Oedichirus puicus, Assing, 2019

Assing, Volker, 2019, Three new species and additional records of Oedichirus (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 51 (1), pp. 33-42 : 39-40

Oedichirus puicus nov.sp. ( Figs 17-22 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype ♂: ̎N-Thailand, NWW Chiang Mai, Doi Pui, 1600-1685 m, 22.-23.V.2006, leg. R. Grimm / Holotypus ♂ Oedichirus puicus sp. n. det. V. Assing 2019̎ ( SMNS). Paratype ♂: same data as holotype (cAss) .

E t y m o l o g y: The specific epithet is derived from the name of the mountain where the type locality is situated.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body length 6.4-6.7 mm; length of forebody 2.9-3.0 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 17 . Coloration: forebody brown; abdomen blackish with the apex (segments VIII-X and posterior portion of segment VII) reddish-brown to reddish; legs, antennae, and maxillary palpi yellowish.

Head ( Fig. 18 ) transverse, broadest across eyes; lateral contours behind eyes converging, weakly convex, posterior angles obsolete, immediately behind eyes with the posterolateral carina forming a distinct angle; dorsal surface with coarse and rather dense punctures across middle and at posterior margin, frons with fine and sparse punctures, across vertex with an extensive transverse spot without punctation. Eyes strongly convex, slightly longer than distance from posterior margin of eye to posterior constriction of head. Antenna approximately 2.0 mm long.

Pronotum ( Fig. 18 ) 1.16-1.18 times as long as broad and approximately 1.05 times as broad as head, widest anteriorly and distinctly tapering posteriorly; punctation coarse and somewhat irregularly spaced; posterior portion with longitudinal impunctate patches.

Elytra ( Fig. 18 ) short, 0.55-0.57 times as long as pronotum, depressed, and with distinctly convex lateral contours; humeral angles completely obsolete; punctation coarse. Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen ( Fig. 19 ) slightly broader than elytra; punctation not arranged in transverse rows, coarse and dense on tergites III-VI, sparser and finer on tergites VII-VIII; anterior impressions of tergites III-VI without distinct longitudinal keels; near anterior margins of tergites III-VII narrowly with pronounced microsculpture, remainder of tergal surfaces without microsculpture; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

♂: sternite VII ( Fig. 20 ) unmodified; sternite VIII ( Fig. 20 ) with moderately deep, rather broad, and symmetric posterior excision, otherwise unmodified; aedeagus 1.0 mm long and shaped as in Figs 21-22.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Using the key to the species recorded from Thailand in ROUGEMONT (2018b), O. puicus would key out together with O. uncifer ROUGEMONT, 2018. It is distinguished from this species by the bicoloured body (O. uncifer: body black), by the shape of the ventral process of the aedeagus (O. uncifer: ventral process stouter, shorter, and apically hooked), and by the shape of the posterior excision of the male sternite VIII (U-shaped in O. uncifer). For illustrations of O. uncifer see ROUGEMONT (2018b).

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 type locality is situated in Doi Pui, a mountain some 10 km to the northwest of Chiang Mai, North Thailand. Aside from the altitude (1600-1685 m), ecological data are not available.

Figures

Figs 17-22: Oedichirus puicus: (17) habitus; (18) forebody; (19) abdomen; (20) male abdominal segments VII-VIII in ventral view; (21-22) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view. Scale bars: 17- 19: 1.0 mm; 20: 0.5 mm; 21-22: 0.2 mm.