Amauronyx askifouicus Assing & Brachat & Meybohm 2019, spec. nov.

Amauronyx askifouicus BRACHAT spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 7CE4D2AD-8F1E-408A-9112-5301AC6CC6AE

(Fig.158)

Type material: Holotype ♂: “GR – Crete [41], Askifou → Asigonia, 35°14'14"N, 24°14'11"E, 740 m, soil washing, 23.III.2018, V. Assing / Amauronyx askifouicus spec. nov. ♂, det. Brachat 2.2019 / Holotypus” (cBra). Paratypes: 1 ♂, 3 ♀♀: same data as holotype (cBra).

Etymology: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from the name of the plateau where the type locality is situated.

Description: External characters as in A. occidens; distinguished only by the male sexual characters:

♂: pro- and mesotrochanter with fine, metatrochanter with short oblong carina; aedeagus 0.30 mm long; internal sac with a broad, flat, and laterally triangular sclerite and with a long and slender angled structure; parameres apically with four setae.

Comparative notes: Amauronyx askifouicus is distinguished from other Cretan representatives of the genus by the distinctive modifications of the male trochanters and by the internal structures of the aedeagus.

Distribution and natural history: This species is probably locally endemic to the environs of the type locality in West Crete. The specimens were found by washing soil from a rocky north slope with old Quercus ilex at an altitude of 740 m.