Oedichirus bilaminatus, Rougemont, 2018

Rougemont, Guillaume de, 2018, The genus Oedichirus in New Caledonia (Staphylinidae: Paederinae: Pinophilini), Linzer biologische Beiträge 50 (1), pp. 537-586 : 542-543

Oedichirus bilaminatus nov.sp. (Figs 19)

Material studied: ♂ Holotype: NEW CALEDONIA: Col des Roussettes 490m., berlese litter, dry forest, May 29 1987, N.I. Platnick, R.J. Raven ♀ HOLOTYPE Oedichirus bilaminatus des. 2017 G. de Rougemont [ AMNH] ; 1♂ & 1♀ paratypes: [ Ibid. ] ♀ PARATYPE Oedichirus bilaminatus des. 2017 G. de Rougemont [ AMNH, CRO ; 1♂ & 1♀ paratypes: NEW CALEDONIA, Col des Roussettes , N of Bourail, 500 m, 7.VIII.78, S&J Peck, rainforest litter ♀ PARATYPE Oedichirus bilaminatus des. 2017 G. de Rougemont [ FMC].

Additional material: 1♀: NEW CALEDONIA 11474, 21º34’S X 116º06’E, Col de Petchecara , middle, 22 Nov 2003 - 28 Jan 2004, G. Monteith, flight int. trap ♀ Oedichirus bilaminatus n. sp. det. 2017 G. de Rougemont [ QM] ; 1♀: NEW CALEDONIA 8641, 21º45’E x 116º09’E, Ningua Res. Camp, 1100m, 12-13 Nov 2001, C. Burwell, G. Monteith, hand collect ♀ Oedichirus bilaminatus n. sp. des. 2017 G. de Rougemont [ CRO] ; 1♀: NEW CALEDONIA 12282, 21º09’S x 165º19’E, 550m, Aoupinie, sawmill, Monteith, 2 May 2005, berlesate ♀ Oedichirus bilaminatus n. sp. det. 2017 G. de Rougemont [ QM] .

Description: length: ca. 9 mm; length of fore-body: 3.15; length of head: 0.82; breadth of head: 1.2; length of antenna: 1.6; length of pronotum: 1.35; breadth of pronotum: 1.07; length of elytron: 1; breadth of elytra: 1.5. Head and pronotum dark brown, elytra pale brown, middle of abdominal tergites black, sides brown, the black portion becoming progressively broader on posterior segments; palpi, antennae and legs entirely testaceous. Head with dense micro-reticulation, the surface appearing dull; pronotum and elytra devoid of microsculpture; microsculpture of abdomen consisting of transverse micro-striae. Fore-body devoid of pubescence apart from sparse pale forwardly-directed hairs on frons; abdomen with sparse pale very short decumbent pubescence. Habitus: Fig. 19h.

Head moderately transverse; eyes almost as long as temples, the latter evenly rounded to neck; post-ocular carina sharp, situated on lateral margin, but the associated groove displaced to dorsal surface, almost merging with carina at level of neck but diverging anteriad where it merges with a narrow groove which lies parallel to the inner margin of eye; puncturation of entire surface except frons coarse and dense, the punctures umbilicate, the interstices smaller than diameter of punctures. Pronotum moderately elongate, broader than head behind anterior angles, the sides rounded to narrow base; lateral margins entirely bordered; puncturation coarse and dense, the punctures simple, on centre of disc a little elongate, interstices narrower than diameter of punctures. Elytra short, the sides not evenly rounded, widened in almost straight lines to 2♀ 5 ths the distance from base to posterior margin where they are a little angled, and almost parallel thereafter; puncturation sparser than that of pronotum, not forming patterns except for a juxtasutural series of seven smaller punctures. Keels and grooves on anterior margins of tergites IV-VII long but shallow; puncturation of tergites dense, regular, the punctures progressively finer but not sparser on succeeding segments.

Male: sternite VIII (Fig. 19s8) with a carina on either forming a strongly pigmented lamina, broader on the left, bending over the surface of sternite; aedoeagus: Figs.19arl, all, the apex of the process of the ventral blade slender and hooked in lateral view.

Female: abdominal sternite IX: Fig. 19vp.

This species can only be distinguished from O. semibrunneus nov.sp. by the male and female sexual characters.