Ochthephilus praepositus Mulsant & Rey, 1878

Makranczy, György, 2014, Revision of the genus Ochthephilus Mulsant & Rey, 1856 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae, Oxytelinae), Revue suisse de Zoologie 121 (4), pp. 457-694 : 545-548

Ochthephilus praepositus Mulsant & Rey, 1878 Figs 29-31, 207-211, 230, 528, 574

Ochthephilus praepositus Mulsant & Rey, 1878: 812 . – Makranczy, 2001: 177, 180. Ancyrophorus ruteri Jarrige, 1949: 60 , syn. nov. – Fagel, 1951a: 9.

Ancyrophorus grigolettoi Fagel, 1951a: 10 . – Fagel, 1951c: 251.

TYPE MATERIAL EXAMINED: Ochthephilus praepositus – LECTOTYPE (3, here designated): “H. Pyr.; Pandellé \ 3 \ Hautes-Pyrénées [*+43.00/-06.11*] \ Lectotypus; Ochthephilus ; praepositus Mulsant & Rey ; [on the back] des. Makranczy, 1999 \ Ochthephilus ; praepositus Mulsant & Rey ; det. Makranczy, 1999” (coll. Rey, MHNL) . – PARALECTOTYPES (2): same data as lectotype (coll. Rey, MHNL, 2). Ancyrophorus ruteri – HOLOTYPE: “ Saint-Pierre de Chartreuse, 900m [*+45.34/+05.82*], VII-1947, leg. V. Planet ” (coll. Jarrige, MNHP) . Ancyrophorus grigolettoi – HOLOTYPE: “ Carnia , Verzegnis, Intissans, rio..., 300-400m [*+46.38/+12.98*], 10.VI. au 4.VII.1950, leg. G. Fagel ” ( ISNB) . PARATYPES (3): same data as holotype ( ISNB, 1). – “ Tirol , prov. de Bolzano, Prato, Val Tires , 300-400m [*+46.47/+11.52*], 12.VI.1949, leg. G. Fagel ” ( ISNB, 1). – “ Bosnia, Pazarić, Krupa [*+43.80/+18.15*], 8.VIII.1929, leg. A. d’Orchymont ” ( ISNB, 1) .

OTHER MATERIAL: see Appendix.

REDESCRIPTION: Forebody as in Fig. 528. Measurements (n=10): HW = 0.58 (0.55-0.62); TW = 0.52 (0.49-0.57); PW = 0.64 (0.59-0.71); SW = 0.81 (0.74-0.88); AW = 0.87 (0.78-0.94); HL = 0.44 (0.42-0.48); EL = 0.20 (0.19-0.21); TL = 0.08 (0.07- 0.10); PL = 0.52 (0.48-0.56); SL = 1.06 (0.97-1.15); SC = 0.97 (0.89-1.05); FB = 2.07 (1.94-2.21); BL = 3.66 (3.17-3.90) mm. Head almost black, pronotum and abdomen blackish dark brown with occasional reddish tint. Elytra slightly reddish dark brown. Mouthparts, legs and antennae very dark brown. Body with greasy lustre mostly due to elytral setation plus forebody punctation and microsculpture. Pubescence rather fine and moderately dense, shorter and stronger (regularly spaced) on elytra, abdominal tergites with finer and longer setae, especially adjacent to laterosternites. Head anteriad eyes and near inner posterior margin of eye with stronger and darker bristles, as well as pronotal margin and middle of tibiae. Elytral apex usually without conspicuous setae, but occasionally slightly larger setae observed near sutural corners. Last tarsomere with a few setae only.

Forebody. Antenna as in Fig. 574. Clypeus with scattered, tiny punctures (and colliculate microsculpture), trapezoid, corners rounded, anterior edge gently arched; separated by an impressed transversal line (frontoclypeal suture) across a shinier area. Supraantennal prominences well developed, feebly separated from clypeus/vertex by impressions. Vertex with oblique impressions in middle almost joining in V-shape. Temples bulging, evenly curved, barely longer than half of eye length. Neck separated by an impressed transversal groove, microsculpture much stronger than on head, with transverse cells, no setation. Pronotum with a narrow marginal bead, visible to anterior pronotal corners. Posterior pronotal angles well-formed, just slightly obtuse-angled, sides in posterior 2/3 very gently concave. 'Anchor' fully formed, longitudinal midline as a slightly elevated, impunctate, weakly microsculptured line, parallel to this line two gentle, semi-longitudinal elongate elevations in anterior half of disc. In corners of anchor feeble, oblique impressions directed outwards, in middle at sides of midline two smaller impressions. Elytra slightly broadening posteriorly, sutural corners narrowly rounded; apical sides slightly oblique and in inner halves more or less straight. Elytral surface rather even with two shallow, oblique impressions behind scutellum. Head with fine coriaceous/colliculate microsculpture, fading on elevated parts, stronger in impressions, on pronotum microsculpture slightly stronger and more even. Punctation on head rather eep but sparse, mostly confined to posterior part and sides, on pronotum also conspicuous but more evenly spaced, average interspaces 1.5x puncture diameters; elytral punctation more even and regularly spaced, average interspaces (with indistinct coriaceous microsculpture) about as puncture diameters, punctures discrete.

Abdomen. Compared to forebody, abdomen with much more sparse, finer, less distinct punctation, microsculpture on tergal apices fine coriaceous with moderately transverse cells. Tergite VII posterior margin with palisade fringe unmodified in middle (nearly uniform breadth). Tergite VIII (Fig. 230) basal edge evenly arched, but straight at a short distance in middle of basal sclerotized band; apical edge with sinuate (protruding) corners, and broad, moderately deep emargination in between. Sternite VIII with rounded apical corners, apex in males shallowly concave laterally, gently sinuate in middle; in females slightly more sinuate (convex) in middle. Tergite X unmodified, apex very slightly wider in males than in females. Aedeagus as in Fig. 207, inner sclerites as in Figs 208-209. Female ringstructures as in Figs 210-211.

COMPARATIVE NOTES: Very common species in mountainous areas of Europe, with a great range of variability, therefore can be confused with a number of species. The most similar is O. rosenhaueri , a generally much rarer species with a similar shaped inner sclerite in the aedeagus. Usually they can be separated by the more elongate antennae and elytra of O. rosenhaueri , but there are unusual specimens in both species. In females the different form of tergite IX provides a fair chance of separation. Other similar species are O. carnicus (with swollen, asymmetrical antennomere 7) and O. lenkoranus (produced basal edge of tergite VIII), more similar to O. rosenhaueri in their more slender and elongate antennae, but closer to O. praepositus in their shorter elytra.

NOTE: Mulsant and Rey (1878) credited L. Pandellé with the authorship of O. praepositus . Although Pandellé is likely to be more than just collector of the specimens, there is no explicit statement that he provided any description. Therefore, Mulsant and Rey are the authors of this name.

DISTRIBUTION: For such an extremely common and dominant species as this, the distribution range is not that wide: from the Pyrenées to the whole Alps and Carpathians (where it is the most common) through the northern Balkans to the Caucasus and Turkey.

FIGS 277-280

(277-278) Ochthephiluskirschenblatti sp. n.; headandpronotum (277), elytra (278). (279-280) O. schuelkei sp. n.; head and pronotum (279), elytra (280). All SEM, dorsal views. Scale bar = 0.4 mmfor 277-279, 0.5 mmfor 280.

BIONOMICS: Specimens were collected most frequently from sprayed moss at waterfalls and on rocks in faster mountain streams; in this habitat it is a common and dominant species in most part of Europe. Besides, it was also encountered in a wide range of habitats and situations: wet leaflitter packs at stream in mixed forest, willow moss (Fontinalis sp.) and stringy moss (Leptodictyum sp.), sandy-gravelly banks of streams in Abies and Picea forests, even more muddy spots and under stones on riverbank, sweep-netted on wet meadow, captured by car-net, flew to light. Also recorded on stems of vegetation in flooded areas.