Oedichirus bowringi, Rougemont, 2018

Rougemont, Guillaume de, 2018, New oriental Oedichirus (Staphylinidae, Paederinae, Pinophilini), Linzer biologische Beiträge 50 (1), pp. 461-536 : 471

Oedichirus bowringi nov.sp.

(Figs 16)

Material studied: ♂ Holotype: India / Bowring 63-47* / HOLOTYPE Oedichirus bowringi Des. 2015 G. de Rougemont [ NHML].

Description: length: 6.7 mm; length of fore-body: 3; length of head: 0.8; breadth of head: 1; length of pronotum: 1; breadth of pronotum: 0.92; length of elytron: 1.25; breadth of elytra: 1.25. Head black, pronotum red, abdominal segments segments III-VI red, the following black; legs piceous, the bases of femora and tarsi testaceous. Dorsal surfaces devoid of microsculpture. Pubescence (rubbed off fore-body of type specimen) on abdomen fairly short, pale, semi-erect. Habitus: Fig. 16h.

Head strongly transverse; post-ocular border consisting of a scarcely bordered groove, not forming a tooth anteriorly; surface glossy; puncturation limited to a pair of small frontal punctures, a pair of large punctures behind post-antennal tubercles, a few small ocular punctures, a group of five punctures on vertex disposed in the shape of a W, and a transverse series of six punctures before base. Pronotum only moderately elongate, the sides retracted in straight lines from broadest point to base; lateral line not bordered; puncturation consisting of a pair of arcuate series of five large punctures preceded by an arcuate series of four punctures near anterior margin, lateral series of two large punctures, and a number of punctures along lateral margins; no punctures in front of base. Elytra with well marked humeral angles, the sides rounded, widest a little behind middle; surface glossy; puncturation sparse, irregularly scattered. Abdominal puncturation disposed in three discrete transverse rows, devoid of a row just behind or contiguous with transverse row of basal keels.

Male: sternite VIII: Fig. 16s8; aedoeagus: Fig. 16arl

This new species has the same colour pattern as O. longipennis KRAATZ . and O. lewisius SHARP. , from both of which it is distinguished exteriorly by the dark tibia, the much sparser puncturation of the elytra, and the absence of a transverse row of punctures immediately behind the row of basal keels and grooves or the abdominal tergites. The conformation of sternite VIII and of the aedoeagus is quite different from both those species.

The origin of this specimen is unknown; the data labels were added by a curator after Bowring bequeathed his collection to the British Museum. John Bowring lived and collected insects of all orders in Hong Kong from 1842 to 1864, but his collection contained specimens from other parts of China and from India acquired through exchanges with other collectors. It should be remembered that at the time of the bequest, British India also included the present States of Pakistan and Bengladesh.