Oropodes tipai Chandler & Caterino

Chandler, Donald S. & Caterino, Michael S., 2011, A taxonomic revision of the New World genus Oropodes Casey (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Pselaphinae), ZooKeys 147, pp. 425-477 : 442

8 Oropodes tipai Chandler & Caterino sp. n. Fig. 9Map 2

Specimen examined.

HOLOTYPE male, MEXICO, Baja California [Norte], El Uruapan, IV-2-1986, W. Clark, PE#5 (FMNH).

Description.

(only males known): Length 2.16. Body brown. Eyes with about 65 facets. Antennomeres V and VII slightly larger than those adjacent, V-VIII obconical, IX narrower than X. Abdomen with carinae of first ventrite extending from posteromesal margins of metacoxal caviaties to ventrite apex.

Males: Metasternum with shallow median longitudinal sulcus. Legs (Fig. 9B): profemora with blunt spine on ventral margin near base, protibiae slightly swollen to middle, inner margin smooth; mesotibiae with small preapical tubercle; metatibiae with curved apical spur on mesal margin. Abdomen (Fig. 9C) with second ventrite impressed in middle third to form semicircular impression extending anteriorly from ventrite apex; third ventrite 0.51 wide, with transverse impression in median third of width, lateral margins of impression carinate, impression with transverse zone of thin setae, lamina arising at about two-thirds point of ventrite length and projecting anteriorly over impression, lamina 0.12 wide, apex broadly and shallowly emarginate, lamina slightly curved at base, apical portion straight and nearly horizontal; fourth-fifth ventrites lightly impressed in middle third; sixth ventrite (Fig. 9D) with setose area constricted at middle to about half maximum width. Aedeagus (Fig. 9A) 0.32 long, with left paramere longest, apices of both parameres truncate; internal sac with several laterally curved spines.

Females: unknown.

Collection notes.

Taken in March.

Geographical distribution.

(Map 2): The single record is from the western side of the Sierra de San Pedro Martír in Mexico, about 140 km south of the United States border.

Comments.

Placed in the orbiceps-group. Both Oropodes tipai and Oropodes serrano are most similar in the male protibiae being smooth on the mesal margins, and in placement of the lamina of the third ventrite at about the two-thirds point of the ventrite length. They may be separated by the lamina being nearly horizontal in the apical portion and the mesotibiae bearing only one preapical tubercle on the mesal margin in Oropodes tipai , while in Oropodes serrano the lamina of the third ventrite is angled at about 45°, and there are two close preapical tubercles on the mesotibiae. The females for both species are unknown.

Etymology.

The specific epithet, treated as a Latin singular noun in apposition, nominative case, is based on the tribal name of the Tipai Indians who originally lived in northern Baja California, the area where the holotype of this species was taken.