Operclipygus rupicolus, Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2013

Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2013, A systematic revision of Operclipygus Marseul (Coleoptera, Histeridae, Exosternini), ZooKeys 271, pp. 1-401 : 336-338

Operclipygus rupicolus sp. n. Figs 92 C–DMap 32

Type locality.

PERU: Cusco: Cock of the Rock Lodge NE of Paucartambo [13°03.3'S, 71°32.7'W].

Type material.

Holotype female: "PERU: Dept. Cusco: Cock of the Rock Lodge, NE Paucartambo 13°03.3'S, 71°32.7'W 1120m, 4-9-XI-2007 D.Brzoska, ex. flight intercept trap PER1B07 001" / “SEMC0871399” / “♀” (MUSM).

Diagnostic description.

Length: 2.34 mm, width: 1.81 mm; body rufescent, elongate oval, widest at middle of elytra; frons flat with sides rounded, frontal stria continuous, arcuate in front; supraorbital stria absent; epistoma short, flat; labrum short, with apex asymmetrical, left side more strongly produced than right; left mandible untoothed, right with acute basal tooth; pronotal disk depressed along basal margin between the 4th elytral striae, with fine ground punctation only, lacking coarse punctures at sides; marginal stria interrupted for width of head; lateral submarginal stria complete, curved inward anteriorly nearly to anterior submarginal stria, which is weakly crenulate, narrowly recurved posterad at sides; median pronotal gland open ings situated laterad end of anterior submarginal stria, about 8 puncture widths from anterior margin; elytron with two complete epipleural striae, outer subhumeral stria complete, inner subhumeral stria absent, striae 1-4 complete, 5th stria present in apical half, sutural present in apical two-thirds; apices of striae 2-5 weakly connected by series of apical punctures; prosternal keel weakly produced at base, carinal striae complete, converging to front, connected by narrow anterior arch, secondary striae present behind prosternal gland openings, weak; prosternal lobe narrow, marginal stria complete; mesoventrite shallowly emarginate in front, marginal stria complete; mesometaventral stria arched forward to near middle of mesoventrite, continued by lateral metaventral stria which runs obliquely toward outer corner of metacoxa; central part of metaventral disk impunctate; 1st abdominal ventrite with two complete lateral striae; propygidium uniformly covered with small punctures separated by about their widths; pygidium with ground punctation dense, but extremely fine, with slightly larger punctures densest toward base, sparser toward apex; marginal pygidial sulcus complete, deep, outer edge crenulate, inner edge smooth. Male: not known.

Remarks.

This species is not extremely distinctive, but the lack of lateral pronotal punctures (Fig. 92C), the weak connections among the apices of several elytral striae, the complete mesoventral marginal stria, and the deeply impressed pygidial sulcus (Fig. 92D) together will distinguish it.

Etymology.

This species’ name comes from the Latin name of the Andean Cock-of-the-rock, Rupicola peruviana (Latham), acknowledging the lodge where the species was collected.