Oxypoda sunpokeana Klimaszewski & Webster

Webster, Reginald P., Klimaszewski, Jan, Bourdon, Caroline, Sweeney, Jon D., Hughes, Cory C. & Labrecque, Myriam, 2016, Further contributions to the Aleocharinae (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) fauna of New Brunswick and Canada including descriptions of 27 new species, ZooKeys 573, pp. 85-216 : 180-184

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Staphylinidae

Oxypoda sunpokeana Klimaszewski & Webster sp. n. Figs 465-472

Holotype (male).

Canada, New Brunswick, Restigouche Co., NE of jct Little Tobique Rd. and Red Bk., 47.4458°N, 67.0616°W, 13.VI.2006, R.P. Webster, coll. // Alder swamp with eastern white cedar, in moss and grass litter near brook (LFC). Paratypes: Canada, New Brunswick, Queens Co., Upper Gagetown, bog adjacent to Hwy 2, 45.8324°N, 66.2350°W, 3.VII.2010, R.P. Webster, coll. // Tamarack bog, treading Carex , leather-leaf, & sphagnum on bog margin (1 ♀, RWC). Sunbury Co., Burton, SW of Sunpoke Lake, 45.7875°N, 66.5736°W, 17.IV.2005, R.P. Webster, coll., // Red maple swamp, in leaf litter near margin of slow stream (1 ♀, LFCYork Co., Charters Settlement, 45.8427°N, 66.7234°W, 9.V.2004, R.P. Webster, coll. // Abandoned beaver pond, in moist grass litter on muddy soil (1 ♀, RWC); Kingsclear, Mazerolle Settlement, 45.8729°N, 66.8311°W, 28.IV.2006, R.P. Webster, coll. // Stream margin, in grass litter on muddy soil (1 ♂, LFC); Rt. 645 at Beaver Brook, 45.6860°N, 66.8668°W, 6.V.2008, R.P. Webster, coll. // Carex marsh, in litter at base of dead red maple (1 ♂, 2 ♀, RWC); 8.5 km W of Tracy, off Rt. 645, 45.6821°N, 66.7894°W, 6.V.2008, R.P. Webster, coll. // Alder swamp, in moist litter & grass on hummocks near water (1 ♀, RWC); 9.2 km W of Tracy, off Rt. 645, 45.6837°N, 66.8809°W, 22.V.2008, R.P. Webster, coll. // Carex marsh adjacent to slow stream, in Carex hummock (2 ♂, RWC); 14 km WSW of Tracy, S of Rt. 645, 45.6603°N, 66.8607°W, 2.V.2010, R.P. Webster, coll. // Black spruce bog, in sphagnum hummocks with Carex and grasses (1 ♂, RWC).

Etymology.

This species is named after Sunpoke Lake where one of the paratypes was collected.

Description.

Body length 2.5-2.7 mm, subparallel, dark brown with yellowish-brown legs and antennae (Fig. 465); integument moderately glossy, densely punctate and pubescent, pubescence short and adhering to body; head round, narrower than pronotum, eyes small, about one-quarter length of temples in dorsal view; antennal articles all elongate; pronotum round, about as wide as elytra; elytra slightly transverse, subquadrate; abdomen broadly arcuate laterally. Male. Median lobe of aedeagus with tubus broadening apicad in dorsal view (Fig. 466), bulbus with large carina, tubus long, slightly sinuate and produced ventrally at apex in lateral view (Fig. 467); tergite VIII rounded apically (Fig. 468); sternite VIII with apical margin broadly, triangularly produced in middle third, rounded at apex (Fig. 469). Female. Tergite VIII broadly rounded apically (Fig. 470); sternite VIII truncate apically (Fig. 471); spermatheca with capsule club shaped, duct U-shaped, with irregular tight coil posteriorly (Fig. 472).

Distribution.

Known only from NB, Canada.

Natural history.

Adults of Oxypoda sunpokeana were found in various wetland habitats. Specimens were collected by treading Carex , leather-leaf and sphagnum on a tamarack bog margin, sifted from litter at the base of a red maple in a Carex marsh, sifted from moist litter and grass on hummocks in an alder swamp and adjacent to a slow-flowing stream, sifted from leaf litter near the margin of a slow stream in a red maple swamp, sifted from moist grass litter on muddy soil along an abandoned (dried) beaver pond, and sifted from sphagnum hummocks with Carex and grasses in an open black spruce bog. Adults were collected during April, May, and July.

Comments.

This species is externally similar to Oxypoda robusticornis Bernhauer but has the median lobe of the aedeagus and spermatheca shaped differently. The only other Nearctic Oxypoda species with a similarly shaped median lobe is Oxypoda subpolaris Casey, but the latter has a differently shaped body with an enlarged, shield-shaped pronotum which is much broader than the elytra.