Oedichirus schuelkei, Assing, 2014

Assing, V., 2014, On the Oedichirus fauna of China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 46 (2), pp. 1229-1240 : 1236-1237

Oedichirus schuelkei nov.sp. ( Figs 9-10 , 13-20 , Map 1 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype: " CHINA: N-Yunnan [C03-19A], Dali Bai Nat. Aut. Pref., Diancang Shan, 3 km W Dali old town, pine forest at "Cloud Road", right upper chairlift station, 25°41.1'N, 100°06.8'E, 2650-2750 m, / [C03-19A] pine needles, moss (dry) in ditches, 30.VIII.2003, leg. M. Schülke / Holotypus Oedichirus schuelkei sp.n. det. V. Assing 2014" (cAss) . Paratypes: 1: same data as holotype (cSch) ; 1: " CHINA (N-Yunnan) Dali Bai Nat. Aut. Pref., Diancang Shan, 5 km SSW Dali old town, creek valley above cablecar, 2800 m, 25°38.7'N, 100°08.3'E (shrubs, bamboo, moss, old flood debries [sic]), 26.VIII.2003 Wrase [15]" (cSch) .

E t y m o l o g y: This species is dedicated to Michael Schülke, who collected most of the type material of this and the following species.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Moderately large species; body length 9.0-10.0 mm; length of forebody 3.8-4.2 mm. Coloration: body uniformly black; legs, antennae, and maxillary palpi pale-yellowish.

Head ( Fig. 13 ) strongly transverse, 1.25-1.35 times as broad as long, broadest across eyes; lateral contours behind eyes converging in nearly straight line, posterior angles obsolete; dorsal surface with sparse and coarse punctures, postero-median area and frons impunctate; median dorsal portion only with few punctures. Eyes strongly convex, slightly longer than distance from posterior margin of eye to posterior constriction. Antenna 2.4-2.9 mm long and shaped as in Fig. 14 .

Pronotum ( Fig. 13 ) 1.12-1.14 times as long as broad and approximately 1.05 times as broad as head, widest anteriorly and distinctly tapering posteriorly; punctation coarse, moderately dense, irregularly distributed or partly arranged in indistinct series on either side of midline; midline and oblong lateral areas impunctate.

Elytra ( Fig. 13 ) short, approximately 0.60 times as long as pronotum, depressed, and with distinctly convex lateral contours; humeral angles completely obsolete; punctation coarse and moderately dense to dense. Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen ( Fig. 15 ) slightly broader than elytra; punctation not arranged in transverse rows, coarse, dense, and defined on tergites III-VI, sparser and less deep on tergites VII- VIII; anterior impressions of tergites III-VI without longitudinal keels; near anterior margins of tergites III-VII narrowly with pronounced reticulate microsculpture, remain- der of tergal surfaces with very shallow and fine microsculpture composed of transverse striae; microsculpture of tergite VIII composed of distinct isodiametric meshes; posterior margin of tergite VII with narrow rudiment of a palisade fringe.

: sternite VII ( Figs 16-17 ) with an approximately square-shaped impression in posteromedian portion, this impression sparsely and finely punctate and laterally delimited by a pronounced fold on either side, posterior margin weakly concave in the middle; sternite VIII ( Figs 18-19 ) strongly impressed and without setae in posterior portion, anteriorly with a pair of structures shaped like oblique scrapers, and with a rather large, slightly asymmetric posterior excision; tergite IX as in Fig. 20 ; aedeagus ( Figs 9-10 ) 1.65 mm long; ventral process apically concave and with two short lateral process in ventral view, subapically with a process divided into two blades of different shapes; parameres apically curved, moderately long, of different lengths, right paramere (ventral view) longer than left paramere; dorsal plate sclerotized, flat, and apically narrowed in dorsal view.

: posterior margin of sternite VIII truncate.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Oedichirus schuelkei is readily distinguished from other previously described congeners recorded from China by the uniformly black body alone. For characters distingushing it from the similar O. abbreviatus see the compara- tive notes in the following section. In the key by CAMERON (1931), O. schuelkei would key out at couplet 7 together with O. niger and O. minor . The new species is readily distinguished from the former by distinctly shorter elytra and from the latter by much larger size alone.

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: Thespecimenswerecollected in two localities near Dali, West Yunnan ( Map 1 ), by sifting litter, debris, and moss in a pine forest and in a stream valley at altitudes between 2650 and 2800 m.

Figures

Map 1: Distributions of the micropterous Oedichirus species of China: O. abbreviatus (white circles); O. schuelkei (black circles); O. latexcisus (white star); O. flammeus (black star).

Figs 7-12: Aedeagi of Oedichirus species in lateral and in ventral view: (7-8) Oedichirus latexcisus nov.sp.; (9-10) O. schuelkei nov.sp.; (11-12) O. abbreviatus nov.sp. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.

Figs 13-20: Oedichirus schuelkei nov.sp.: (13) forebody; (14) antenna; (15) abdominal segments III-VI in dorsal view; (16) male sternite VII in ventral view; (17) male sternite VII in lateral view (turned by 90°); (18) male segment VIII in ventral view; (19) male sternite VIII in lateral view; (20) male tergites IX-X. Scale bars: 1.0 mm.