Oedichirus ivoriensis, Rougemont, 2018

Rougemont, Guillaume de, 2018, New species and records of African and Lemurian Oedichirus ERICHSON (Staphylinidae, Paederinae, Procirrina), Linzer biologische Beiträge 50 (1), pp. 447-460 : 449-450

Oedichirus ivoriensis nov.sp. (Figs 3)

♂ Holotype: Côte d’Ivoire, Man Mt. Tonkoui, 900 m. 9.III.77, I. Löbl ♀ Oedichirius [sic] spec. det. M. Uhlig 1982 ♀ HOLOTYPE Oedichirus ivoriensis des. 2015 G. de Rougemont [ MHNG] .

D e s c r i p t i o n: length: 7.6 mm; length of fore-body: 2.8; length of head: 0.9; breadth of head: 0.92; length of antenna: 1.8; length of pronotum: 1.24; breadth of pronotum: 0.9; length of elytron: 9.2; breadth of elytra: 1.2. Head and neck black; pronotum red, the middle of anterior margin narrowly black; elytra black; abdominal segments III-VI red, the anterior transverse depressions of each tergite progressively less broadly infuscate, segments VII-IX black; antennae brown; palpi testaceous; legs testaceous, the knees and posterior tibiae lightly infuscate. Body devoid of microsculpture, Pubescence long, pale, erect. Habitus: Fig. 3.

Head scarcely transverse; eyes large and protruberent, twice as long as temples, the latter retracted to neck almost in straight lines but with a triangular temporal angle just behind eyes formed by a protrusion of the temporal border; puncturation coarse and dense in anterior 2♀ 3 rds, leaving an impunctate area before a posterior transverse row of smaller punctures. Third antennomere longer than second. Pronotum widest at anterior 1♀ 3 rd, the sides strongly retracted in straight lines thereafter; lateral line bordered only very briefly behind anterior angles where the border is surmounted by series of four close small punctures; sculpture of disc consisting of a pair of series of 8 large punctures each extending almost to anterior margin, and other smaller punctures on the sides.

Micropterous, elytra short, transverse, humeral angles obsolete; posterior margins of elytra bordered; puncturation coarse, interstices smaller than diameter of punctures anteriorly and on disc, sparse in postero-lateral areas where interstices are larger than punctures. Puncturation of abdominal tergites arranged in transverse rows; vestiture sparse, consisting of long erect and shorter semi-recumbent fine pale setae.

Male: abdominal sternite VII unmodified; sternite VIII: Fig. 3s8, the modification asymmetrical, with a raised blade-like keel extending from the fundus of emargination to the right apical tooth; aedoeagus: Figs 3 al, av.

This species does not fit readily in FAGEL’ s key (1970) next to any similar species; its closest relations are unknown.