Anaulacaspis convexa Assing 2016, spec. nov.
Creators: name: Assing, Volker
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Anaulacaspis
Anaulacaspis convexa

description: Anaulacaspis convexa spec. nov.
(Figs 76–83, Map 6)
Type material: Holotype ♂: “ TURKEY 21.–24.VII.2000, Adana prov., Feke env., I. Smatana leg. / Holotypus ♂ Anaulacaspis convexa sp. n., det. V. Assing 2016” (MNB). Paratypes: 4 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀: “ Anatolia centr., Korge & Heinz leg. / Flussufer nördl. Tunqeli, 26.VII.65 ” (MNB, cAss); 1 ♀: “TR [21] – Amasya, 22 km NE Amasya, WNW Aktaş, 40°48'30"N, 35°59'30"E, 1200 m, 18.VII.2008, V. Assing ” (cAss); 1 ♂: “S-Türkei: Region Antalya, 2 km NW Arif, 016) feinschotterige Tropfwasserstelle unter Brücke, 20.III.2001, leg. Rose / Koordinaten (WGS 84): N 36°31'23,3", E 30°00'42,8, 795 m ” (MNB).
Etymology: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective) alludes to the convex postero-median process of the abdominal tergite VIII.
Description: Body length 2.2–2.5 mm; length of forebody 1.1–1.2 mm. Coloration: head blackish-brown to black; pronotum reddish to brown; elytra with an extensive, but weakly defined medio-lateral infuscate spot, humeral angles and anterior portion of sutural region reddishyellow to reddish, posterior margin and posterior portion of sutural region yellowish to dark-yellowish; abdomen blackish with segments III–IV and VIII–X brown to dark-brown; legs yellowish; antennae brown, with the basal 3–4 antennomeres reddish to reddish-brown.
Head approximately 1.1 times as broad as long, with weakly pronounced sexual dimorphism; interstices without microsculpture. Eyes distinctly longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antennae approximately 0.9 mm long; antennomere IV approximately as long as broad or weakly transverse; antennomeres V–X of gradually increasing width and increasingly transverse, X nearly twice as broad as long.
Pronotum 1.10–1.15 times as broad as long and 0.95– 1.00 times as broad as head; sexual dimorphism absent; punctation moderately dense and moderately fine, more distinct than that of head.
Elytra slightly longer than pronotum; punctation dense and fine. Hind wings fully developed.
Abdomen narrower than elytra; punctation distinct, finer on posterior than on anterior tergites; posterior tergites with shallow microreticulation; tergite VIII with weakly pronounced sexual dimorphism, postero-laterally with a cluster of long thin setae on either side, posterior margin with a conspicuous convex median process, this process apically with a fringe of dense long setae.
♂: punctation of pronotum distinct; posterior process of tergite VIII (Fig. 76) more pronounced than in female; posterior margin of sternite VIII (Fig. 77) strongly, convexly produced in the middle, marginal setae long, thin, and distributed across all of posterior margin; median lobe of aedeagus (Figs 78–81) approximately 0.24 mm long; ventral process strongly curved and narrow in lateral view, very broad and apically incised in ventral view.
♀: head with extremely fine punctation; posterior process of tergite VIII (Fig. 82) less pronounced than in male; sternite VIII (Fig. 83) with broadly convex posterior margin.
Comparative notes: As can be inferred from the similarly modified shape and chaetotaxy of the abdominal tergite VIII and from the similar morphology of the median lobe of the aedeagus, A. convexa is closely allied to A. persica, A. truncata, and A. eminens. Regarding the shapes of the median lobe of the aedeagus and of the abdominal tergite VIII, it is most similar to A. truncata, from which it differs by the less pronounced and convex posterior process of the abdominal tergite VIII and by the much broader ventral process of the aedeagus (ventral view).
Distribution and natural history: This species is currently known from Adana, Antalya, Amasya, and Tunceli provinces, Turkey (Map 6). The specimens from Amasya and Antalya were floated and hand-collected, respectively, from gravel of river banks at altitudes of 1200 and approximately 800 m, respectively.
description: Published as part of Assing, Volker, 2016, Revision of the Anaulacaspis species of the Palaearctic region (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), pp. 201-255 in Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 66 (2) on page 232, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.66.2.201-255, http://zenodo.org/record/5212606