Sonoma parkorum, Ferro & Carlton, 2010

Ferro, Michael L. & Carlton, Christopher E., 2010, Fifteen new species of Sonoma Casey from the eastern United States and a description of the male of Sonoma tolulae (LeConte) (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae), Insecta Mundi 2010 (137), pp. 1-44 : 9-10

2. Sonoma parkorum new species

Fig. 2 , 19 ; Map 2

Description. Holotype, male. Measurements: head 0.33 long, 0.41 wide; pronotum 0.41 long, 0.48 wide; elytra 0.76 long, 0.36 wide; antennomeres 1-11 total 1.00; total length 2.04.

Head. Eyes prominent, maximum length in dorsal view 4/5 length of first antennal segment, with approximately 30 facets. Antennomere 2 approximately 3/5 width of 1; 3 smallest.

Thorax. Elytra with row of 5 sutural foveae in basal 1/3; two foveae lateral sutural foveae in basal 1/4; central row of 5 foveae in basal 2/5. Winged.

Abdomen. Transverse row of microtrichia on first visible tergite narrowly interrupted at midline. No abdominal foveae. Basal pubescence present on all visible ventrites.

Aedeagus. Asymmetrical. Left paramere: swollen at base, lobed internally (scoop shaped) then narrowed to sharply falcate apex; subapical shelf ventrad, curved right, with 2 thick lateral setae; apex with 4 setae pointed mesally, all setae apically minutely bifid. Endophallus: lateral digitate process elongate, ventrad of right paramere, apex rounded, sharply curved dorsally; base thick, parallel sided, large left lateral subapical process; apex elongate, pointed slightly right, tip blunt. Right paramere: broad throughout; dorsal lateral setose process small, near base, with 5 apical setae; lateral constriction at level of digitate process of endophallus thin, nearly same width distad level of lateral digitate process of endophallus; apex broad with blunt mesal process. Tubercles of left paramere fine, concentrated on ventral face, less numerous dorsally. Right paramere with coarse, sparse tubercles on mesal dorsal face.

Type Material. Holotype, male: * TENNESSEE: Blount Co. GSMNP, App. Tr. ~ 0.6 km W Mt. Thunderhead summit at 35 o 34.11’N 83 o 42.00’W 1585m. Forest litter sifting 13 April 2006. A.K.Tishechkin / LSAM 0107285 (1M). Deposited in FMNH.

Paratype (n=2). UNITED STATES: NORTH CAROLINA: Swain Co.: *Smoky Mts., N. C. Bryson City Deep Ck., 2,000 ft. / Aug. 27 1930 Darlington ( MCZC) (1M). *N CAROLINA: Swain Co. GSMNP, upper Eagle Creek Tr. at 35 o 33.03’N 83 o 43.98’W 1165m. Forest litter. 14 April 2006. A.K.Tishechkin / LSAM 0109115 (1M) SLIDE.

Geographical Distribution. Sonoma parkorum is known from three specimens, one from Blount County, Tennessee and two from Swain County, North Carolina. All specimens were collected within GSMNP. Sonoma parkorum was collected between 609 to 1585 m elevation.

Comments. Specimens were collected during April and August from leaf litter and extracted with Berlese funnels.

Sonoma parkorum has aedeagal characters unlike any other Sonoma . The large left lateral subapical process of the endophallus will serve to distinguish this species from all others in the genus.

Etymology. This species is named for: Orlando Park (1901-1969), a pselaphine specialist; and Jong-Seok Park, a staphylinid specialist and participant in the Coleoptera component of the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory at GSMNP.

Figures

Figure 1-5. Habitus images. 1) Sonoma cygnus, holotype. 2) Sonoma parkorum, holotype. 3) Sonoma baylessae, holotype. 4) Sonoma brasstownensis, holotype. 5) Sonoma nicholsae, holotype. Scale lines equal 1.0 mm.

Figure 17-19. Sexual dimorphism and aedeagus images. 17a) Ventral aspect of abdomen, male (redrawn from Park 1942). 17b) Ventral aspect of abdomen, female. 18) Sonoma cygnus, aedeagus (dorsal view). 19) Sonoma parkorum, aedeagus (dorsal view). Scale lines equal 0.1 mm. Right side of Fig. 17-19 is anatomical left.