On the Turkish species of Sunius . VI . New micropterous species from central southern Anatolia and additional records ( Coleoptera : Staphylinidae , Paederinae )

Three micropterous and apparently locally endemic species of Sunius CURTIS, 1829 from central southern Turkey are described and illustrated: S. brevispinosus sp. n. (Kahramanmaraş), S. longispinosus sp. n. (Kahramanmaraş), and S. pauli sp. n. (Malatya). Additional records are presented for two species. The distributions of all the treated species are mapped. 20 species of Sunius are now known from Turkey, including one name of doubtful identity. A supplement to a recent key to the Turkish representatives of the genus is provided.


I n t r o d u c t i o n
Previously, a total of 17 species of Sunius CURTIS had been recorded from Turkey, including one species of doubtful identity (ASSING 1995(ASSING , 2001(ASSING , 2003(ASSING , 2005a(ASSING , 2005b)).Eleven of these species have reduced hind wings and are local endemics.Considering that none of them had been described prior to 2001, it seems most likely that the diversity of Sunius species in Turkey is far greater than presently known and that, among the Staphylinidae, the genus will eventually come in second as regards the number of endemics, exceeded only by Geostiba THOMSON.That so many species had not been discovered until recently is explained especially by the fact that most of them apparently inhabit the soil of sparsely forested or unforested grass-and shrubland, where they can be collected by sifting the roots of grass and herbs, a habitat rarely studied by previous workers.Since the last contribution to the Turkish Sunius fauna, more material has become available, most of which was collected during two field trips to central southern Turkey in spring 2005, one of them organised by Volker Brachat (Geretsried) and Heinrich Meybohm (Stelle), and the other by Paul Wunderle (Mönchengladbach) and myself.Not surprisingly, the material yielded another three micropterous Sunius species new to science, as well as additional records of S. phasianus (BORDONI) and S. dolabrifer ASSING.The number of species known from Turkey now amounts to 20.

Material
The material examined is deposited in the following collections:

Description:
Small species, 2.8-3.3 mm (abdomen extended).Habitus as in Fig. 1.Forebody uniformly reddish yellow, head not darker than pronotum; abdomen of similar colour as forebody or darker; legs and antennae testaceous.Head weakly oblong, approximately 1.1 times as long as wide (length measured from anterior margin of clypeus; puncturation coarse and well-defined, in central dorsal area sparse, in lateral areas denser; microsculpture absent; eyes small, weakly projecting from lateral outline of head, postocular region in dorsal view approximately 3 times as long as eyes (Fig. 2).Pronotum approximately 0.95 times as wide as head and 1.15 times as long as wide; microsculpture absent; puncturation variable, usually similar to that of head, though somewhat denser.Elytra approximately as wide as and at suture about 0.65-0.70times as long as pronotum; puncturation less well-defined than that of pronotum (Fig. 2); microsculpture indistinct.Hind wings reduced.Abdomen about 1.1 times as wide as elytra, widest at segments VI-VII; puncturation very fine and moderately dense; microsculpture very shallow on tergites III-VI, somewhat more distinct on posterior tergites; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.: sternite VII not distinctly modified (Fig. 8); sternite VIII unmodified, except for the posterior incision; aedeagus of similar general morphology as in the species of the S. tuberiventris group, internal sac with a series of relatively short sclerotised spines (Figs.3-7).

Etymology:
The name (Lat., adj.: with short spines) refers to the shape of the spines in the internal sac of the aedeagus, which distinguishes this species from other highly similar congeners.

Comment:
The internal structures in the aedeagus of the single male collected in the locality southwest of Türkoğlu (19.IV.2005) are slightly longer than those in the males from the other localities.This difference is here attributed to intraspecific variation.

Comparative notes and phylogenetics:
Sunius brevispinosus belongs to a species group which, in the Eastern Mediterranean, comprises S. amanensis ASSING from the southern Nur Dağları (Antakya), S. hypogaeus (FAUVEL) from Israel, S. renouardi (COIFFAIT) from Lebanon, and the two following new species.This species group is characterised by small body size, reduced pigmentation (coloration yellowish to reddish yellow), small eyes, reduced hind wings, a male sternite VII without conspicuous modifications, an unmodified male sternite VIII (except posterior incision), and by the synapomorphic presence of a row of sclerotised spines in the internal sac of the aedeagus.From the other species of this species group, S. brevispinosus is reliably separated only by the distinctive shape of the spines in the aedeagus.In S. amanensis and the two following new species, these spines are longer, more numerous, and, except for S. amanensis, more strongly bent.The aedeagus of S. amanensis is figured by ASSING (2005b), those of S. renouardi and S. hypogaeus by COIFFAIT (1984).

Distribution and bionomics:
The type localities are situated in the area to the southwest of Kahramanmaraş, central southern Anatolia.The types were collected by sifting the roots of grass and herbs in the shade of shrubs and trees on slopes with oak and juniper at altitudes of 560-850 m.The locality near Hopurlu is shown in Fig. 14.  28.4.2004, leg. Brachat & Meybohm (cAss).

Description:
External characters as in S. brevispinosus.: sternite VII similar to that of S. brevispinosus, with very weakly concave posterior margin, pubescence weakly modified (Fig. 12); sternite VIII without conspicuous modifications (Fig. 13); aedeagus with row of long and apically curved sclerotised spines in internal sac .

Etymology:
The name (Lat., adj.: with long spines) refers to the shape of the spines in the internal sac of the aedeagus.

Comparative notes and systematics:
Sunius longispinosus is distinguished from S. brevispinosus by the longer, more numerous, and apically more strongly curved sclerotised spines in the internal sac and by the slightly more slender apical part (lateral view!) of the ventral process of the aedeagus.For more details see the comparative notes below S. brevispinosus.

Distribution and bionomics:
The restricted distributions of the closely related congeners suggest that S. longispinosus may be locally endemic in the area to the west of Kahramanmaraş.The types were sifted from leaf litter and grass roots between rocks (BRACHAT, pers.comm.) at altitudes of 1250-1500 m.