Agaricomorpha websteri Klimaszewski & Brunke, sp. n.

Brunke, Adam J., Klimaszewski, Jan, Dorval, Julie-Anne, Bourdon, Caroline, Paiero, Steven M. & Marshall, Stephen A., 2012, New species and distributional records of Aleocharinae (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) from Ontario, Canada, with a checklist of recorded species, ZooKeys 186, pp. 119-206 : 130-133

Agaricomorpha websteri Klimaszewski & Brunke, sp. n. Figs 24103-105Map 24

Type locality.

Canada, New Brunswick, Queens Co., Cranberry Lake P.N.A., red oak forest, 46.1125°N, 65.6075°W.

Type material.

Holotype(male): CANADA: NB:Queens Co., Cranberry Lake P.N.A., 46.1125°N, 65.6075°W, 25.vi-1.vii.2009, Red oak forest, Lindgren funnel trap, R. Webster & M-A. Giguère (LFC).

Paratypes (5 males, 2 females, 6 sex unknown): CANADA: NB: Carleton Co., near Belleville, 1.3 km E ict. Rt. 540 & Plymouth Rd., 46.1867°N, 67.6817°W, 7-v-2008, R. Webster coll., 1 male (RWC); NS: Cape Breton H.N.P., Lone Shieling, vii.1983, Malaise trap, R. Vockeroth, PG729861, 2 sex? (CNC); ON: Haliburton Co., 10km SE Dorset, 45.16-78.84, vernal pool litter, previously wet, 25-ix-2009, S. Kullik, 1 male (DEBU); Northumberland Co., Peter's Woods PNR, back woods, 44°7'28"N, 78°2'14"W, forest, malaise pans, 19-v to 1-vi-2011, Brunke & Paiero, debu01146638, 1 female (DEBU); QC: Communaute-Urbainé-de-l'Outaouais,Gatineau Pk., near Hull, 28.iv.1974, A. Davies, 1 sex? (CNC); L'Aminate, Ste-Praxède, 6-13.vii.1999, Lindgren trap # 3, 99-3-0461, 2 sex? (LFC), Saint-Jacques-de-Leeds, 46°16'N, 71°23'W, 7.vii-9.vii.1993, Plan Vert '93, Lindgren trap # 1, Dispositif B, Ėrabliėre [=sugar bush], ‘1993– 3-0381', Hébert & Jobin, 1 female (LFC); Rousillon,Ste-Catherine, Port., 29.vi.1961, 5.viii, 9.viii, 26.viii.1961, J-C. Aubé, 3 males, 1 sex? (CNC).

Description.

Body small, compact and oval in outline;length 1.6-1.8 mm; body dark brown with legs, maxillary palpi and 2-3 basal antennomeres yellowish-brown, or body dark brown with pronotum and elytra slightly paler, and appendages and basal part of abdomen yellowish-brown (Fig. 24); forebody with strong meshed microsculpture, punctation coarse, sparse and flatly impressed, pubescence sparse and approximately evenly distributed on forebody; head transverse and produced anteriad, eyes large and longer than postocular area, pubescence directed posteriad and obliquely mediad; ligula narrowly elongate and divided almost to base; antennae slightly incrassate, basal 3 antennomeres elongate, 4 subquadrate, 5-10 increasingly broadening apically, 11 oval and elongate; maxillary palpi with 4 articles, penultimate article expanded apically, and apical article acicular; pronotum strongly transverse, base strongly sinuate, converging apicad, disc with pubescence directed posteriad except for some setae at base directed laterad; elytra at suture distinctly longer than pronotum, pubescence directed straight posteriad; abdomen gradually but weakly tapering apicad, tergites II and III impressed basally, and with elevated punctures.

Male. Tergite VIII transverse, shallowly emarginate medially at the apical margin and with short medio-apical carinate protuberance (Fig. 104); sternite VIII broadly rounded apically (Fig. 105); median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view with large bulbus and U-shaped, narrow tubus with broad and angular swelling subapically; flagellum long, thin, everted and about 3 times as long as tubus (difficult to see in Fig. 103).

Female. Tergite VIII strongly transverse and similar to that of male but lacking median carina; sternite VIII transverse and arcuate apically; spermatheca with spherical capsule and inconspicuous short stem, in general similar to those of Gyrophaena and Eumicrota .

Distribution.

Known from Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Agaricomorpha websteri is probably broadly distributed in northeastern North America, south of the boreal forest zone.

Bionomics.

Little is known about the natural history of this species but all specimens were collected in deciduous forests, mostly by passive, above-ground traps indicating high flight capability. Other species of the genus are found on woody and leathery polypore fungi (Ashe in Newton et al. 2000), which commonly grow on dead or dying standing trees. Interestingly, several individuals were captured by Lindgren funnel traps, which typically attract species associated with this type of coarse woody debris.

Etymology.

This species is dedicated to our colleague Reginald P. Webster of Charters Settlement, New Brunswick, who collected the holotype and whose material has contributed much to the knowledge of Canadian biodiversity.

Comments.

Agaricomorpha websteri is the only known species of the genus in eastern North America. This genus was erected by Ashe (1984) to accommodate Agaricomorpha apacheana (Seevers), which occurs in the southwestern United States and is not related to species of the Palaearctic genus Agaricochara Kraatz where it was originally described ( Ashe 1984). The genus Agaricomorpha is distinctive among the North American Gyrophaenina for its divided ligula (Ashe in Newton et al. 2000) and strongly transverse pronotum with a distinctly sinuate base. Ashe (1984) listed Agaricomorpha 'undescr. sp. 3' as occurring in ‘Canada’ and Agaricomorpha websteri likely represents this taxon.