Myrmecopora vaga (LeConte, 1866)

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 : 150-153

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Staphylinidae

Myrmecopora vaga (LeConte, 1866) Figs 324-330

Material examined.

New Brunswick, Westmorland Co., Petit-Cap, 46.1836°N, 64.1468°W, 19.VI.2012, R.P. Webster & D. Sabine // Sandy barrier beach, sifting drift material (mostly dried/decaying sea wrack) (1 ♀, LFC; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, RWC); same data but 17.VI.2014, M.-A. Giguère (2 sex undetermined, RWC).

Natural history.

Myrmecophora vaga was sifted from drift material consisting mostly of dried and decaying sea wrack on a sandy barrier sea beach. Majka et al. (2008a) reported this species from a similar habitat (flotsam on small beach) from NS. A number of western Palaearctic species of Myrmecopora also live in beach drift on coastal sea beaches ( Assing 1997).

Distribution in Canada and Alaska.

NS, NB ( Bousquet et al. 2013). Majka et al. (2008a) reported this species for the first time for Canada from NS. The species has not been identified again in the Lake Superior region since the original description; although Ahn and Ashe (1995: 151) examined specimens in their phylogenetic study, they did not specify any locality data.

Comments.

Myrmecopora vaga bears superficial resemblance to European Myrmecopora uvida (Erichson) but has differently shaped median lobe of aedeagus with shorter and straight ventral part of tubus in lateral view which is longer and sinuate in Myrmecopora uvida , and by the shorter and broader stem of spermatheca. For illustrations of genitalia of Myrmecopora uvida see Assing 1997.