternal process with long setae, proepisternum and anterior part of mesepisternum with sparse, fine setae, metepisternum and metasternum (laterally) with sparse, coarse seta-bearing punctures. Metepisternum very short, ratio of anterior margin/internal margin (visible parts) about 0.91, moderately narrowed behind. Abdominal sternites III-V with scattered setae of unequal length. Last sternite, beside some fine scattered setae, with two pore punctures bearing a long seta on each side at apical margin in both sexes.  
 Legs: Normal for Acinopus species. Pro- and mesotarsi moderately widened in males (less wider than in A. laevigatus), pro- and mesotarsomere 1 with two small adhesive scales apically, pro- and mesotarsomere 2-4 with biseriate adhesive vestiture. Ventroapical tubercle of protibia with three to five spines, arranged in a transverse row. Outer distal margin of fore tibia with five to eight spines. Eight to nine spines on lower surface of protibia arranged in one row. Tarsi smooth on superior surface except obligatory setae.   
Microsculpture of surface: Head and pronotum in males with transverse to almost isodiametric meshes weakly engraved and somewhat irregular, elytra with about the same kind of meshes somewhat more strongly engraved as on the forebody, surface very shiny, in females meshes somewhat stronger engraved, surface less shiny.  
 Median lobe of aedeagus (Figs 11, 12): Of normal construction for Acinopus species, middle and apical part somewhat bent to the left, terminal lamella wide and flat, somewhat elongate-triangular (dorsal view), and somewhat reflexed apically (lateral view), internal sac with a small, elongate group of about ten medium-sized spines.   
Female genitalia (Fig. 16): Hemisternite asymmetrical, with numerous scattered setae in its internal, somewhat hyaline part. Gonocoxite 1 elongate, apically with numerous setae, gonocoxite 2 scoop-shaped, apically somewhat blunt, with a double-sensilla in a furrow, and with numerous fine long setae at concave side.  
I n t r a s p e c i f i c v a r i a b i l i t y: The material is too small to make an extended statement on this item. Concerning the three specimens examined it can be noted that the body size varies somewhat and that the elytra can have or have not one pore puncture in interval 3, with the possibility that only one elytron has this puncture, also the number of pore punctures in interval 5 and 7 can vary.  
 C o m p a r i s o n s: The species is closest to A. brittoni nov.sp. in having the same body colour, a somewhat flattened body, a clypeus with anterior angles with one setiferous pore puncture each, and the same position of the excision of the dorsal lateral edge of the right mandible, but differs in smaller body size, a wider head (compared with pronotum), a longer pronotum with a somewhat narrower lateral gutter and with less protruding anterior angles, and with a less strongly flattened area of the posterior angles. In addition, the elytra of the new species are somewhat longer and a little less oval, the median lobe of the aedeagus is somewhat shorter and stouter, the apical lamella a little longer and almost evenly narrowed, apically more acute (dorsal view), somewhat reflexed apically (lateral view), the spines of the internal sac are lower in number (compare Figs 11, 12, and 9, 10).   
 H a b i t a t: Nothing is known about biotope and circumstances of collecting. Al Soudah is situated west of Abah City on the Sirwat Mountains, a massif with heights of more than 3000 m a.s.l. After a source in the internet (http://www.the-saudi.net/saudiarabia/abha/abha_city.htm) the Abha region has the highest level of rainfall of any part of Saudi Arabia, the mountains are covered with stands of Araar trees, Tetraclinis articulata (VAHL) MASTERS, an evergreen coniferous tree of the cypress (family Cupressaceae) and other natural forests.   
D i s t r i b u t i o n: Up to present only known from one locality in the Sirwat Mountains (Saudi Arabia), situated in the Sarat ' Asir region in the middle of the Sarawat Mountain range, but surely more widely distributed in that massif.  
 R e m a r k s: The Sarawat mountain range, a massif running parallel to the western coast of the Arabian Peninsula and is among the Peninsula's most prominent geographical features, starts from the border of Jordan in the north to the Gulf of Aden in the south, running through Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The range's northern half, known as Sarat al-Hejaz rarely rises about 2100 meters, while the middle and southern portions (Sarat ' Asir and Sarat al-Yemen, respectively) can reach heights of over 3,300 meters. The discovery of two members of the subgenus Acinopus in western Saudi Arabia, both similar to the North African A. sabulosus, is very interesting in a zoogeographical point of view. There is a wide gap of about thousand kilometres between eastern populations of A. sabulosus from Libya and the populations of two new species in Saudi Arabia (from Egypt, in fact from the Sinai Peninsula, only one rather dissimilar and apparently unrelated species, A. sinaiticus nov.sp., is known). It can probably be hypothetizied, due to the relative similarity of A. sabulosus and the two species from Saudi Arabia, that A. sabulosus on the one hand and the two Arabian species on the other hand are adelphotaxa with an ancestor widely distributed over North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula in the Neogene, most likely not earlier than the middle Miocene, because in the Paleogene and the early Miocene, North Africa was dominated by tropical forests; by the middle Miocene grass-dominated ecosystems begin to spread and vegetation changed into a more open grassland vegetation towards the end of the Miocene (e.g., MICHEELS et al. 2009: 193; JACOBS et al. 2010: 69). The continuous distribution of the common ancestor of the species discussed was probably divided into the African and Arabian parts by lowland desert areas appeared for the first time in North Africa at around the Miocene/Pliocene boundary (e.g., LE HOUEROU 1997). This separation was aided by the Red Sea which formation began in the Eocene and became a sea in the Miocene, causing the isolation of the mountains of South-West Arabia from those of Africa (BRITTON 1948: 89). The result of alternating dry and damp climatic periods in a region today drier than in the past, caused a further splitting in two species with a relict-like occurrence, which need for surviving plants and herewith connected moisture, in the high mountains of western Arabia, in one species in the Sarat al-Hejaz in the northern portion of the Sarawat mountain range, and a second one in the Sarat ' Asir in its middle part.
description: Published as part of W, David & M, Boris, 2016, Four new species of genus Acinopus DEJEAN, 1821, subgenus Acinopus from southern Iran, from Sinai, and from western Saudi Arabia, and faunistic and taxonomic notes on species previously described (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Harpalini, Harpalina), pp. 1783-1806 in Linzer biologische Beiträge 48 (2) on pages 1800-1803, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5356276