Oxypoda (Deropoda) levipunctata, Assing, 2016

Assing, Volker, 2016, New species of Oxypoda from Armenia and Georgia (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 48 (2), pp. 1119-1136 : 1126-1128

Oxypoda (Deropoda) levipunctata nov.sp.

( Figs 16-21 , 23 )

Type material: Holotype ♂: " ARMENIA [21] - N Sisian, near Mt. Tsugh , 39°41'10''N, 46°03'13''E, 3300 m, near snow, 4.VII.2016, V. Assing / Holotypus ♂ Oxypoda levipunctata sp. n. det. V. Assing 2016" ( cAss).

Etymology: The specific epithet is composed of the Latin adjectives levis (smooth) and punctata. It alludes to the punctation of the forebody, one of the external characters separating this species from the similar, but more coarsely punctate O. mutata SHARP, 1871 .

Description: Body length 3.2 mm; length of forebody 1.4 mm. Coloration: body reddish-brown with the head, tergite VI, and the anterior portion of tergite VII slightly darker; legs, antennae, and maxillary palpi pale-brown.

Head ( Fig. 16 ) approximately as long as broad; punctation dense, moderately coarse, and shallow. Eyes slightly longer than postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna ( Fig. 17 ) 0.8 mm long and rather slender; antennomeres IV-V indistinctly transverse, VI-X weakly transverse, X distinctly less than 1.5 times as broad as long, and XI slightly longer than the combined length of IX and X. Maxillary palpus moderately slender; palpomere III approximately three times as long as broad.

Pronotum ( Fig. 16 ) approximately 1.4 times as broad as long and 1.55 times as broad as head, broadest near posterior angles; punctation ( Fig. 18 ) dense and slightly asperate.

Elytra ( Fig. 16 ) 1.07 times as long as pronotum, with dense and weakly granulose punctation; posterior margin weakly sinuate near postero-lateral angles. Hind wings present. Legs moderately slender; metatibia 0.42 mm long; metatarsomere I approximately as long as the combined length of metatarsomeres II-IV.

Abdomen with segments III-VI of subequal width; punctation dense on tergites III-VI, distinctly less dense on tergites VII and VIII; interstices without appreciable microsculpture.

♂: sternite VIII convexly produced posteriorly; median lobe of aedeagus 0.53 mm long and shaped as in Figs 19-20 ; paramere ( Fig. 21 ) approximately 0.7 mm long, apical lobe slender, more than half as long as basal portion, basally with a conspicuous process of triangular shape.

♀: unknown.

Comparative notes: Based on the similar external appearance and on the similar general structure of the aedeagus (shape and internal structures of median lobe; apical lobe of paramere basally with a conspicuous projection), O. levipunctata is closely allied to the widespread O. mutata , from which it differs primarily by distinctly more slender antennae with less transverse antennomeres IV-X ( O. mutata : antennae shorter; antennomeres IV-X distinctly transverse, X 1.5 times as broad as long), less dense and less coarse puncation of the forebody, particularly of the pronotum, by the shape of the apex of the ventral process of the aedeagus, and by the shape of the basal process of the apical lobe of the paramere. For comparison, the median lobe of the aedeagus of a male from Germany is illustrated in Fig. 22 . For an overview and a catalogue of the previously known species of the subgenus Deropoda BERNHAUER, 1902 see ASSING (2012).

Distribution and natural history: Oxypoda levipunctata is the easternmost representative of the subgenus Deropoda . The holotype was collected in a mountain range to the north of Sisian (near Mt. Tsugh) by sifting debris and roots near large snowfields at an altitude of 3300 m ( Fig. 23 ).

Figures

Figs 16-22: Oxypoda levipunctata nov.sp. (16-21) and O. mutata from South Germany (22): (16) forebody; (17) antenna; (18) postero-median portion of pronotum; (19, 22) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (20) apical portion of median lobe in ventral view; (21) paramere. Scale bars: 16: 0.5 mm; 17, 19-22: 0.2 mm; 18: 0.1 mm.

Fig. 23: Type locality of Oxypoda levipunctata nov.sp.