Oropodes hardyi 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 : 452-454

14. Oropodes hardyi Chandler & Caterino sp. n. Fig. 15Map 3

Specimens examined.

5: HOLOTYPE male: California, Sacramento County: Sacramento, Hillsdale, IV-14-1980, A.R. Hardy, B-lite (CSCA). PARATYPES: 1 male, Sacramento, Hillsdale, IV-15-1980, A.R. Hardy (CSCA); 2 males, 1 female, Sacramento, Hillsdale area, V-17/19-1980, A. Hardy (CSCA, DSC).

Description.

Length 2.36-2.40. Body light orange-brown. Eyes with around 60-65 facets. Antennomeres V and VII slightly larger than those adjacent, V-VIII obconical, IX nearly as large as X. Abdomen with first ventrite either lacking carinae that extend from posteromedial angles of metacoxal cavities to ventrite apex, or carinae faint.

Males: Metasternum with median longitudinal sulcus. Legs (Fig. 15B): protrochanters with small lobe on ventral margin; profemora with prominent tooth near base on mesal margin; protibiae thickening from base to blunt angulation at about apical two-thirds; mesotibiae with two close preapical angulations on mesal margin; metatibiae with apical spur on mesal margin. Abdomen (Fig. 15C) with second ventrite shallowly impressed in middle fourth from middle of ventrite to pair of teeth on apical margin, teeth 0.35 apart at centers; third ventrite 0.71 wide, with transversely oval impression with scattered short setae anterior to transverse median lamina, lamina 0.18 wide, broadly emarginate at apex, in lateral view evenly curved at base with apical portion nearly horizontal, lamina arising at posterior margin of ventrite; fourth-sixth ventrites flattened in medial third; sixth ventrite (Fig. 15D) with anterior/posterior margins of setose area slightly narrowing to middle. Aedeagus (Fig. 15A) 0.35 long, with left paramere protruding and laminate, right paramere barely visible in dorsal view and broadly rounded at apex, internal sac with at least two elongate spines bearing bluntly rounded tips, right one with lateral tubercles before apex.

Females: Fifth tergite with setose area convex, with small impression at apex. Fifth ventrite (Fig. 15F) with setose area narrowly divided by median glabrous bar. Genitalia (Fig. 15E) possibly symmetric, perhaps skewed during extraction, median lobe with large longitudinally divided sclerite.

Collection notes.

All specimens were taken at blacklight in a backyard within a residential area without any nearby patches of native vegetation nearby (pers. comm. Alan Hardy). The specimens were collected in April and May.

Geographical distribution.

(Map 3): This species was found in urban Sacramento, in the low foothills of the Sierra Nevada near the valley floor of the Sacramento Valley.

Comparisons and diagnostic notes.

Placed as a member of the raffrayi-group, and sharing with six species the origin of the abdominal lamina at the posterior margin of the third ventrite. This species is most similar to Oropodes bellorum from Calaveras County in sharing the apical portion of the lamina being horizontal, the modified ventral margin of the protrochanters, the angulate mesal margin of the protibiae, and two close preapical teeth on the mesotibiae. These two species may be separated by the thin lamina with the concave anterior margin, the small apical lobe on the protrochanters, and smoothly convex posterior margin of the metatrochanters for Oropodes hardyi , while Oropodes bellorum has a robust trapezoidal lamina, a broad, truncate tubercle on the protrochanters, and the posterior margin of the metatrochanters is angulate.

Etymology.

The specific epithet is a Latinized singular noun in the genitive case, based on the surname of Alan R. Hardy, retired coleopterist from the California Department of Agriculture, Sacramento, who collected the type series of this species.