Oxypoda (Oxypoda) constricta, Assing, 2012

Assing, V., 2012, On the taxonomy and zoogeography of some Oxypoda species of the West Palaearctic region (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 44 (1), pp. 365-399 : 386-387

Oxypoda (Oxypoda) constricta nov.sp.

( Figs 38-41 )

Type material: Holotype: " Algeria Djurdjura, Azerou Tidjer , Gr. Ifri Maareb , 25.V.1981 / M. R. S. N. Spedizione 'Algeria '81' Boffa-Casale-Giachino, Pagliano-Risi-Scaramozzino / Holotypus Oxypoda constricta sp.n. det. V. Assing 2011" ( cAss) . Paratype: same data as holotype (cWun).

Description: Body length 4.8-5.0 mm. Coloration: head and pronotum darkbrown to blackish-brown, with the lateral margins of the pronotum more or less distinctly paler; elytra dark-yellowish, with the scutellar region and the postero-lateral angles more or less extensively infuscate; abdomen blackish-brown, with the posterior margins of the segments yellowish-brown; legs yellowish-brown, with the femora slightly darker; antennae blackish-brown, with the basal two antennomeres indistinctly paler.

Head ( Fig. 38 ) weakly oblong; punctation very fine and moderately dense; interstices with distinct microsculpture and subdued shine. Eyes approximately as long as postocular region in dorsal view; antenna similar to that of O. longipes MULSANT & REY 1861 .

Pronotum ( Fig. 38 ) approximately 1.3 times as wide as long and 1.3 times as wide as head, maximal width approximately in the middle; punctation and microsculpture similar to those of head.

Elytra approximately as long as pronotum ( Fig. 38 ); punctation dense and finely granulose. Hind wings fully developed. Legs very long and slender; metatarsus almost as long as metatibia; metatarsomere I very long, almost as long as the combined length of II-IV.

Abdomen ( Fig. 39 ) widest at posterior margin of segment III; distinctly narrower at anterior margin of segment III than at its posterior margin (i.e., noticeably constricted at base); segments IV-VIII moderately tapering; punctation very fine and very dense.

: posterior margin of sternite VIII distinctly and acutely produced in the middle ( Fig. 40 ); median lobe of aedeagus ( Fig. 41 ) 0.63 mm long; ventral process straight and apically acute in lateral view, deeply bifid in ventral view; apical lobe of paramere approximately half as long as basal portion.

: unknown.

Etymology: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective) refers to the basally constricted abdomen, one of the characters distinguishing this species from the similar O. longipes .

Comparative notes: The new species is reliably distinguished from all other representatives of the subgenus by the morphology of the aedeagus, particularly by the straight and apically acute ventral process and by the internal structures. In the similar O. longipes , the abdomen is widest at its base (i.e., not distinctly constricted) and more strongly tapering posteriad, the aedeagus is smaller, its ventral process and internal structures are of different shape, and the apical lobe of the paramere is relatively shorter (less than half the length of basal part). For illustrations of the male sexual characters of O. longipes and allied species ( O. falcozi SAINTE- CLAIRE DEVILLE 1913 , O. pseudolongipes TRONQUET 1998 ) see TRONQUET (1998).

Distribution and natural history: The type locality is situated in the Djurdjura region in northern Algeria. Additional data are unknown. The habitats of the closely related species of the O. longipes group suggest that O. constricta may be associated with subterranean nests and burrows of mammals, too.

Figures

Figs 35-41: Oxypoda ludgeri nov.sp. (35-37) and O. constricta nov.sp. (38-41): (35-36, 41) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (37) paramere; (38) forebody; (39) abdomen; (40) male sternite VIII. Scale bars: 38-39: 1.0 mm; 40: 0.2 mm; 35-37, 41: 0.1 mm.