Operclipygus dybasi, 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 : 215-216

Operclipygus dybasi sp. n. Fig. 58FMap 20

Type locality.

PANAMA: Chiriquí: Finca Lerida near Boquete [8°47'N, 82°26'W].

Type material.

Holotype female: "Finca Lerida, near Boquete, Chiriquí Prov., PANAMA, March 14 1959" / "Barca area alt. 5650 ft." / "CNHM Panama Zool. Exped. (1959) H. S. Dybas leg."/ "Berlese: floor litter" / " Phelister II det. R. Wenzel 19 " / FMNH-INS 0000069314" / “♀” (FMNH).

Diagnostic description.

Length: 2.25 mm, width: 2.00 mm; body rufobrunneus, faintly bicolored, elytra mostly lighter rufescent, with diffuse darker spots at middle on each side of the median suture; broadly rounded, widest at humeri, relatively flattened above, though convex beneath; frons strongly depressed at middle, with conspicuous ground punctation, lacking microsculpture; frontal stria rounded at sides, absent from middle; labrum about 3 × as wide as long, strongly emarginate at middle; left mandible with large blunt basal tooth, right mandible with small acute basal tooth; pronotal disk with fine, narrow prescutellar impression, fine ground punctation becoming coarser and denser toward sides, with numerous coarse punctures intermingled at sides; marginal pronotal stria not descending onto hypomeron; lateral submarginal stria obsolete in basal two-thirds, present only in anterior corner, quite close to anterolateral part of marginal stria; anterior submarginal stria present across middle, barely recurved posterad at sides; median pronotal gland openings just over halfway back from anterior pronotal margin; elytra with two complete epipleural striae, outer subhumeral stria present in posterior half, inner subhumeral stria absent, striae 1-4 complete, 5th stria present in apical third, sutural stria present slightly longer; venter with weak microsculpture on prosternum and fairly conspicuously at sides of posterior sterna; prosternal keel shallowly emarginate at base, depressed between coxae, with carinal striae complete, united in narrow anterior arch, with fragmented secondary striae between coxae; prosternal lobe appearing deflexed, marginal stria nearly complete; mesoventrite weakly projecting at front, marginal mesoventral stria broadly interrupted by strongly arched meso-metaventral stria; lateral metaventral stria gently curved laterad posteriorly, extending toward posterior corner of metepisternum; propygidium and pygidium with conspicuous transverse microsculpture; propygidium with sparse small, round punctures separated by about 3 × their diameters; pygidium with rather dense ground punctation at sides and apically, with very slightly coarser punctures sparsely intermingled throughout; pygidial sulcus fine, weak, present around apical half of margin only. Male: not known.

Remarks.

This species is only known from a single female, but exhibits several distinctive characters, including the bicolored pattern (Fig. 58F), the general breadth of the body and head, and the relatively high density of the ground punctation toward the sides of the pronotum.

Etymology.

We name this species for Henry Dybas (1915-1981), formerly of the Field Museum, collector of the unique specimen, and among the published few who have contributed to current understanding of Operclipygus diversity.