Oedichirus pauli, Assing, 2019

Assing, Volker, 2019, Three new species and additional records of Oedichirus (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Paederinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 51 (1), pp. 33-42 : 35-39

Oedichirus pauli nov.sp. ( Figs 1-6 )

T y p e m a t e r i a l: Holotype ♂: ̎N-Vietnam - pass 8 km NW Sa Pa, 22°21'10''N, 103°46'01''E, 2010 m, second. forest, 12.VIII. 2013, V. Assing [7b+2] / Holotypus ♂ Oedichirus pauli sp.n. det. V. Assing 2019̎ (cAss) . Paratypes: 1♂: same data as holotype, but leg. Wunderle (cWun) ; 1♂: ̎N-Vietnam - 7 km NW Sa Pa , 22°20'58''N, 103°46'47''E, 2000 m, primary forest, 29. VII. 2013, Wunderle [2+2]̎ (cAss) .

E t y m o l o g y: This species is dedicated to my friend and long-time field companion Paul Wunderle (Mönchengladbach), who collected two of the type specimens.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Moderately large species; body length 7.8-9.5 mm; length of forebody 3.3-3.8 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 1 . Coloration: body uniformly black; legs, antennae, and maxillary palpi yellowish.

Head ( Fig. 2 ) transverse, broadest across eyes; lateral contours behind eyes converging, weakly convex, posterior angles obsolete; dorsal surface with irregularly spaced coarse punctures, median portion of frons impunctate. Eyes strongly convex, as long as, or slightly longer than distance from posterior margin of eye to posterior constriction of head. Antenna approximately 2.8 mm long.

Pronotum ( Fig. 2 ) 1.12-1.14 times as long as broad and approximately 1.05 times as broad as head, widest anteriorly and distinctly tapering posteriorly; punctation coarse and irregularly spaced; postero-median portion impunctate.

Elytra ( Fig. 2 ) short, approximately 0.6 times as long as pronotum, depressed, and with distinctly convex lateral contours; humeral angles completely obsolete; punctation coarse. Hind wings completely reduced.

Abdomen ( Fig. 1 ) slightly broader than elytra; punctation not arranged in transverse rows, coarse and rather dense on tergites III-VI, sparser and less deep on tergites VII- VIII; anterior impressions of tergites III-VI without distinct longitudinal keels; near anterior margins of tergites III-VII narrowly with pronounced reticulate microsculpture, remainder of tergal surfaces with very shallow and fine microsculpture composed of transverse striae; microsculpture of tergite VIII composed of distinct isodiametric or weakly transverse meshes; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.

♂: sternite VII ( Figs 3-4 ) posteriorly with a pair of parallel oblong keels, posterior margin weakly concave in the middle; sternite VIII ( Figs 3-4 ) strongly asymmetrically impressed and without setae in the middle, posteriorly with deeply concave posterior excision, laterally with a long spine-shaped process on the right and a short tooth-shaped process on the left (ventral view); aedeagus 1.5 mm long, asymmetric, and shaped as in Figs 5-6.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Based on the similar external characters, on the similar modifications of the male sternites VII and VIII, and on the similar general morphology of the aedeagus, O. pauli is undoubtedly closely allied to O. schuelkei ASSING, 2014 and O. abbreviatus from Yunnan, China. It is reliably distinguished from them by the male primary and secondary sexual characters. For illustrations of O. schuelkei and O. abbreviatus see ASSING (2014).

The only other micropterous Oedichirus species recorded from Vietnam is O. strictipennis (male unknown), which differs from O. pauli by a more oblong pronotum with sinuate lateral margins, denser and less coarse punctation of the head and the pronotum, distinctly and more extensively blackish femoral apices and tibial bases, and by longer and more slender elytra. For illustrations of O. strictipennis 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: Oedichirus pauli was collected in two localities near Sa Pa in North Vietnam. The specimens were sifted from litter, moss, and roots in a secondary deciduous forest with bamboo and bushes and in a degraded primary subtropical cloud forest at an altitude of approximately 2000 m. One of the paratypes is somewhat teneral.

Figures

Figs 1-7: Oedichirus pauli (1-6) and O. russipennis (7): (1) habitus (holotype); (2) forebody; (3, 7) male abdominal segments VII-VIII in ventral view; (4) male abdominal segments VII-VIII in latero-ventral view; (5-6) aedeagus in lateral and in ventral view. Scale bars: 1-4: 1.0 mm; 5-7: 0.5 mm.