El relicto glacial Leistus (Pogonophorus) puncticeps Fairmaire & Laboulbène, 1854 (Coleoptera, Carabidae): nuevos datos sobre distribución, autoecología y presencia en el Medio Subterráneo Superficial (MSS)

Over the last three decades, intensive sampling of the MSS in the Iberian Peninsula has revealed new records of Leistus (Pogonophorus) puncticeps Fairmaire & Laboulbene, 1854 in previously unknown areas. These new records extend the species geographic range towards southern Mediterranean localities, showing a discontinu­ous distribution pattern across the eastern third of the Iberian Peninsula. Also, some slight variability in the shape of the apical lamina of the edeago is revealed. Abrupt landscape, especially in stony slopes, arises as a favorable habitat for the species. In general, the new localities for L. (P.) puncticeps have low and torrential precipitation, an average rainfall of around 600-700 mm, and remarkable thermal amplitude. The species is collected for the first time in the Mesovoid Sallow Substratum (MSS) using subterranean sampling devices (SSD). The pres­ence of this species in this hypogean habitat across several iberian areas (Sierra del Moncayo, mountains of the north of Alicante province and Sierra de Maria) indicates its (sub)troglophile condition. The new records, in addition to previously available data, suggest the same evolutionary history for L. (P.) puncticeps as for Leistus (Pogonophorus) montanus Stephens, 1827 and Leistus (Pogonophorus) parvicollis Chaudoir, 1869, being the three species glacial relicts as a result of vicariant speciation. The environmental changes that occurred during the postglacial time period could explain the discontinuous distribution that L. (P.) puncticeps shows at present and its tendency to occupy the MSS.