Oedichirus maierae, Rougemont, 2018

Rougemont, Guillaume de, 2018, The genus Oedichirus in New Caledonia (Staphylinidae: Paederinae: Pinophilini), Linzer biologische Beiträge 50 (1), pp. 537-586 : 554

Oedichirus maierae nov.sp. (Figs 17)

Material studied: ♂ Holotype: NEW CALEDONIA 11787, 22º15’S x 166º49’E, 280m, Pic du Pin, Site 1, rainfor. 26 Nov.2004, berlesate, G. Monteith P. Grimbacher ♀ HOLOTYPE Oedichiirus maierae Des. 2017 G. de Rougemont [ MNHN] ; ♀ paratype: NEW CALEDONIA 11854, 2217’S x 16653’E. 250m, Pic du Grand Kaori , Site 2, 22 Nov 2004, Monteith, Grimbacher, pitfall traps, rainforest ♀ PARATYPE Oedichirus maierae des. 2017 G. de Rougemont [ QM] ; 1♀ paratype: NEW CALEDONIA 11833, 22º19’S x 166º55’E, 200 m, Foret Nord , site 2, rainf., 2-4 Dec 2004, G. Monteith & P. Grimbacher, berlesate ♀ PARATYPE Oedichirus maierae des. 2017 G. de Rougemont [ QM] ; 1♂ & 1♀ paratypes: NEW CALEDONIA, Col de Mouirange , 30 km E Nouméa , 300m, 11.VIII.78, S&J Peck, berl. Forest litter ♀ PARATYPE Oedichirus maierae n. sp. des. 2017 G. de Rougemont [ FMC, CRO] ; ♂ & 1♀ paratypes: NEW CALEDONIA: Prov. Sud, Forêt des Electriques, Parc Prov. Rivière Bleue 22º10’S 166º40’E, 180 m, II.23.93, leg. Raven, Platnick & Harvey ♀ PARATYPE Oedichirus maierae n. sp. des. 2017 G. de Rougemont [ AMNH] .

Description: length: 7-7.3 mm; length of fore-body: 2.6; length of head: 0.65; breadth of head: 0.9; length of antenna: 1.7; length of pronotum: 0.17; breadth of pronotum: 1.1; length of elytron: 0.8; breadth of elytra: 1.2. Head, pronotum and abdomen black, elytra piceous, sometimes (type) dark reddish-brown; palpi, antennae and legs entirely testaceous. Head shiny but, especially in anterior half, distinctly micro-reticulate, pronotum and elytra devoid of microsculpture; abdominal tergites with dense transverse micro-stiation. Frons with some short pale pubescence, rest of body glabrous. Habitus: Fig. 17h.

Head moderately transverse; eyes large, about as long as temples, protruberant; groove of post-ocular border narrow, inconspicuous, adjacent to carina on lateral margin; temples broadly rounded, almost coarctate with base; puncturation of disc very sparse, with half a dozen small shallow frontal punctures and about six more, deeper punctures on vertex. Pronotum relatively short, at anterior angles broader than head, the sides rounded to narrow base; lateral margins entirely bordered; puncturation dense, coarse, homogeneous. Elytra short, broad, humeral angles completely obsolete, posterior margin scarcely concave; puncturation coarse and dense, comparable to that of pronotum but punctures round, sparser antero-laterad. Keels and grooves of anterior margins of abdominal tergites short, obsolescent on tergite III, long and pronounced on IV-VII; puncturation of tergites sparse and irregular, on tergite VI consisting only of a transverse anterior row and a posterior marginal row of punctures, VII almost impunctate.

Male: abdominal sternite VIII: Fig. 17s8; aedoeagus: Figs. 17arl, av.

Female: sternite IX: Fig. 17vp.

Dedication: to our colleague Crystal Maier who arranged the loan of specimens from the Field Museum in Chicago.