Oropodes ishii Chandler, 1983

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 : 435-437

3 Oropodes ishii Chandler, 1983 Figs 421.Map 1

Oropodes ishii Chandler, 1983: 224; Chandler 1997: 15; 2003: 583. Type locality: California, Butte County, 5 mi NE Forest Ranch. Holotype male (UCDC).

Specimens examined.

33 (all DSC): CALIFORNIA: Butte County (all are paratypes): 5 mi NE Forest Ranch, I-3-1980, D.S. Chandler, sift tanbark oak and maple litter; same data except I-25-1980, sift rotten wood; same data except XI-28-1979, sift litter along stream; Griffin Gulch, 3 mi NW Concow Reservoir, 2000', IV-2-1981, D.S. Chandler, sift tanbark oak litter; Mountain House, V-28-1981, D.S. Chandler, sift litter around spring; West Branch Feather River, 1600', IV-13-1981, D.S. Chandler, sift oak and grape litter. Tehama County: Highway 32, Deer Creek, 1097 m, V-3-1981, sift Douglas-fir litter (paratypes); 19 mi SE Paynes Creek, S Fork Antelope Creek Canyon, south side, Ponderosa Way, 1006 m, XI-13-1998, D. S. Chandler, sift dogwood, Douglas-fir, and bigleaf maple litter; 14.5 mi SE Paynes Creek, Middle Fork Antelope Creek, 945 m, Ponderosa Way, XI-9-1998, D. S. Chandler, bigleaf maple leaf litter; 5 mi W Mineral, 1295 m, XII-6-1987, D. S. Chandler, sift bigleaf maple leaf litter; 5 mi SE Manton, Bluff Springs, 762 m, XII-1-1987, D. S. Chandler, sift fern leaf litter on stream edge; same site, 777 m, XII-4-1991, D. S. Chandler, sift fern leaf litter, sift laurel leaf litter; 6 mi SE Manton, Soap Creek, 716 m, XII-4-1991, D. S. Chandler, sift willow/mixed leaf litter by stream.

Description.

Length 1.82-1.90 mm. Body light orange-brown. Antennomeres V and VII slightly larger than those adjacent, V-VIII obconical, IX narrower than X, X symmetrical. Pronotum with median longitudinal sulcus shallow. Abdomen with first ventrite bearing short carina at inner margins of metacoxal cavity that extend to ventrite apex.

Males: Eyes with 27-38 facets. Metasternum with shallow median longitudinal sulcus. Legs (Fig. 4B): profemora unmodified, protibiae broadly angulate at middle of mesal margin; mesotibiae with blunt preapical tubercle on mesal margin; metatibiae with large apical spur on mesal margin. Abdomen (Figs 4C, 21) with second ventrite broadly impressed in middle fifth; third ventrite 0.60 wide, broadly impressed in middle third, lamina 0.14 wide, apex of lamina broadly rounded, raised at about 30°, lamina arising just posterior to middle of ventrite; fourth ventrite broadly impressed in middle third; fifth ventrite flattened in middle third; sixth ventrite (Fig. 4D) flattened in middle third, setose area broadly constricted at middle by glabrous projection from anterior portion of ventrite. Aedeagus (Fig. 4A) 0.40 long; parameres broadly rounded at apex, right paramere projecting further, internal sac lacking large spines, often becoming extended during maceration of specimen in preparation for examination on a slide.

Females: Eyes with 12-32 facets. Fifth tergite with setose area convex; ventrites all broadly rounded at middle, lacking modifications, fifth ventrite (Fig. 4F) with setose area even in width. Genitalia (Fig. 4E) with median lobe elongate and membranous.

Collection notes.

Found in a variety of leaf litters, but the largest number of specimens were taken from Douglas-fir and Bigleaf maple leaf litters, and from litter by streams. It has been generally collected in the Ponderosa pine zone, but also has been occasionally collected at lower elevations in Butte County (Chandler, 2003).

Geographical distribution.

(Map 1): Known only from Butte and Tehama Counties, which are at the area of juncture between the north end of the Sierra Nevada and the southern portion of the Cascade Ranges (Mt. Lassen area).

Comparisons and diagnostic notes.

Placed as a member of the arcaps-group, and sharing with Oropodes arcaps and Oropodes yollabolly the anteriorly convex and medially placed lamina of the third ventrite. It is most similar to Oropodes yollabolly in the males sharing a preapical tubercle on the mesal margin of the mesotibiae and the metatibiae with an apical spur, and the elongate membranous lobe without any spines in the females. The males of these two species are easily separated by the medially constricted setose area of the sixth ventrite found in Oropodes ishii . The constricted ventrite is shared with Oropodes arcaps , whose males lack the preapical tubercle of the mesotibiae and the distinct apical spurs of the metatibiae, and the female genitalia has curved spines in the membranous lobe.