Oedichirus mutilus, Rougemont, 2018

Rougemont, Guillaume de, 2018, New oriental Oedichirus (Staphylinidae, Paederinae, Pinophilini), Linzer biologische Beiträge 50 (1), pp. 461-536 : 491-492

Oedichirus mutilus nov.sp.

(Figs 35)

Material studied: ♂ Holotype: Philippines Palawan: above St Rafael, forest edge, 4.xii.1996, I. Löbl, leaf litter #13 / HOLOTYPE: Oedichirus mutilus des. 2015 G. de Rougemont [MHNG].

Description: length: ca. 7 mm; length of fore-body: 2.6; length of head: 0.7; breadth of head: 0.82; length of antenna: 1.45; length of pronotum: 1; breadth of pronotum: 0.85; length of elytron: 0.75; breadth of elytra: 0.8. Body brown, palpi, antennae and legs uniformly testaceous. Dorsal surfaces devoid of microsculpture except on rows of keels on anterior margins of abdominal tergites. Pubescence rather short, sparse, pale, erect or semi-erect. Habitus: Fig. 35h.

Head strongly transverse; eyes large and prominent; anterior margin of frons with a slight median indentation; post-ocular carina salient, forming a dentiform angle well behind posterior margin of eye; puncturation sparse and fine, consisting of about a dozen small punctures on frons and anterior part of vertex, a few small ocular punctures, a pair of close-set large punctures flanked by a pair of small punctures near base, and small punctures in post-ocular groove. Pronotum broad, the sides strongly and slightly concavely retracted to base; lateral margins without evident border; disc with a pair of anteriorly convergent discal series of five punctures each preceded by four punctures disposed in a chevron pattern, a lateral series of two large punctures, and small punctures along anterior and lateral margins. Micropterous, elytra short and broad, the humeral angles completely obsolete; puncturation coarse, dense near suture, sparser on sides. Keels on anterior margins of abdominal tergites long, punctures of tergites arranged in four discrete transverse rows, the punctures of first row small and round and close to but clearly separate from keels, those of following rows larger.

Male: Abdominal sternite VII unmodified; sternite VIII: Fig. 35s8, the surface before posterior margin with a single oblique dentiform carina; aedoeagus (median lobe damaged): Fig. 35arl, the ventral plate with a pair of anterior processes, the right one slender, the left broad and curved, left paramere short and curved.

O. mutilus nov.sp., O. palawanensis nov.sp., O. philippinus nov.sp. and Oedichirus . sp. P1 are the first members of the genus recorded from the Philippine Republic. It is a smaller species than O. palawanensis and O. philippinus , about as long as Oedichirus sp. P1, but of a more slender build, with smaller and more coarsely punctate elytra.