Oedichirus abbreviatus, Assing, 2014

Assing, V., 2014, On the Oedichirus fauna of China (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 46 (2), pp. 1229-1240 : 1237-1238

Oedichirus abbreviatus nov.sp. ( Figs 11-12 , 21-28 , Map 1 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype: " CHINA: Yunnan, Baoshan Pref., mount. range 25 km S Tengchong, 1900 m, 24°48'21''N, 98°32'05''E, cleft with devast. primary forest, litter & mushr. sifted, 30.VIII.2009, leg. M. Schülke [C09-18] / Holotypus Oedichirus abbreviatus sp.n. det. V. Assing 2014" (cAss). Paratypes: 2: " CHINA: Yunnan, Baoshan Pref., 10 km SE Kambaiti pass, 45 km NW Tengchong, 1700-1800 m, 25°21'13-29''N, 98°13'29-54''E, primary forest, litter and mushrooms sifted, 29.VIII.2009, leg. M. Schülke [C09-15]" (cSch).

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective: shortened) alludes to the short parameres of the aedeagus, one of the characters distinguishing this species from the similar O. schuelkei .

D e s c r i p t i o n: Moderately large species; body length 8.0- 9.2 mm; length of forebody 3.5-4.1 mm. Coloration: body uniformly black; legs, antennae, and maxillary palpi pale-yellowish.

Head ( Fig. 21 ) transverse, 1.20-1.25 times as broad as long, broadest across eyes; lateral contours behind eyes converging in nearly straight line, posterior angles obsolete; dorsal surface with sparse and coarse punctures, postero-median region, except for the area near posterior constriction, and frons impunctate; median dorsal portion only with few punctures. Eyes strongly convex, distinctly longer than distance from posterior margin of eye to posterior constriction. Antenna 2.3-2.7 mm long and shaped as in Fig. 22 .

Pronotum ( Fig. 21 ) 1.08-1.14 times as long as broad and approximately 1.10-1.13 times as broad as head, widest anteriorly and distinctly tapering posteriorly; punctation coarse, moderately dense, and in anterior half irregularly distributed; median portion in posterior half with a V-shaped impunctate area, this area laterally delimited by two posteriorly converging series of punctures.

Elytra ( Fig. 21 ) short, 0.55-0.58 times as long as pronotum, depressed, and with strongly convex lateral contours; humeral angles completely obsolete; punctation coarse and dense. Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen ( Fig. 23 ) slightly broader than elytra; punctation not arranged in transverse rows, coarse, dense, and defined on tergites III-VI, sparse and less deep on tergites VII- VIII; anterior impressions of tergites III-VI without longitudinal keels; anterior impression of tergite III and narrow anterior portions of tergites III-VII with pronounced reticulate microsculpture (distinctly more extensive and more pronounced on tergite III than on tergites IV-VI), remainder of tergal surfaces with very shallow and fine microsculpture composed of transverse striae, on tergite VII also of transverse meshes; microsculpture of tergite VIII composed of distinct isodiametric meshes; posterior margin of tergite VII with narrow rudiment of a palisade fringe.

: sternite VII ( Figs 24-25 ) with a relatively large, but shallow impression in posteromedian portion, this impression impunctate and without setae, and postero-laterally delimited by a pronounced carina, posterior margin weakly concave in the middle; ster- nite VIII ( Figs 26-27 ) moderately impressed in postero-median portion, in the middle extensively impunctate and without setae, the impression postero-laterally delimited by a short but distinct carina on either side, posterior margin with slightly asymmetric, broad, but not very deep posterior excision; tergite IX as in Fig. 28 ; aedeagus ( Figs 11-12 ) 1.60 mm long; ventral process apically concave in ventral view, subapically with two short processes of different shapes, the left one (ventral view) shaped like a scraper, the right one a blunt projection; parameres short and bisinuate, left paramere (ventral view) slightly longer than right paramere; dorsal plate reduced.

: posterior margin of sternite VIII truncate to weakly convex.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Oedichirus abbreviatus is of similar coloration and general appearance as the geographically close O. schuelkei , but distinguished by slightly smaller average size, a less transverse head, larger eyes, an on average less oblong and (in relation to head) broader pronotum, the different punctation of the head and pronotum, the slightly shorter and more transverse elytra, the less extensive and less pronounced isodiametric microsculpture at the anterior margins of the abdominal tergites IV-VII, and particularly by the different modifications of the male sternites VII and VIII, as well as by the different morphology of the aedeagus (shapes of ventral process and of subapical processes, reduced dorsal plate, much shorter parameres). In the key by CAMERON (1931), O. abbreviatus would key out at couplet 7 together with O. niger and O. minor . The new species is readily distinguished from the former by distinctly shorter elytra and from the latter by larger size.

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d n a t u r a l h i s t o r y: Thespecimenswerecollected in two localities near Tengchong, West Yunnan ( Map 1 ), by sifting litter in primary forests at altitudes of 1700-1900 m.

Figures

Map 1: Distributions of the micropterous Oedichirus species of China: O. abbreviatus (white circles); O. schuelkei (black circles); O. latexcisus (white star); O. flammeus (black star).

Figs 7-12: Aedeagi of Oedichirus species in lateral and in ventral view: (7-8) Oedichirus latexcisus nov.sp.; (9-10) O. schuelkei nov.sp.; (11-12) O. abbreviatus nov.sp. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.

Figs 21-28: Oedichirus abbreviatus nov.sp.: (21) forebody; (22) antenna; (23) abdominal segments III-VI in dorsal view; (24) male sternite VII in ventral view; (25) male sternite VII in lateral view (turned by 90°); (26) male segment VIII in ventral view; (27) male sternite VIII in lateral view; (28) male tergites IX-X. Scale bars: 1.0 mm.