Nazeris ammonita

Nazeris ammonita (SAULCY, 1865) (Figs 16-20) M a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d: Lebanon: 1♀, Rayfoun, 33°58'N, 35°42'E, 990 m, mixed oak forest, pitfall trap, IV.2015, leg. Reuter (cFel); 2♀♀, same data, but V.2015 (cFel); 2♀♀, same data, but IV.2016 (cFel); 13, same data, but XI.2013 (cAss). C o m m e n t: Nazeris ammonita is distributed in the Middle East from the Turkish province Osmaniye in the north to Israel and Jordan in the south (ASSING 2001, 2009, 2014a). The above material from Lebanon is characterized by rather large body size, rather uniform dark-brown to blackish-brown coloration of the body, and a large aedeagus (Figs 16-17) distinguished from that of populations from Israel not only by size, but also by slight differences in the shape of the ventral process in lateral and in ventral view (Figs. 18-19). In order to interpret these character conditions 50 males from Israel, Lebanon, and the Turkish provinces Hatay and Osmaniye were dissected and measured. This study revealed an enormous variability not only of coloration and size, but also of head shape, shape of the pronotum (see ratios HL/HW, PW/HW, and PL/PW below), as well as of the size of the aedeagus and the shape of the ventral process. Material from Israel is generally smaller and of paler coloration than specimens from Lebanon. However, these character conditions are variable even within populations and largely overlap, and I have been unable to detect character combinations discretely subdividing the material into two fractions. The size of the aedeagus distinctly correlates with body size and does not provide any evidence either, suggesting that more than one species should be present in the region (Fig. 20). In consequence, the observed differences are interpreted as intra- rather than interspecific variation. Like all its extant congeners, N. ammonita is a flightless species and consequently has little dispersal power. Suitable habitats (forests, shrubland, and grassland have had a patchy distribution particularly in the south of the range of N. ammonita at least since the pleistocene. Isolated gene pools and reduced gene flow across much of the distribution of the species would explain the enormous extent of intraspecific variation. Measurements (in mm) and ratios (range, arithmetic mean; n = 50 33): HL: 0.72-0.86, 0.79; HW: 0.66-0.80, 0.73; PL: 0.68-0.88, 0.78; PW: 0.59-0.74, 0.67; AL: 0.54-0.76, 0.62; rAL: 0.32-0.41, 0.36; HL/HW: 1.03-1.13, 1.08; PW/HW: 0.89-0.96, 0.92; PL/PW: 1.10-1.22, 1.17.Published as part of Assing, Volker, 2017, A revision of Nazeris IX. Three new species from Nepal and additional records (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), pp. 307-315 in Linzer biologische Beiträge 49 (1) on pages 314-315, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.535695