On the Iberian endemic subgenus Lathromene Koch (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae Paederinae): description of the first hypogean Domene Fauvel, 1872 from Portugal
Author
Reboleira, A. S. P. S.
CESAM - Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar & Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810 - Aveiro, Portugal & Departamento de Biología Animal, Universidad de La Laguna, 38206 La Laguna, Spain. E-mail: poromi @ ull. es
sreboleira@ua.pt
Author
Gonçalves, F.
CESAM - Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar & Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810 - Aveiro, Portugal
Author
Oromí, P.
Departamento de Biología Animal, Universidad de La Laguna, 38206 La Laguna, Spain. E-mail: poromi @ ull. es
text
Zootaxa
2011
2011-03-01
2780
1
48
56
https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.2780.1.5
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.2780.1.5
1175-5326
5290601
18EE66C7-3E0D-4032-9EF1-41E987F3E490
The subgenus
Lathromene
Koch
With the discovery of
Domene lusitanica
n. sp.
the number of species of
Lathromene
rises to nine, all with subterranean lifestyles and corresponding morpho-physiological adaptations (
Coiffait 1982
; Feldmand & Hernando 2005;
Outerelo
et al.
2000
;
Salgado & Outerelo 1991
). All these species are found in the northwest part of the Iberian Peninsula and are easily recognized by the development of the aedeagus ventral blade (see key for details). Two morpho-ecological adaptive main tendencies are observed within the subterranean species, and as it would be expected the hypogean species are generally bigger and the endogean smaller (
Table 1
). The boundary between subterranean and surface dwelling is sometimes difficult to define (
Culver & Pipan 2009
), this is the main reason why some species found under buried stones have formerly been considered as epigean species. The clear troglobiomorphism present in all
Lathromene
species (e.g., reduced eyes, body elongation) and their restricted distributions lead us to consider them as a subterranean, Iberian endemic subgenus of
Domene
.