Oedichirus falcifer, Rougemont, 2018

Rougemont, Guillaume de, 2018, New oriental Oedichirus (Staphylinidae, Paederinae, Pinophilini), Linzer biologische Beiträge 50 (1), pp. 461-536 : 475-476

Oedichirus falcifer nov.sp. (Figs 4)

M a t e r i a l s t u d i e d: ♂ Holotype: MALAYSIA – Pahang / Johor, Endau-Rompin n. park, 100 m, Salendang 28.II – 12.III.1995, M. Strba & R. Hergovitz leg. / HOLOTYPE Oedichirus falcifer Des. 2016 G. de Rougemont [NHMW].

D e s c r i p t i o n: length: ca. 8.5 mm; length of fore-body: 3.8; length of head: 0.87; breadth of head: 1.2; length of antenna: 2.5; length of pronotum: 1.35; breadth of pronotum: 1.17; length of elytron: 1.82; breadth of elytra: 1.72. Head black, pronotum red, anterior half of elytra black, posterior half red, abdominal segments III-VI red, VII-IX black; palpi and antennae brown; legs bicolorous, all tarsi testacous, basal 2/3 rds of profemora testaceous, distal third testacous; protibiae only feebly infuscate, gradually paler distally; basal half of meso- and metafemora testaceous, distal halves infuscate; meso- and metatibiae almost entirely but lightly infuscate, the distal extremities pale. Dorsal surfaces devoid of microsculpture. Pubescence sparse (mostly rubbed off on fore-body), pale, erect and semi-erect. Habitus: Fig. 4h.

Head strongly transverse, eyes very large and prominent; post-ocular carina well marked, extending all the way under posterior margin of eye, forming a prominent angle almost contiguous with eye; puncturation sparse, consisting of only a few scattered fairly small punctures. Pronotum without a lateral border; disc sparsely punctate, with a pair of arcuate discal series of four punctures each, a group of five punctures before that, lateral series of two large punctures, and a number of smaller punctures on all margins. Elytra short, very convex, humeral angles well marked, the sides strongly rounded to posterolateral angles, the base arcuately concave; puncturation sparse, the punctures arranged in three widely separate longitudinal series of five or six punctures each, the first next to suture, the other two discal, in addition to humeral series of four punctures and a number of small punctures along lateral margins. Punctures of abdomen arranged in three discrete transverse rows on each tergite in addition to basal row of short keels.

Male: abdominal sternite VII unmodified; sternite VIII: Fig. 4s8, the left tooth of the posterior margin acute, the right tooth blunt, enclosing a comb of about 15 long stout setae; aedoeagus: Fig. 4arl.

This new species is a member of the O. Alatus group and is well characterised by the great extent of the red portion of the elytra and the sexual characters. The anterior process of the ventral sclerite of the median lobe is characteristic, similar to that of O. astoni nov.sp., but the falciform ventral process of the median lobe is shorter.

D i s t r i b u t i o n: Map 2 . Key 1.

Figures

Map 2: Distribution of the O. Alatus group. Red circles: O. alatus; blue circles: O. chapmani; green circle: O. sihanouki; blue square: O. vexans and sp. A5; red square: O. falcifer; green lozenge: O. patcholatkoi; red lozenge: O. guomindangi; green square: O. astoni; blue stars: O. javanicus; red star: sp. A1; blue triangle: sp. A3; red triangles: sp. A4.