Mocyta breviuscula ( Maeklin )

Klimaszewski, Jan, Webster, Reginald P., Bourdon, Caroline, Pelletier, Georges, Godin, Benoit & Langor, David W., 2015, Review of Canadian species of the genus Mocyta Mulsant & Rey (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae), with the description of a new species and a new synonymy, ZooKeys 487, pp. 111-139 : 118-119

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Staphylinidae

2. Mocyta breviuscula ( Maeklin) Figs 4 a–h

Homalota breviuscula Mäklin in Mannerheim, 1852: 309; Lohse and Smetana 1985: 285, 292 (as Atheta subgenus Mocyta , redescription based on type); Klimaszewski et al. 2011: 107, 218, 246; Gusarov 2003: 100-102. LECTOTYPE (male): UNITED STATES, Alaska, Sitka (Sitcha); Lectotype, Lohse designation 1983 (ZMH). An extensive list of synonymies for Mocyta breviuscula is provided by Gusarov 2003: 101.

Acrotona prudens Casey 1910: 149; synonymized by Lohse and Smetana 1985: 293. Type localities: British Columbia, Queen Charlotte Islands and Metlakatla ( Casey 1910: 149). LECTOTYPE (female): 2 CI [Queen Charlotte Islands], Type USNM 38985 (USNM), present designation.

Diagnosis.

Body narrowly oval (Fig. 4a), length 2.4-3.0 mm; body uniformly dark brown to almost black and often with reddish tinge, appendages yellowish to reddish-brown; antennal articles I-IV elongate and V-X subquadrate; pronotum transverse, arcuate laterally and arcuate basally; elytra transverse and nearly as long as pronotum; abdomen broadly arcuate laterally. MALE: Median lobe of aedeagus as illustrated (Figs 4b, c); tergite VIII truncate apically (Fig. 4d); sternite VIII slightly produced apically with broad space between base of the disc and antecostal suture, the suture more or less sinuate (Fig. 4e). FEMALE: spermatheca with capsule pitcher-shaped and flat apically with elongate apical invagination, stem broadly coiled posteriorly (Fig. 4f); tergite and sternite VIII truncate apically (Figs 4g, h).

The combination of uniform body colour, elytra no longer than pronotum, distinct shape of spermatheca with deep capsular invagination, and shape of male sternite VIII with broad space between base of disc and antecostal suture, can distinguish Mocyta breviuscula from the remaining Nearctic congeners.

Distribution.

Mocyta breviuscula is a native Canadian species distributed transcontinentally in northern Canada, and it was also reported from Alaska, California and Nevada ( Lohse and Smetana 1985, Lohse et al. 1990, Gusarov 2003, Webster et al. 2009, Klimaszewski et al. 2005, 2007b, 2008, 2011, Majka and Klimaszewski 2008, Brunke et al. 2012). We include new records of this species from Saskatchewan and Oregon (see below for new distribution localities).

Natural history.

In Newfoundland, adults were frequently caught in pitfall traps in various forest types (birch, spruce-lichen, spruce-poplar, fir), in vegetation on coastal sand dunes, on shrubby limestone barrens and in disturbed fields amongst grass and weeds ( Klimaszewski et al. 2011). The activity period is June to September. Adults were captured in pitfall traps from June to August in yellow birch/balsam fir forest in southern Quebec and in sphagnun and litter in an eastern white cedar swamp in New Brunswick ( Klimaszewski et al. 2005, 2007b, Webster et al. 2009).

New jurisdictional records.

CANADA: Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, 28.IX.1976, E.J. Kiteley (CNC) 1 male.

UNITED STATES: Oregon, Grant Co., Strawberry Range, Strawberry Lake, 1920 m, 1.VI.1989, A. Smetana, NA21(CNC)3 males, 1 female.