Ocyusa asperula Casey

Klimaszewski, Jan, Webster, Reginald P., Langor, David W., Bourdon, Caroline, Hammond, H. E. James, Pohl, Greg R. & Godin, Benoit, 2014, Review of Canadian species of the genera Gnathusa Fenyes, Mniusa Mulsant & Rey and Ocyusa Kraatz (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae), ZooKeys 412, pp. 9-40 : 30

2. Ocyusa asperula Casey Figure 9 a–l, Map 5

Ocyusa asperula Casey 1894: 305 [often cited as 1893], Webster et al. 2009: 192.

Ocyusa brevipennis Bernhauer 1906: 344. Moore and Legner 1975: 458. Synonymy confirmed.

Diagnosis.

Body length 2.8-3.0 mm, sides subparallel; body colour dark brown, with tarsi, two basal antennal articles and legs rust-brown, rest of antennal articles dark brown; forebody with moderately dense microsculpture, punctation and pubescence, and strongly glossy; head round and about as wide as pronotum; pronotum transverse, with sides strongly arcuate, widest in apical third, and as wide as elytra; elytra at suture much shorter than pronotum (Fig. 9a); abdomen broadly arcuate laterally, slightly broader than elytra at middle and with basal impressions on first three visible tergites; antennae with articles V-X subquadrate (Fig. 9a). MALE: male tergite VIII with apical margin slightly pointed medially (Fig. 9c); sternite VIII rounded apically (Fig. 9d); median lobe of aedeagus with tubus convex basally and then strongly bent ventrally and with complex structures of the internal sac (Fig. 9b). FEMALE: tergite VIII truncate apically with small projections laterally (Fig. 9f); sternite VIII rounded apically (Fig. 9g); spermatheca with small spherical capsule with long and broad invagination, and S-shaped broad stem slightly swollen posteriorly (Fig. 9e).

Distribution.

This native Nearctic species was described from Rhode Island by Casey 1894 [often cited as 1893]. It was recorded also from New Brunswick in Canada (Map 5) and from Iowa and Massachusetts in the United States ( Casey 1894, Bernhauer 1906 [as brevipennis], Moore and Legner 1975, Webster et al. 2009).

Bionomics.

Some adults were collected from April to July at lake margins, on moist soil/gravel among sedges, and by treading emergent Carex and grasses. Webster et al. (2009) collected adults by sifting grass litter and mosses (usually sphagnum) near small pools in eastern white-cedar swamps, red maple ( Acer rubrum L.) swamps with eastern white-cedar, and in alder swamps. Others were collected by treading green sphagnum, Carex , and grasses in a black spruce bog and by treading cattails and sedges in a boggy marsh.

Locality data.

CANADA: New Brunswick: Charlotte Co., 3 km SW of King Brook Lake, 45.3194°N, 67.4414°W, 27.V.2007 (RWC) 1 sex undetermined; 3.0 km NW of Pomeroy Ridge, 45.3059°N, 67.4343°W, 5.VI.2008 (RWC) 1 sex undetermined; Gloucester Co., ca. 1.5 km NE of Six Roads, off Paleot Rd., 47.6292 °N, 64.8565°W, 32.V.2010, R.P. Webster (RWC) 1 sex undetermined; Northumberland Co., Goodfellow Brook PNA, 46.8943°N, 65.3796°W, 23.V.2007 (BM) 1 sex undetermined; York Co., New Maryland, off Hwy 2, E of Baker Brook, 45.8760°N, 66.6252°W, 6.IV.2005 (RWC) 1 male; near Mazerolle Settlement, 45.8987 °N, 66.7903°W, 9.IV.2006, R.P. Webster (LFC, RWC, NBM) 6 males, 3 females; 9.2 km W of Tracy off Rt. 645, 45.6837°N, 66.8809°W, 22.V.2008 (RWC) 1 female; ca. 14 km SW of Tracy, S of Rt. 645, 45.6603°N, 66.8603°W, 2.VII.2010, R.P. Webster (RWC) 1 sex undetermined.