Omophron piceopictum, WRASE, 2002

Valainis, Uldis, 2010, A review of genus Omophron Latreille, 1802 (Coleoptera: Carabidae) Palearctic fauna and distribution, Baltic Journal of Coleopterology 10 (2), pp. 105-128 : 116

OMOPHRON PICEOPICTUM WRASE, 2002

Description: lenght: 4.5 – 5.7 mm; width: 2.8-3.5 mm. Color: Dark redish piceous (without a green metalic tinge) colour, shiny. Sternum and first abdominal sternites piceous, last sternite rather lighter. Clypeus redish brown and labrum testaceous with greenish golden tinge. Palpi, antennae, legs, side margins of prothorax and elytra testaceous (the last two mostly with a greenish golden tinge.

Head fairy flat, coarsely punctate laterally and posteriorly, more sparsely on middle of frons, the punctures sometimes longitudinally confluent, sides distinctly bordered, the border somewhat dilated and reflexed.

Pronotum very transverse, moderately convex, sides evenly rounded at about middle and faintly sinuate or straight before the right or somewhat acuate hind angles. Base bisinuate on each side. Puncturation rather coarse and not very close, somewhat irregular, with some small impuctate areas. Reflaxed margin wide and smooth. Median line obsolete.

Elytra short-oval, moderately convex, base underbordered, sides hardly widened behind shoulders, lateral contour in dorsal view is hardly broken at junction of pronotum and elytra, with reflexed border, near base only a little narrower than that of pronotum, then becoming much narrower posteriorly. The elytral pattern is as presented in Fig. 2.6.

Comparisons: The O. piceopictum belongs to the group of species with the elytral striae evenescent laterally or posteriorly (with exception of last outer stria) and here to a subgroup of species with 15 striae on elytra and striae 1 – 14 evenescent toward apex: O. oberthueri Gestr. and O. chelys Andrew .. O. oberthueri is smaller, without microsculpture, the 14 th elytral striae disappears at one fifth from the base. O. chelys the first segment of the male protarsi is in the form of an enormous oblong plate, practically as long as 2-5 together, and twice as wide as the tibia. Beside this diferences in comparison to O. piceopictum the species mentioned here have a different elytral pattern and a different median lobe.

Distribution: PAR: CH: SCH

Processed material: China, W Sichuan (Ya’an Pref., Baoxing Co.) Jiajin Shan , riv vall., 3 km S Qiaogi, 78 km NNW Ya’an, 30 o 40 N / 102 o 45 E, 1900 m (riv. bank), 11.07.1999 (1, Wrase D. W. Leg.) (Paratypus) (ZIN) .

Type locality: China, W. Sichuan ( Ya’an Pref., Baoxing Co.) Jiajin Shan , riv. vail. 3 km S Qiaoqi, 78 km NNW Ya’an, 30°40N / 102°45E, 1950 m (holotype is deposited in Wrase privat collection, Berlin, Germany).

References: Wrase, 2002