Oxypoda (Bessopora) parvioculata, Assing, 2018

Assing, Volker, 2018, Three new species of Oxypoda from Spain, Armenia, and Ukraine with notes on the fauna of Armenia (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 50 (1), pp. 111-127 : 112-114

Oxypoda (Bessopora) parvioculata nov.sp. ( Figs 1-8 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype ♂: " ♂ / T 139 / SO - Spanien, Sierra - Nevada, Dr. Steiner / Corral de Veleta , Jung-Moränenschutt der Schattseite, 3060 m, 30.7.1954 / Typus Oxypoda microphthalma O. Scheerpeltz / Oxypoda microphthalma nov.spec. / Holotypus ♂ Oxypoda parvioculata sp.n., det. V. Assing 2013" ( NHMW) . Paratypes: 1♂ [in poor condition]: " ♂ / SO - Spanien, Sierra Nevada, Dr. H. Janetschek / Veleta Nord-Hang, Oberste Grasheideflecken, ca. 3380 m, 22.7. 54 / Cotypus Oxypoda microphthalma O. Scheerpeltz / Paratypus Oxypoda parvioculata sp.n., det. V. Assing 2013" ( NHMW) ; 2♀♀: " ♂ / SO - Spanien, Sierra Nevada, Dr. H. Janetschek / Veleta Nord-Hang, Oberste Grasheideflecken, 2960, 22.7. 54 / Typus / Cotypus Oxypoda microphthalma O. Scheerpeltz / Paratypus Oxypoda parvioculata sp.n., det. V. Assing 2013" ( NHMW, cAss) .

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet is an adjective composed of the Latin adjectives (parvus: small) and oculata (with eyes). It refers to the reduced eye size.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Small species; body length 2.9-3.4 mm; length of forebody 1.2-1.3 mm. Coloration: body reddish, with abdominal segment VI and the anterior portion of segment VII noticeably infuscate; legs reddish yellow; antennae reddish.

Head ( Fig. 1 ) of subcircular shape, weakly oblong; punctation fine and moderately dense; interstices with microreticulation. Eyes very small and not projecting from lateral contours of head, composed of approximately 25 ommatidia. Antenna 0.8-0.9 mm long; antennomere III approximately 1.5 times as long as broad, IV as broad as long or weakly transverse, V-X moderately transverse and weakly increasing in width, X less than 1.5 times as broad as long, XI approximately as long as the combined length of IX and X.

Pronotum ( Fig. 1 ) moderately transverse, approximately 1.2 times as broad as long and 1.25 times as broad as head, widest slightly behind middle; posterior angles weakly marked; punctation fine and dense; interstices with microreticulation.

Elytra ( Fig. 1 ) short, approximately 0.75 times as long as pronotum; posterior margin moderately sinuate near postero-lateral angles; punctation fine and dense. Hind wings completely reduced. Metatarsomere I nearly as long as the combined length of II-IV.

Abdomen approximately as broad as elytra; segments III-VII of subequal width; punctation dense and fine; interstices with distinct microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

♂: sternite VIII ( Fig. 2 ) approximately 1.1 times as long as broad and with convex posterior margin; median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 3-5 ) 0.35 mm long, ventral process apically not bifid; apical lobe of paramere ( Fig. 6 ) relatively long and slender, more than 0.4 times as long as basal portion.

♀: sternite VIII ( Fig. 7 ) approximately as long as broad, posterior margin weakly convex, in the middle weakly concave; spermatheca shaped as in Fig. 8.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: This species is characterized particularly by the small eyes and the primary sexual characters. It somewhat resembles O. brachyptera (STEPHENS, 1832) in habitus and coloration, but differs by an even smaller and more slender body, smaller eyes, finer punctation, shorter and more slender antennae, the absence of a palisade fringe at the posterior margin of the abdominal tergite VII, a posteriorly smoothly convex male sternite VIII, the shape and internal structures of the median lobe of the aedeagus, an apically undivided ventral process of the aedeagus, and by the shape of the spermatheca. For illustrations of O. brachyptera see ASSING (2012a).

D i s t r i b u t i o n a n d n a t u r a l h i s t o r y: The species is currently known only from the Veleta in the Sierra Nevada, Andalucía (South Spain), where it may be endemic, as is suggested by the reduced eyes, wings, and palisade fringe at the posterior margin of tergite VII, as well as by the high elevations at which it was found. The specimens were collected from grassy patches and scree at altitudes of 2960-3380 m.

Figures

Figs 1-8: Oxypoda parvioculata nov.sp.: (1) forebody; (2) male sternite VIII; (3-5) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view; (6) paramere; (7) female sternite VIII; (8) spermatheca. Scale bars: 1: 0.5 mm; 2, 6-7: 0.2 mm; 3-5, 8: 0.1 mm.