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

description: Anaulacaspis iberica spec. nov.
(Figs 159–166, Map 4)
Type material: Holotype ♂: “ Belus [= Beloso; 42°19'N, 8°45'W], lg. H. Franz / Sp. 184 [overleaf] / Prov. Pontevedra, Hispania bor. / Holotypus ♂ Anaulacaspis iberica sp. n., det. V. Assing 2016” (NHMW). Paratypes: 4 exs.: same data as holotype (NHMW, cAss); 2 exs: “ Sobradelo [42°24'N, 6°54'W], Valle de Casayo, lg. H. Franz / Sp 202 [overleaf]” (NHMW); 1 ♀: “ Prov. Jaen, Sierra Cazorla, Besuchet 12.IV.59 / G. Fagel det., 1960, Falagria nigra Grav. ” (MHNG).
Etymology: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective) alludes to the fact that this species is currently known only from the Iberian Peninsula.
Description: Body length 1.6–2.2 mm; length of forebody 0.8–1.0 mm. Coloration: head and abdomen blackishbrown; pronotum and elytra brown to blackish-brown; legs pale-brown to brown; antennae dark-brown to blackishbrown with the basal antennomeres rarely paler.
Head approximately 1.1 times as broad as long, without sexual dimorphism; punctation extremely fine, visible only at high magnification (50 x), and rather dense; interstices glossy. Eyes approximately as long as postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna 0.6–0.7 mm long; antennomere IV approximately as long as broad; antennomeres V–X of gradually increasing width and increasingly transverse, X approximately twice as broad as long.
Pronotum approximately 1.1 times as broad as long and approximately as broad as head, without sexual dimorphism; punctation very fine, but slightly more distinct than that of head.
Elytra approximately 0.85 times as long as pronotum; punctation less dense and less fine than that of pronotum. Hind wings not examined, possibly of reduced length.
Abdomen slightly broader than elytra; punctation distinct, denser in anterior than in posterior portions of tergites; posterior margin of tergite VIII (Fig. 164) weakly convex, postero-laterally without a cluster of dense long setae, marginal setae unmodified and moderately long.
♂: posterior margin of sternite VIII (Fig. 165) obtusely pointed in the middle, marginal setae moderately long, thin, and evenly spaced; median lobe of aedeagus 0.23– 0.24 mm long and shaped as in Figs 159–163.
♀: posterior margin of sternite VIII (Fig. 166) distinctly concave in the middle.
Comparative notes: Aside from the (on average) slightly larger and more transverse pronotum and the (on average) shorter elytra, the external characters of A. iberica are practically identical to those of A. laevigata, evidently its adelphotaxon. The new species is reliably distinguished from A. laevigata only by the slightly smaller median lobe of the aedeagus with a more slender (lateral view) and relatively longer (in relation to capsule) ventral process and with a smaller and more prominent crista apicalis, and by the more distinctly concave middle of the posterior margin of the female sternite VIII.
Distribution: The known distribution is confined to two localities in Galicia, northwestern Spain, and one in Andalucía, South Spain (Map 4). Previous records of A. nigra from Spain and Portugal probably refer to this species.
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 243, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.66.2.201-255, http://zenodo.org/record/5212606