Oropodes arcaps Grigarick & Schuster, 1976

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 : 432-434

1. Oropodes arcaps Grigarick & Schuster, 1976 Figs 2 20Map 1

Oropodes arcaps Grigarick & Schuster: 1976, 103; Chandler 1997: 15. Type locality: California, Mendocino County, Casper. Holotype male (UCDC).

Specimens examined.

44: CALIFORNIA: Marin County: 2.7 mi W Mt. Tamalpais, V-14-1988, VI-12-1988, I-8-1989, II-12-1989, S.T. O’Keefe, berlese duff Sequoia sempervirans (DSC); Forest Knolls, XII-13-1958, C.W. O’Brien (UCDC); Samuel P. Taylor State Park, II-3-1958, J.R. Helfer (UCDC); Samuel P. Taylor State Park, S entrance, XI-1-1958, R.O. Schuster & G.A. Marsh (UCDC). Mendocino County: 1 mi N Albion, VII-29-1978, D.S. Chandler, sift fern litter (DSC); Caspar, IX-30-1954, VII-29-1954, J.R. Helfer, (UCDC, 2 female paratypes).

Description.

Length 1.64-1.72. Body light orange-brown. Eyes with 17-20 facets at most localities, varying to around 35 facets for Mt. Tamalpais specimens. Antennomeres V and VII slightly larger than those adjacent, V-VIII obconical, IX narrower than X. Abdomen with first ventrite lacking carinae that extend from posteromedial angles of metacoxal cavities to ventrite apex.

Males:.

Metasternum with narrow median longitudinal sulcus. Legs (Fig. 2B): profemora simple; protibiae with small, slight angulation on mesal margin past middle; mesotibiae simple; metatibiae with very short apical spur on mesal margin. Abdomen (Figs 2C, 20) with second ventrite lightly flattened at middle fifth, posterior margin slightly humped but not projecting in line with lateral margins of lamina; third ventrite 0.58 wide, slightly concave in middle fourth anterior and posterior to lamina, lamina small, 0.08 wide, with apex broadly rounded to nearly straight at middle, lamina at about middle of ventrite, lamina flat, angled at about 20°; fourth and fifth ventrites flattened in middle fourth; sixth ventrite (Fig. 2D) flattened in middle third, with setose area broadly constricted to middle. Aedeagus (Fig. 2A) 0.42 long; parameres with apices broadly and irregularly rounded; internal sac with single long sinuate spine.

Females:.

Fifth tergite with setose area evenly convex. Fifth ventrite (Fig. 2F) with transverse margins of setose area parallel, posterior margin somewhat broadly but sha llowly protruding at middle. Genitalia symmetric (Fig. 2E), median membranous lobe with thin arcuate sclerites meeting medially and with straight spine extending anteriorly from near their bases.

Collection notes.

Specimens were taken from redwood and fern leaf litters near or at the coast, indicating the strongest preference for wetter forests for a member of this genus.

Geographical distribution.

(Map 1): This species is found in coastal areas from Marin County in the San Francisco Bay area north to Mendocino County.

Comparisons and diagnostic notes.

The arcaps-group is based on this species, with the critical characters being a lack of a profemoral tooth, the second ventrite lacking a pair of projections on the posterior margin, and eyes comparatively small. This species shares the relatively small and anteriorly convex lamina that originates at the middle of the third ventrite with Oropodes ishii and Oropodes yollabolly , and is separated from these by a combination of the simple mesotibiae, the deeply constricted setose area of the sixth ventrite of the male, and curving forked spines of the female genitalia.