Oedichirus neotropicus Blackwelder

Herman, Lee H., 2013, Revision Of The New World Species Of Oedichirus (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae: Pinophilini: Procirrina), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2013 (375), pp. 1-137 : 101-105

Oedichirus neotropicus Blackwelder

Figures 39 , 180–185

Oedichirus neotropicus Blackwelder, 1944: 131 (replacement name).

Oedichirus pictipes Bierig, 1940: 604 (primary homonym of Oke, 1933).

TYPE MATERIAL: Two syntypes. Bierig cited two specimens, both from Costa Rica, one from Finca Castilla and the other from Hamburgfarm. A blue ‘‘Typus’’ label was affixed to the pin with the female from Hamburgfarm ; however, there was no valid holotype designation because he did not indicate in the original description that either specimen was the ‘‘type’’ or holotype. Bierig (1940: 606) thought both specimens were females [‘‘Ambos parecen ser hembras’’]. To stabilize the name, the male rather than the female syntype is designated as lectotype because most of the species are based on the more consistently diagnostic males.

LECTOTYPE: Designated here. Male. ‘‘Farm Castilla (Limón) VI.38. Costa Rica /Field Mus. Nat. Hist. 1966 A. Bierig Colln. Acc. Z-13812/ LECTOTYPE Oedichirus pictipes Bierig des. L. Herman 2011/ Oedichirus neotropicus Blackwelder det. L. Herman.’’ Deposited in the Field Museum of Natural History. (The right mesofemur, mesotibia, and mesotarsus are missing. The left elytron is separated from the body and glued to the card in front of the head.)

PARALECTOTYPE: One Female. Costa Rica: Hamburgfarm, Reventazon, Ebene Limon, Nevermann, 15.X. 27, welkem [sic] Blatt von Musa sapientum . Deposited in the Field Museum of Natural History. (Although the specimen has Bierig’s ‘‘Typus’’ label, a holotype designation was not published [ ICZN, 1999: Articles 73.1.1, 73.1.2, 73.2].)

TYPE LOCALITY: Costa Rica: Limón: Finca Castilla (10 ° 149N, 83 ° 299W, 15 m elevation). (Finca Castilla is near Río Reventazón. The coordinates and elevation are from MoBot which associates the Finca with Parissmina, a coastal town about 16 km ENE.)

DIAGNOSIS: Oedichirus neotropicus can be separated from most other New World species by the bicolored body and legs. The body is reddish brown and abdominal segments VI and VII are black and the legs

are bicolored yellowish brown and the femoral apex and tibial base are reddish brown to nearly black.

The males are easily distinguished from all other species in the New World by the small, subapical comb on the left side of sternum VIII and the nearly truncate, but feebly and broadly emarginate posterior margin of sternum VIII (fig. 184). The ventral sclerite of the aedeagus has a large, apical tumescence (fig. 180) and the parameres (figs. 180, 181) are short, slender apically, thornlike, and separated from the median lobe for most of their length. Only O. distortus , O. dominicanensis , O. neotropicus , and O. sinuosus have a subapical comb on sternum VIII. Among the preceding species three, O. dominicanensis , Oedichirus neotropicus , and O. sinuosus from the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, and Mexico respectively, are three of the four most northerly known New World species; the fourth is O. isthmus from Mexico and is separated from the others by the median, subapical cluster of setae on sternum VIII (fig. 163) rather than a subapical comb. The posterior margin of sternum VIII of O. neotropicus is shallowly and broadly emarginate (fig. 184); O. dominicanensis (fig. 122) and O. sinuosus (fig. 203); each has a deep broad emargination. The comb of O. neotropicus (fig. 184) is nearly straight as is that of O. dominicanensis (fig. 122). The comb of O. sinuosus (fig. 203) is curved. In contrast to O. neotropicus with its short, nearly straight comb and posterior margin, the comb of O. distortus , from Ecuador, is strongly sinuate and extends nearly the entire subapical width of sternum VIII and the posterior margin is deeply and broadly emarginate (fig. 114).

The females are distinguished from those of other species by the liplike form of the juncture of the anterior and posterior vulvar lobes (fig. 185), the long fimbriae of the posterior edge of the honeycomblike cuticular cells of the posterior lobe and the scattered clusters of short cuticular processes on the wrinkled surface of the anterior lobe. The median gonocoxal plate anteriad of the vulvar plate is narrow, straplike, and separated from tergum IX (fig. 183), which distinguishes the females from all other species except O. batillus , O. distortus , O. hamatus , O. procerus , and O. speculifrons . The anteroventral angles of tergum IX of O. distortus (fig. 118) are fused to each other and to the anterior, straplike portion of the median gonocoxal plate, but are separated in O. neotropicus (fig. 185). Females are unknown for the two Mexican ( O. isthmus , O. sinuosus ) and one Caribbean ( O. dominicanensis ) species.

DESCRIPTION: Length: 8.4–11.3 mm. Length of head: 0.8–1.0 mm. Width of head: 1.0– 1.2 mm. Pronotal length: 1.3–1.5 mm. Pronotal width: 1.0– 1.2 mm. Elytral length: 1.2–1.4 mm. Elytral width: 1.1–1.4 mm.

Body bicolored, reddish brown and black. Head, pronotum, elytra, segments III–V, VIII, and IX reddish brown and with or without darker infusions, segment VI black, VII black and with or without infusions of reddish brown. Legs bicolored, pale reddish to yellowish brown with femorotibial spot reddish brown to dark reddish brown to nearly black.

Head wider than long (HW/HL: 1.2–1.3). Frontoclypeal ridge incomplete, separated medially. Dorsal surface without V-shaped depression; surface coarsely and densely punctate medially, sparsely punctate anteriorly, and impunctate and polished basally. Labrum quadridentate; surface without tubercle near submedial denticle.

Pronotum longer than wide (PL/PW: 1.2– 1.3). Pronotum polished and with coarse, moderately dense punctation; surface with deep, curved, submedial, coarsely punctate row on most of basal two thirds. Elytra with width equal to or slightly greater than length (EW/EL: 0.96–1.0); surface of disc weakly concave and coarsely punctate.

Abdominal segments III to VI coarsely punctate; segments III to VI with transverse, erratically and poorly developed subapical row of punctures. Segment III without paratergite; paratergal carina present and extending to more than half of length of segment, but more poorly developed beyond spiracle. Tergum III without median point extending from transverse basal ridge. Tergum VIII with posterior margin broadly emarginate; emargination extending from one lateroapical angle to other; transverse basal ridge evenly and shallowly curved, weakly sinuate, and without median point. Tergum IX with lateroapical process less than twice as long as midbasal length (LLaP/ L9: 1.5–1.7), slightly bent ventrally, and approximately parallel to other process; ventromedial margin without posteriorly directed spur (cf. fig. 158).

MALE: Sterna VI and VII unmodified. Sternum VIII (fig. 184) with posterior margin broadly and shallowly emarginate; emargination slightly asymmetrical; surface with posteriorly directed, subapical comb on left side and extending slightly to right of midline; surface immediately anteriad of comb slightly tumid; subapical surface posteriad of comb membranous; surface without depressions. Tergum IX with moderately large process extending from anterior margin of anteroventral angle. Sternum IX (fig. 182) moderately asymmetrical and moderately strongly tapered anteriad; anterior margin narrow and moderately strongly rounded; posterior margin broadly and slightly round- ed; lateral margins irregular for most of length.

Aedeagus asymmetrical (fig. 181). Ventral sclerite with large, irregularly shaped, apically pointed tumescence on left side of apical quarter (figs. 180, 181); posterior margin without apicoventral process. Parameres short, broad basally, slender apically, and separated from median lobe for most of length.

FEMALE: Tergum IX with anteroventral angles separated, but nearly touching (fig. 183). Median gonocoxal plate anteriad of vulvar plate reduced to narrow strap with anterior margin moderately rounded and more strongly rounded medially (figs. 183, 185); gonocoxal plate posteriad of vulvar plate tapered posteriorly to broadly rounded posterior margin (fig. 183) and posterior margin with or without small median lobe. Vulvar plate large and embedded medially and subbasally in gonocoxal plate. Vulvar lobes with adjacent edges with liplike appearance (fig. 183). Anterior vulvar lobe (fig. 185) transverse and surface wrinkled and with small, scattered clusters of short cuticular processes. Posterior vulvar lobe (fig. 185) transverse with lateral region curved anteriorly; surface with honeycomblike cuticular cells; posterior margin of cuticular cells fimbriate; fimbriae longer and denser anteriorly than posteriorly. Vulva with indeterminate orientation.

MATERIAL EXAMINED: Two males, 4 females. Costa Rica: Heredia: La Selva Biological Station nr. Puerto Viejo de Sarapique, February 18, 1985, L. Herman, from debris at node of palm frond (1 male, AMNH), beating trees and shrubs (1 female, AMNH). Limón: Farm Castilla, VI-38 (lectotype, male, FMNH) ; Limón: Hamburgfarm (Río) Reventazón , Ebene Limón, X-15-1927, welkem [sic] Blatt von Musa sapientum (paralectotype, female, FMNH). Puntarenas: Monteverde, 4500 ft., 21–26.V.1979, J.M. & B.A. Campbell (1 female, CNC). Nicaragua (?): (intercepted at port of entry) USA: Alabama: Mobile, II-9-1932, J.R. Wood, Mob # 539 (1 female, USNM) (see Remarks below) .

LOCALITIES: Finca Castilla (See Type Locality above).

Hamburgfarm was described by Nevermann (1931: 186), who collected the paralectotype, as being at 20–25 m above sea level on Río Reventazón about 20 km north of Siquirres and about 12 km from the Atlantic. MoBot lists a Finca Hamburg at 10 ° 159N, 83 ° 289W and 21 m elevation. This site is about 17.6 km from Siquirres, 14 km from the seacoast, and about 2 km SW of Finca Castilla. The geograpical coordinates for the site listed by MoBot approximately fit the description of the locality given by Nevermann.

La Selva Biological Station is at the north base of Volcán Barva at the confluence of Río Sarapiquí and Río Puerto Viejo, 10 ° 269N, 84 ° 029W (from MoBot).

Monteverde is a biological reserve straddling the border of Alajuela and Puntarena provinces. The approximate coordinates are 10 ° 189N, 84 ° 489W (from MoBot).

DISTRIBUTION: The species is known from Costa Rica and possibly Nicaragua (fig. 39). It has been found at four localities in three Costa Rican provinces at sites on both the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the continental divide. Two of the four Costa Rican localities are farms that may or may not still exist. A Nicaraguan record is based on an interception at a port of entry in Mobile, Alabama, of a specimen in a shipment said to be from Nicaragua.

HABITAT: Bierig (1940: 606) reported that one specimen, the female paralectotype, was collected from dried leaves of a species of banana (cited by Bierig as Musa sapientum Linnaeus and currently named Musa paradisiaca Linnaeus ) and the other, the male lectotype, from dense, riparian foliage in Limón Province, Costa Rica, at 20–25 m elevation. Two specimens were collected at La Selva in Heredia, Costa Rica, one by beating shrubbery, the other from the node of a palm frond. At another site the species was collected at about 1360 m elevation, but no habitat data was provided.

REMARKS: The Nicaraguan citation is based on a single female taken at a port of entry in Alabama, and said to be from Nicaragua. The record must be confirmed by discovery in Nicaragua of additional specimens, particularly males. The intercept- ed specimen is consistent with the paralectotype of O. neotropicus ; although slightly more robust, it shares the same bicolored pattern of the body and legs with those from Costa Rica along with the condition of the anteroventral angles of tergum IX, the liplike configuration at the juncture of the vulvar lobes, and the long fimbriae on the posterior vulvar lobe.

Figures

Figs. 39–40. Oedichirus species. Distribution. 39. Mesoamerica and the Caribbean. 40. South America. (Species described prior to present work preceded with *. Symbols ³ or ♀ signify species known only by the sex indicated. Open circle denotes multiple collecting sites.)

Figs. 180–184. Oedichirus neotropicus. 180. Aedeagus, right lateral. 181. Aedeagus, ventral. 182. Sternum IX, male. 183. Segment IX, ventral, female. 184. Sternum VIII, male, black dots mark missing setae, right side of comb missing.

Fig. 185. Oedichirus neotropicus. Segment IX, vulvar plate, enlarged (CLSM).