Operclipygus elongatus, Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2013

Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2013, A systematic revision of Operclipygus Marseul (Coleoptera, Histeridae, Exosternini), ZooKeys 271, pp. 1-401 : 333-336

Operclipygus elongatus sp. n. Figs 92 A–B93A–B, E, GMap 32

Type locality.

COSTA RICA: Alajuela: Peñas Blancas [10°04'N, 84°37'W].

Type material.

Holotype male: "COSTA RICA:Alajuela, Peñas Blancas, 1190m 20 May 1989, J. Ashe, R. Leschen, R. Brooks, ex. flight intercept trap" / "Snow Entomol. Mus. Costa Rica Exped. #273" / "Caterino/Tishechkin Exosternini Voucher EXO-00286" (SEMC).

Diagnostic description.

Length: 1.90 mm, width: 1.31 mm; body rufescent, elongate, nearly parallel-sided; frons weakly depressed in middle, with ground punc tation conspicuous; sides of frontal stria divergent between eyes, interrupted over antennal bases, sinuate across front; supraorbital stria connected to frontal stria at sides, but interrupted at middle, ends curved slightly forward; epistoma convex, with slightly denser punctation than frons; labrum about twice as wide as long, outer margin sinuate, weakly projecting at middle; left mandible with incisor bluntly produced, but not toothed, right mandible with acute basal tooth; pronotal disk with prescutellar puncture in middle of weak depression, with fine ground punctation, with numerous (>30) coarser punctures at sides; lateral marginal stria interrupted for width of head, central portion of anterior margin weakly produced; lateral submarginal stria complete, curved inward anteriorly nearly to anterior submarginal stria, which is weakly crenulate, narrowly obliquely recurved at sides; median pronotal gland openings situated between free ends of submarginal striae, about 4 puncture widths from anterior margin; elytron with single epipleural stria, outer subhumeral stria present in apical half, inner subhumeral absent, striae 1-4 complete, 5th stria present in apical two-thirds and with basal point, sutural stria nearly complete, barely abbreviated at base; prosternal keel weakly produced at base, carinal striae complete, subparallel, connected anteriorly and posteriorly; prosternal lobe narrow, marginal stria complete; mesoventrite shallowly emarginate in front, marginal stria complete; mesometaventral stria arched forward to middle of mesoventrite, sinuate near mesocoxa, continued by lateral metaventral stria posterolaterad toward middle of metacoxa; postmesocoxal stria recurved to mesepimeron; short fragment of secondary lateral metaventral stria present behind mesocoxa; 1st abdominal ventrite with inner lateral stria complete, outer obsolete in posterior half; propygidium uniformly covered with medium sized, shallow punctures, separated by about one-half their widths, ground punctation fine and sparse; pygidium with denser ground punctation, with slightly larger punctures sparsely interspersed; marginal pygidial sulcus complete, deep, faintly crenulate, slightly removed from margin, with flat marginal bead about one-eighth total pygidial length. Male genitalia (Figs 93 A–B, E, G): accessory sclerites present; T8 with sides evenly convergent, apical emargination narrow, basal emargination deep, broad, its apex tangential to basal membrane attachment line, ventrolateral apodemes most strongly developed basally, not meeting at midline; S8 with sides slightly divergent, with apical guides widening to apex, bluntly rounded apically with inner lobe, ventrally with halves weakly diverging to near apex; T9 with apices weakly convergent, subacute; T10 with halves separated; S9 with stem narrowest at middle, strongly widened to truncate base, apex with triangular median emargination, with apical flanges separate and weak; tegmen with sides straight, slightly widening from base to apex, then narrowed in apical fourth to subacute apex, with narrow ‘U’ -shaped medioventral process projecting beneath about one-third from base; tegmen weakly curved ventrad toward apex; basal piece nearly one-half tegmen length; median lobe about one-third tegmen length, with proximal apodemes separate.

Remarks.

The elongate body shape (Fig. 92A) and unusually interrupted supraorbital striae will help to identify Operclipygus elongatus . The departure of the pygidial sulcus from the margin (Fig. 92B) is somewhat similar to the condition in Operclipygus latipygus , and this may be indicative of a relationship between them. However, they are easily distinguished by other characters.

Etymology.

This species’ name refers to its body shape, which is more markedly elongate than most Operclipygus .