Oedichirus taghavianae, Rougemont, 2018

Rougemont, Guillaume de, 2018, The genus Oedichirus in New Caledonia (Staphylinidae: Paederinae: Pinophilini), Linzer biologische Beiträge 50 (1), pp. 537-586 : 567-568

Oedichirus taghavianae nov. sp. ( Figs 23)

Material studied: ♀ Holotype: Nouméa, N. CAL., Dr. Chenud ♀ HOLOTYPE Oedichirus taghavianae des. 2017 G. de Rougemont [ MNHN].

Description: length: 6.9 mm; length of fore-body: 2.8; length of head: 0.82; breadth of head: 1.2; length of antenna: 1.7; length of pronotum: 1.17; breadth of pronotum: 0.81; length of elytron: 0.8; breadth of elytra: 1. Body black, frons and abdominal segment VIII rufescent; palpi, antennae and legs pale testaceous. Dorsal surfaces shiny, devoid of microsculpture except on anterior row of keels on each abdominal tergite and on entire tergite VIII. Pronotum and elytra apparently devoid of pubescence; pubescence of abdomen sparse, of moderate length, pale, semi-erect and decumbent. Habitus: Fig. 23h

Head strongly transverse; eyes large, longer than temples; groove of post-ocular border displaced from lateral margin to dorsal surface of head; temples slightly rounded, not coarctate with but at an angle from base at level of neck; puncturation irregular, obsolete on frons, composed of dense, large umbilicate punctures on vertex and sparser, smaller simple punctures near base. Pronotum moderately elongate, the sides briefly dilated from neck to widest point and then evenly rounded to base; lateral margins entirely bordered; punctures fairly large, simple, mostly somewhat elongate, irregular, densest on either side of mid-line, the interstices elsewhere wider than diameter of punctures. Elytra broad and short, humeral angles completely obsolete; sides dilated from neck to about half their length, almost parallel-sided in posterior half; posterior margin of each elytron almost straight, forming a very shallow angle at suture; punctures about as large as those of pronotum, simple, round, densest near suture, the interstices elsewhere larger than diameter of punctures, puncturation sparser in antero-lateral areas. Keels and grooves of bases of abdominal tergites large and salient; puncturation of rest of tergites homogeneous, coarse and dense on tergites III-VI, finer on VII, becoming obsolescent on VIII.

Female: sternite IX: Fig. 23vp.

O. taghavianae nov.sp. is the only New Caledonian species that matches the description of (the unseen) O. sedilloti FAUVEL, and both specimens were taken in the same locality (Nouméa). However, since FAUVEL regarded O. sedilloti and O. fauvelianus nov.sp. as merely colour vicariants of his species, one may assume that in other respects (proportions and puncturation) the two are identical or very similar, but compared with the type of O. fauvelianus , O. taghavianae differs by its less strongly transverse head and less rounded temples and cluster of large umbilicate punctures on vertex (no cluster, and punctures smaller more evenly distributed on entire disc in fauvelianus), the more rounded sides of pronotum and the sparser puncturation of the latter, with interstices nearly everywhere wider than diameter of punctures, and the joint hind margins of the elytra which are not "deeply arcuately emarginate" as FAUVEL describes that of O. sedilloti and applies to O. fauvelianus , but rather the apical margins are rectilinear and meet the suture at a slight angle.

In size and colour O. taghavianae also resembles O. pteropophilus nov.sp. but unlike the latter its head is devoid of microsculpture. It can be immediately distinguished from the entirely black O. nigropolitus nov.sp. by the coarse and dense puncturation of the abdomen.

Dedication: to Mrs. Azadeh Taghavian, who arranged the loan of material from the Paris museum.