Oxyporus rufipennis LeConte (Staphylinidae)

Ferreira, Raul N., 2011, Three anomalies of Coleoptera (Carabidae, Staphylinidae, and Scarabaeidae) from Connecticut, Insecta Mundi 2011 (169), pp. 1-3 : 1

Oxyporus rufipennis LeConte (Staphylinidae)

Figure 2

These are the third reported anomalies in the genus Oxyporus Fabricius , the only genus of the Oxyporinae (Staphylinidae) . Larvae and adults of the genus Oxyporus which has a world wide distribution are obligate inhabitants of fresh mushrooms and feed on the flesh and gill tissues.

This specimen was collected on Pleurotus ostriatus Fries (family Tricholomataceae ) in Connecticut, Litchfield Co., People’s Forest on Beaver Pond Road on VI-6-1966. A meiomely according to Balazuc (1948) involves the loss (ectromely) or reduction (atrophy) of appendages or part of appendages. In this specimen the right mandible ( Fig. 2C ) and the right antenna ( Fig. 2B, 2C ) are reduced in relation to the left normal mandible and normal antenna. The atrophy of the right antenna has three fewer segments compared to the normal antenna ( Fig. 2A, 2C ). These atrophies are very common and the cause is mechanical ( Balazuc 1948). The reduction of the antennomeres is more common on the last terminal half of the antenna (antennomeres 6 to 10). In this case antennomeres 4-6 are missing.

Figures

Figure 1-3. Beetle anomalies. 1) Carabus nemoralis Muller. Drawing of maxillary palpus; a) Normal; b) Abnormal; c) Dorsal view of habitus. 2) Oxyporus rufipennis LeConte. Drawing of antennas; a) Normal; b) Abnormal; c) Dorsal view of head. 3) Phyllophaga glaberrima (Blanchard). Ventral drawing of middle legs; a) Normal; b) Abnormal; c) Dorsal view of habitus.