Oedichirus unguesdraconis, Rougemont, 2018

Rougemont, Guillaume de, 2018, The genus Oedichirus in New Caledonia (Staphylinidae: Paederinae: Pinophilini), Linzer biologische Beiträge 50 (1), pp. 537-586 : 568-569

Oedichirus unguesdraconis nov.sp. (Figs 22)

Material studied: ♂ Holotype: NEW CALEDONIA, Col des Rousettes N of Bourail , 500m, 7.VIII.78, S&J Peck , rainforest litter ♀ HOLOTYPE Oedichirus unguesdraconis Des. 2017 G. de Rougemont [FMC].

Description: length: 4.6 mm; length of fore-body: 1.9; length of head: 0.55; breadth of head: 0.7; length of antenna: 0.9; length of pronotum: 0.8; breadth of pronotum: 0.8; length of elytron: 0.72; breadth of elytra: 0.8. Body piceous-black, palpi, antennae and legs testaceous. Dorsal surfaces appearing rather dull due to dense puncturation, but devoid of microsculpture except alng anterior margins of abdominal tergites. Pubescence pale, rather long, dense, decumbent. Antennae short, segments V-X almost as broad as long. Legs short and stout. Habitus: Fig. 22h.

Head strongly transverse; eyes as long as temples, not at all salient (lateral margin of head visible below eyes in dorsal view); temples evenly rounded, coarctate with base; post-ocular border situated on lateral margin; puncturation homogeneous, very dense on entire surface except frons. Pronotum relatively short and convex, the sides evenly rounded from anterior angles to base; lateral margins entirely bordered; puncturation very dense, marginally coarser than that of head, homogeneous except for a narrow trace of a mid-longitudinal impunctate line. Elytra broad and short, the sides rounded from base to apico-lateral angles; puncturation very dense, sub-rugose. Keels and grooves of anterior margins of abdominal tergites moderately developed; puncturation homogeneous, very dense, comparable to that of elytra.

Male: abdominal sternite VIII with a simple apical emargination; aedoeagus: Figs. 22arl, av, the ventral plate prolonged into three irregular claw-like branches arising from a single peduncle.

This is a distinctive species by virtue of its small size, compact build, flattened eyes (unusual in Oedichirus ), short antennae and stout legs, and the claw-like processes of the ventral blade of the aedoeagus.