Sepedophilus opicus (Say, 1834)

Brunke, Adam J. & Marshall, Stephen A., 2011, Contributions to the faunistics and bionomics of Staphylinidae (Coleoptera) in northeastern North America: discoveries made through study of the University of Guelph Insect Collection, Ontario, Canada, ZooKeys 75, pp. 29-68 : 36-37

Sepedophilus opicus (Say, 1834)

Materials.

CANADA: ON: Hald.-Norfolk Reg., Backus Tract Woods, sifting leaf litter under mushrooms, 7-VI-2009, A. Brunke and L. DesMarteaux (5); Backus Tract Woods, sifted litter in sugar maple-dominated, mesic forest, 2-IV-2010, A. Brunke (1); Kent Co., Rondeau Prov. Pk., spicebush trail, carolinian forest, malaise, 16 to 29-VII-2003, S. Marshall et al. (1); Rondeau Prov. Pk., south point trail, slough forest, sifting leaf litter, 27-IX-2009, A. Brunke and D.K.B. Cheung (1). Lambton Co., Pinery Prov. Pk., Carolinian Trail, hardwood forest, litter around white pines, 17-IV-2010, A. Brunke (3).

Diagnosis.

Sepedophilus opicus can be distinguished from other members of genus in northeastern North America by a combination of: base of elytra with reddish mark ings extending laterally to the margin; basal abdominal segments with long bristles; elytral epipleuron uniformly setose; pronotal microsculpture distinct ( Campbell 1976).

This widely distributed species is known from Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Québec, Texas, and Virginia ( Campbell 1976). Herein we newly record it from Ontario (Map 7). Sepedophilus opicus appears to be confined to deciduous forests in litter, under bark and on mushrooms, and reaches its northern distributional limit in southern Canada. A large number of individuals were found on fresh mushrooms (~35, 5 taken as vouchers) in Backus Tract Woods, Ontario and this may be a preferred microhabitat.