Operclipygus falini, Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2013

Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2013, A systematic revision of Operclipygus Marseul (Coleoptera, Histeridae, Exosternini), ZooKeys 271, pp. 1-401 : 340-342

Operclipygus falini sp. n. Figs 92 G–H94A–B, E, GMap 32

Type locality.

PARAGUAY: Cazaapá: San Rafael Reserve [26°17.83'S, 55°43.13'W].

Type material.

Holotype male: "PARAGUAY: Cazaapá, Hermosa, prop. Lopez family, San Rafael Reserve, bank Rio Tebicuary, 26°17'23"S, 55°43'7"W, 80 m, 1-4 DEC 2000; Z.H.Falin, PAR1F00 107ex. flight intercept trap" / "SM0275398 KUNHM-ENT" (SEMC). Paratypes (2): same data as type (SEMC).

Other material.

BOLIVIA: 1: Las Juntas, xii.1913, Steinbach (CMNH). PERU: Madre de Dios: 1: Amazonas Lodge, N Atalaya, 12°52.2'S, 71°22.6'W, 480m, 10-13.xi.2007, FIT, D. Brzoska (SEMC); 1: Tambopata, Reserva Cuzco Amazonico, 15km NE Pto. Maldonado, 12°33'S, 69°03'W, 200m, 20.vi.1989, FIT, J. Ashe & R. Leschen (CHSM).

Diagnostic description.

Length: 1.97-2.15 mm, width: 1.68-1.87 mm; body piceous, with conspicuous fine ground punctation throughout, ovoid with sides weakly rounded; frons strongly depressed at middle, with sides of frontal stria arcuately divergent at sides, interrupted above antennal bases, with a short isolated median arc; supraorbital stria present but disconnected from frontal stria; labrum about half as long as wide, apical margin straight; pronotal disk with distinct, irregularly oval prescutellar impression, with numerous coarse, elongate punctures near sides; marginal pronotal stria nearly complete across front, narrowly interrupted at middle; lateral submarginal pronotal stria present only in anterior half, curving inward in front, ending freely behind eye; anterior submarginal pronotal stria transverse, apices sinuate or barely recurved; median pronotal gland openings just laterad apices of anterior submarginal stria, about 6 puncture widths from anterior margin; elytron with two complete epipleural striae, outer subhumeral stria present in apical half, interrupted at middle, with a short basal fragment, inner subhumeral absent, striae 1-4 complete, 5th stria present in apical half, sutural stria present in apical two-thirds; elytral disk with few punctures arranged subserially along apical margin; prosternal keel broad, flat, shallowly emarginate at base, carinal striae straight, converging to front, connected in a wide anterior arch; mesoventral margin sinuate, projecting at middle, marginal stria complete, ad ditional strial fragments in anterior corners; mesometaventral stria detached from lateral metaventral, arching weakly forward onto posterior third of mesoventrite; anterior end of lateral metaventral stria extending mediad beyond apex of mesometaventral stria, extending posterolaterad toward middle of metacoxa; central part of metaventral disk with conspicuous ground punctation, but without coarser punctures; 1st abdominal ventrite with two complete lateral striae, inner ones convergent anterad (though still widely separate where they meet anterior margin); propygidium and pygidium both with very dense ground punctation, both with slightly larger round punctures interspersed, those of the propygidium separated by about their widths at middle of disk, becoming sparser toward the sides, pygidial punctures smaller, but generally more uniformly distributed across disk; marginal pygidial stria fine, present in apical half to three-fourths, obsolete at base. Male genitalia (Figs 94 A–B, E, G): accessory sclerites present, small; T8 parallel-sided for most of length, basal apodemes weakly divergent, apices abruptly angled mediad, with apparent desclerotized area at corner, apical emargination narrow, basal emargination shallow, rounded, basal membrane attachment line distad by about one-third depth of basal emargination, ventrolateral apodemes most strongly developed at middle, not meeting at midline; S8 weakly convergent to apex, with apical guides only developed at apex, with narrowly rounded apices, halves approximate in basal fourth, diverging to apex; T9 with ends only weakly convergent, subacute; T10 with halves separated; S9 with stem nearly parallel-sided, just slightly expanded toward base, with small basal emargination, apex evenly rounded, with continuous, medially narrowed apical flange; tegmen with sides rounded, widest near midpoint, narrowed slightly to base, more strongly narrowed to subacute apex, with rather wide ‘U’ -shaped mediovental process projecting beneath about one-fourth from base; basal piece about one-half tegmen length, with long basal foramen; median lobe about half tegmen length.

Remarks.

This species can be recognized by the combination of conspicuous pronotal ground punctation (Fig. 92G), abbreviated lateral submarginal pronotal stria, very numerous coarse, lateral pronotal punctures, interrupted outer subhumeral elytral stria, and the very dense ground punctation of both the propygidium and pygidium (Fig. 92H). It appears to be related to Operclipygus punctipleurus , but completely lacks the characteristic epipleural punctures of that species. It also shows some similarity to Operclipygus wenzeli . We limit the type series to those specimens from Paraguay.

Etymology.

This species is named after Zachary Falin of the University of Kansas, in recogniton of his numerous contributions to this study, assisting with loans, as well as having collected the types of this, and several other new species.