Oedichirus clavolateralis, Herman, 2013

Herman, Lee H., 2013, Revision Of The New World Species Of Oedichirus (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae: Pinophilini: Procirrina), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2013 (375), pp. 1-137 : 60-64

Oedichirus clavolateralis , new species

Figures 40 , 89–95

TYPE MATERIAL: Holotype: Male. ‘‘Type/[upper side] Rio de Janeiro [underside] Squire/S.America Brazil /Sharp Coll. 1905-313./ Oedichirus janeiroensis Bh. typ M.Bernhauer det./Manuscript name/ Holotype Oedichirus clavolateralis Herman. ’’ Deposited in the Museum of Natural History, London. (Left antennomeres 3–11 are missing.)

TYPE LOCALITY: Brazil: Rio de Janeiro: Rio de Janeiro (The type label includes the word ‘‘Squire,’’ which may be the name of the collector and not the locality.)

DIAGNOSIS: O. clavolateralis is one of four species that comprise a complex of species whose males have an emargination of sternum VIII that is short, wide, and asymmetrical (fig. 94) and the aedeagus has a stout, tapered, curved apicoventral process extending from the right apical side of the ventral sclerite (fig. 90). Oedichirus clavolateralis is separated from the three other species of the complex, O. clavulus , O. exilis , and O. geniculatus , by the characters of the aedeagus as follows. Unlike the other three species, O. clavolateralis has a lobe on the left side of the posterior margin of the ventral sclerite (fig. 90) and to the right and dorsad of the strongly flattened apicoventral process is a short knob extending laterally (figs. 89, 93). The female is unknown, but potentially conspecific females are illustrated and discussed in the male/female association comments below; the illustrations and specimens are labeled as ‘‘ O. clavolateralis ?’’

DESCRIPTION: Length: 9.8 mm. Length of head: 0.9 mm. Width of head: 1.3 mm. Pronotal length: 1.5 mm. Pronotal width: 1.2 mm. Elytral length: 1.2 mm. Elytral width: 1.3 mm.

Body black with dark reddish brown infusions. Legs bicolored, yellowish brown with dark reddish-brown femorotibial joint maculation.

Head about two fifths wider than long (HW/HL 5 1.4). Frontoclypeal ridge strongly curved, incomplete with medial ends widely separated. Dorsal surface without V-shaped depression; surface with coarse punctation; punctation dense across middle and more sparse anteriorly and posteriorly; basal region largely impunctate. Labrum quadridentate; surface without tubercle near submedial denticle.

Pronotum about a fifth longer than wide (PL/PW 5 1.2). Pronotum polished, with coarse, dense punctation and with scattered moderately large impunctate spots; surface with deep, submedial, punctate groove on basal two thirds. Elytra with length and width equal (EW/EL 5 1.0); surface flat medially and coarsely punctate.

Abdominal terga III to V densely punctate and without transverse rows of punctures; punctation of VI coarse basally and finer apically; punctation of tergum VII finer and less dense. Segment III without paratergite; paratergal carina present and extending slightly beyond spiracle. Tergum III without median point extending from transverse basal ridge. Tergum VIII with posterior margin slightly rounded; transverse basal ridge with apically open median point. Tergum IX with lateroapical process more than twice as long as midbasal length (LLaP/L9 5 2.8), moderately bent ventrally, and diverging moderately from other process; ventromedial margin without posteriorly directed spur (cf. fig. 158).

MALE: Sterna VI and VII unmodified. Sternum VIII with wide, moderately deep, asymmetrical emargination of posterior margin (fig. 94); emargination about one seventh of length of sternum, wider than deep, with base slightly and posteriorly convex (fig. 94); emargination mostly to left of midlongitudinal line; left margin of emargination shorter and more steeply sloped than right (fig. 94); surface adjacent to margin of emargination translucent and beveled and with row of setae along edge of bevel; median surface broadly and slightly depressed; long pubescence more or less evenly distributed; surface laterad of emargination with dense cluster of short, spinelike setae; transverse basal ridge without median point and irregularly and coarsely serrate. Tergum IX with anteroventral angle extended anteriorly as moderately large process. Sternum IX (fig. 95) moderately asymmetrical; anterior margin narrow and strongly rounded; posterior margin broadly and shallowly rounded; lateral margins broadly rounded.

Aedeagus asymmetrical (figs. 89–91). Ventral sclerite with rounded lobe on apical margin to left of large, flattened, curved, strongly sclerotized apicoventral process extending from right lateroapical margin (fig. 90); apicoventral process broad (fig. 92) and strongly tapered to narrowly rounded apex (fig. 90); apex anterodorsally directed; apically rounded knob extending laterally from right base of apicoventral process (figs. 89, 93). Parameres moderately broad basally, flattened, tapered, and slender apically, fused to median lobe for most of length, and free of median lobe near apex; left paramere laying against lateral and ventral surfaces (figs. 90–92), right paramere against lateral surface (fig. 89); parameres of approximately equal length.

FEMALE: Unknown.

ETYMOLOGY: The name is from the Latin clavus, ‘‘nail,’’ and latus, ‘‘flank,’’ and refers to the laterally directed knob or peg on the right lateral side of the ventral sclerite.

MATERIAL EXAMINED: Holotype male and three possibly conspecific females from the type locality (see below for comments).

DISTRIBUTION: Known only from Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil (fig. 40).

MALE/FEMALE ASSOCIATION: A species of the O. geniculatus complex, O. clavolateralis , one of three of the complex reported from Rio de Janeiro city, is represented by one male. The holotype has a small, green, oval label with the word ‘‘Squire.’’ Three females have a similar label with ‘‘Squires’’ in place of Squire. Since no locality was found in Brazil with either of these names, Squire(s) likely refers to a person, perhaps the collector. All of the labels are in similar handwriting. The labels on none of the specimens included a date of collection, so it is not known whether the females and male were collected together at the same time, and the locality ‘‘Rio de Janeiro’’ is too ambiguous to be certain the males and females were collected at the same site. There are no morphological characters unique to the species and shared by the holotype male with any of the three females nor do any contradict their conspecificity. However, as they are potentially specimens of O. clavolateralis , illustrations and description of the vulvar plate of two of the three females are included (figs. 96, 97) and the specimens are labeled ‘‘ O. clavolateralis ?.’’

FEMALE: Tergum IX with anteroventral angles separated from each other (fig. 96). Median gonocoxal plate anteriad of vulvar plate triangular and anterior margin subacute medially then sloping lateroposteriorly; gonocoxal plate posteriad of vulvar plate gradually tapered to broadly rounded posterior margin. Vulvar plate embedded in anterior half of median gonocoxal plate (figs. 96, 97). Anterior vulvar lobe curved around anterior margin of posterior vulvar lobe; anterior lobe wider and shorter than posterior vulvar lobe; surface membranous and with a long, curved, irregular wrinkle across most of width and without other adornment. Posterior vulvar lobe wider than long; surface covered with cobble. Vulva with orientation approximately aligned with longitudinal axis.

Figures

Figs. 39–40. Oedichirus species. Distribution. 39. Mesoamerica and the Caribbean. 40. South America. (Species described prior to present work preceded with *. Symbols ³ or ♀ signify species known only by the sex indicated. Open circle denotes multiple collecting sites.)

Figs. 89–95. Oedichirus clavolateralis. 89. Aedeagus, right lateral. 90. Aedeagus, ventral. 91. Aedeagus, left lateral. 92. Aedeagus, apex, posterior. 93. Aedeagus, lateroventral, posterior third. 94. Sternum VIII, male. 95. Sternum IX, male.