Cyrtotyphlus samothracicus Assing, 2019, sp.n.

Cyrtotyphlus samothracicus ASSING nov.sp. (Figs 9-14, 34)

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype ♂: "GR – Samothraki [34], ESE Ano Meria, 40°27'41''N, 25°41'25''E, 30 m, soil washing, 14.IV.2019, V. Assing / Holotypus ♂ Cyrtotyphlus samothracicus sp.n. det. V. Assing 2019" (cAss). Paratypes: 1♀: same data as holotype (cAss); 1♂, 1♀: "GR – Samothraki [21], Therma, 40°29'49''N, 25°36'31''E, 30 m, soil washing near stream, 10.IV.2019, V. Assing " (cAss); 1♀: "GR – Samothraki [30], S Ano Meria, 40°26'54''N, 25°40'07''E, 230 m, soil washing, 13.IV.2019, V. Assing " (cAss); 1♀: "GR – Samothraki [35], Therma, 40°29'32''N, 25°36'45''E, 60 m, Platanus forest, soil wash., 14.IV.2019, V. Assing " (cAss).

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from Samothrace, one of the synonyms of Samothraki.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 1.2-1.4 mm; length of forebody approximately 0.5 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 9. Reliably distinguished from other species only by the male sexual characters.

♂: sternite VIII (Fig. 10) transverse, slightly asymmetric; across middle and near posterior margin with pubescence, otherwise without pubescence, posterior margin with median projection; aedeagus (Figs 11-14) 0.20-0.21 mm long; ventral process deeply bifid, both halves of different shapes and different lengths.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: The genus Cyrtotyphlus DODERO, 1900 previously included five species, one from the West Alps and northern Apennines, one in the Apennines, one in the southeastern Alps, one in Montenegro, and one in northeastern Greece (COIFFAIT 1972, SCHÜLKE & SMETANA 2015). The original description of the species from Thrace in Greece, C. thracicus COIFFAIT, 1957, in based on an unspecified number of females ("Mâle inconnu") from "Thrace grecque: Sapé" (COIFFAIT 1957),

today Sapes (41°01'N, 25°42'E), i.e., the region in the Greek mainland to the north of Samothraki. Since Leptotyphlinae species are reliably identified only based on the male sexual characters, an interpretation of C. thracicus will only be possible when males from the vicinity of the type locality are available. However, according to the original description of C. thracicus, this species is 1.6 mm long and thus of greater size than C. samothracicus. Aside from this morphological difference, it appears rather unlikely that an endogean species from Samothraki should be conspecific with a species from the mainland.

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d n a t u r a l h i s t o r y: The new species, most likely and endemic of Samothraki, was found in four localities in the north of the island. The specimens were washed from soil taken in stream valleys with old Platanus orientalis at altitudes of 30- 230 m. One of the localities is illustrated in Fig. 34.