Oedichirus sodalis, Rougemont, 2018

Rougemont, Guillaume de, 2018, New Papuan Oedichirus (Staphylinidae, Paederinae, Pinophilini), Linzer biologische Beiträge 50 (1), pp. 435-446 : 441

Oedichirus sodalis nov.sp. (Figs 8)

Oedichirus sodalis sp.n. (i.l.) LAST 1980: 147, 148.

♂ Holotype: [BM Holotype label] ♀ GOKOL RIVER , NEW GUINEA, 4.4.1969, R. HORNABROOK ♀ Oedichirus sodalis sp.n. H. Last det. TYPE ♀ unpubl. Name! A. Solodovnikov det. 2006 ♀ HOLOTYPE Oedichirus sodalis Des. 2015 G. de Rougemont [MM] .

D e s c r i p t i o n: length: 5.6 mm; length of fore-body: 2.5; length of head: 0.65; breadth of head: 0.95; length of antenna: 1.62; length of pronotum: 0.95; breadth of pronotum: 0.87; length of elytron: 0.75; breadth of elytra: 0.92. Body black, posterior margins of abdominal segments VII and VIII reddish; palpi, antennae and legs entirely pale testaceous. Dorsal surfaces of head, pronotum, elytra and abdomen shiny but with fine microsculpture. No pubescence visible (probably rubbed off) except for two long pale setae on left side of abdominal tergite III. Habitus: Fig. 8h.

Head averagely transverse; supra-antennal tubercles large and salient, concealing insertions of antennae in dorsal view; groove of post-ocular border broad, deep, punctate, entire from posterior margin of eye to neck, the associated carina not forming a postocular angle; temples evenly rounded; puncturation coarse and irregular, dense on vertex, sparse on frons. Pronotum very broad just behind anterior angles, the sides strongly retracted in almost straight lines to narrow base; lateral margins not noticeably bordered; puncturation coarse, a little irregular, dense on centre of disc, sparser laterally, punctures not forming discernible series. Micropterous, elytra strongly transverse, broadest shortly behind middle, humeral angles completely obsolete; puncturation coarse, irregular, denser on centre of disc than on sides, not forming longitudinal series. Punctures of abdominal tergites disposed randomly, coarse, irregular, denser on anterior segments, becoming sparser posteriad.

Male: abdominal sternites unmodified; aedoeagus: Fig. 8arl, the process of the ventral blade large, broad, extending far beyond apex of median lobe, its tip securiform in lateral view; median lobe apparently devoid of parameres.

This is the smallest known Papuan species of Oedichirus after O. loksai LAST (5 mm). The conformation of the aedoeagus makes it distinctive.