Oxypodinus floricola, Assing, 2006

Assing, V., 2006, On two Oxypodinus species from Madagascar, inhabitants of Impatiens inflorescences (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 38 (2), pp. 1216-1220 : 1216-1220

Oxypodinus floricola sp.n. ( Figs 1-14 , 17 )

Holotype Ƌ: Madagascar - 1250 m, Manatenina , Mandraka reserve, near Mandraka, 18.91°S, 47.91°E, 23.I.2006, A. Erpenbach / Holotypus Ƌ Oxypodinus floricola sp.n. det. V. Assing 2006 (cAss). P a r a t y p e s: 7ƋƋ, 13♀♀: same data as holotype ( OÖLL, cAss).

D e s c r i p t i o n: 3.0- 4.5 mm. Body blackish brown to black; legs yellowish; antenna dark brown, with the basal 3-4 antennomeres yellowish.

Head distinctly transverse and with sparse fine puncturation; microsculpture absent; eyes very large and bulging ( Fig. 1 ); antennae with antennomere III as long as or slightly shorter than II, IV subquadrate, V-X transverse and of increasing width; IX-X distinctly larger (longer and broader) than VI-VIII; XI approximately as long as the combined length of IX-X.

Pronotum 1.45-1.50 times as wide as long and 1.1-1.2 times as wide as head; maximal width in or slightly behind middle; posterior angles weakly marked, indistinctly obtuse to completely rounded; margins finely marginate; posterior margin convex; puncturation fine, shallow, and often somewhat ill-defined, denser than that of head; microsculpture absent; pubescence directed caudad along midline and diagonally latero-caudad in lateral areas; pronotal hypomera in lateral view very narrowly visible anteriorly.

Elytra distinctly wider than and at suture approximately 1.3 times as long as pronotum; puncturation more distinct and well-defined than that of head and pronotum; interstices on average approximately as wide as diameter of punctures; microsculpture absent. Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I almost as long as the combined length of II-III.

Abdomen distinctly narrower than elytra, gradually tapering posteriad; segments III and V-VIII with sexual dimorphism; tergites III-VI with dense and moderately coarse, tergites VII-VIII with distinctly finer and sparser puncturation; posterior margin of tergite VII with pronounced palisade fringe ( Fig. 2 ).

Ƌ: sternite III with more or less pronounced lateral processes of characteristic shape ( Figs 2-6 ); posterior margins of tergites V-VI in large ƋƋ distinctly concave, in small ƋƋ weakly concave; tergite VII in large ƋƋ smoothly elevated posteriorly (i. e. distinctly convex in cross-section; tergite VIII in large ƋƋ posteriorly distinctly bent upwards in lateral view ( Fig. 7 ), posterior margin dentate ( Fig. 8 ); sternite VIII oblong, its posterior margin distinctly convex ( Fig. 9 ); median lobe of aedeagus as in Figs 10-11 .

♀: sternite III unmodified; tergites V-VI similar to those of small ƋƋ; tergites VII-VIII unmodified ( Fig. 12 ); sternite VIII transverse, its posterior margin truncate or weakly concave in the middle, and with weakly modified marginal setae; spermatheca as in Fig. 14.

E t y m o l o g y: The name (Latin, noun in apposition: inhabitant of flowers) alludes to the habitat of this species.

I n t r a s p e c i f i c v a r i a t i o n: The species is subject to pronounced intraspecific variation. While the females are rather uniform in size and other characters, the body size and the secondary sexual characters of the male may vary considerably. In large males the secondary sexual characters are fully pronounced, whereas in very small males they may be completely absent; transitional character states are observed in males of intermediate size ( Figs 2-7 ).

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C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: The species is readily distinguished from all its congeners by the highly distinctive male primary and secondary sexual characters, as well as by the shape of the spermatheca. For illustrations of the genitalia and the habitus of other Oxypodinus species occurring in Madagascar see PACE (1999). In the key by PACE (1999), it would key out at couplet 14 together with O. andringitrensis PACE and O. apicicornis PACE. From both species, O. floricola is easily separated also by the complete absence of microsculpture on the forebody. Based on the morphology of the aedeagus and the male secondary sexual characters, O floricola is apparently closely related to O. bispinosus PACE , which, however, has a much more pronounced crista apicalis of the median lobe of the aedeagus, a differently shaped ventral process of the aedeagus (especially in ventral view), microsculptured pronotum and elytra, and which is of much paler coloration.

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d b i o n o m i c s: ThetypelocalityissituatednearMandraka, eastern central Madagascar ( Fig. 17 ) at an altitude of 1250 m. The specimens were collected from inflorescences of Impatiens lyallii BAKER in a secondary rain forest near a road margin. The beetles were observed in the inflorescences as early as the day after they had opened. Apparently, the beetles were feeding pollen from the stamina. Several specimens were observed in copula (ERPENBACH pers. comm.).

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Figures

Figs 1-15: Oxypodinus floricola sp.n. (1-14; holotype: 1, 2, 4, 7, 10-11) and O. levasseuri PACE (15): (1) forebody; (2-3, 15) Ƌ abdomen; (4-6) processes of Ƌ sternite III of ƋƋ of large (4), intermediate (5), and small size (6); (7) Ƌ tergite VIII (large male) in lateral view; (8) posterior part of Ƌ tergite VIII in antero-dorsal view; (9) Ƌ sternite VIII; (10) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; (11) apical part of median lobe in ventral view; (12) ♀ tergite VIII; (13) ♀ sternite VIII; (14) spermatheca. Scale bars: 1-6, 15: 0.5 mm; 7-13: 0.2 mm; 14: 0.1 mm.

Figs 16-17: (16) Oxypodinus levasseuri in inflorescence of Impatiens vilersii (photo by A. Erpenbach); (17) records of O. floricola (filled circle) and O. levasseuri (open circle) in Madagascar.