Oxypoda (Mycetodrepa) retunsa Assing & Brachat & Meybohm 2019, spec. nov.
Creators: name: Assing, Volker
name: Brachat, Volker
name: Meybohm, Heinrich
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Oxypoda
Oxypoda retunsa

description: Oxypoda (Mycetodrepa) retunsa ASSING spec. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: D801AADC-CC6A-4E15-8988-BE8CCEA48013
(Figs 47–56)
Type material: Holotype ♂: “GR – Crete [11a], NW Dikti Oros, Limnakaro, 35°08'08"N, 25°29'00"E, 1170 m, sifted, 27.III.2012, V. Assing / Holotypus ♂ Oxypoda retunsa sp. n. det. V. Assing 2019” (cAss). Paratypes: 3 ♂♂: same data as holotype (cAss); 1 ♀: same data, but “[10a] ... 26.III.2012 ” (cAss); 1 ♂: same data, but “[17a] ... 30.III.2012 ” (cAss); 1 ♂: “GR – Crete [24a], SW Chania, SW Prases, 35°21'32"N, 23°49'28"E, 740 m, litter sifted, 20.III.2018, V. Assing ” (cAss); 1 ♀: “GR – Crete [33], Lefka Ori, E Kallergi Refuge, 35°19'38"N, 23°57'02"E, 1460 m, litter & grass, 22.III.2018, V. Assing ” (cAss); 1 ♂: “GR – Crete [36], SW Chania, SW Prases, 35°21'30"N, 23°49'40"E, 820 m, sifted, 22.III.2018, V. Assing ” (cAss); 3 ♂♂, 1 ♀: “GR – Crete, Hiraklion, Abelakia Oros, 35°09'52"N, 24°55'36"E, 1030 m, VI.2016 – VI.2018, Giachino & Vailati ” (cAss); 1 ♀: “35°05'17 E25°51'54, GR Ostkreta (2), Thripti 880 m 10.3.2018, l. Brachat & Meybohm ” (cAss); 1 ♀: “ N35°08'45 E25°38'30, GR Lassithi (5), Kritsa s 390 m, 11.3.2018, l. Brachat & Meybohm ” (cAss); 1 ♀: “ N35°21'21 E23°38'21, GR Westkreta (28), Elos 610 m, 21.3.2018, l. Brachat & Meybohm ” (cAss); 1 ♀: “ N25°21'31 E23°49'29, GR Westkreta (30) Prases, 10 km w Omalos 760 m, Brachat & Meybohm 22.3.2018 ” (cAss); 1 ♀: “ N35°19'07 E23°54'46, GR Kreta 1080 m, Omalos E 23.3.2019, Brachat & Meybohm 2019” (cAss).
Etymology: The specific epithet (Latin, adjective: blunt) alludes to the shape of the apex of the ventral process of the aedeagus (lateral view).
Description: Body length 2.7–3.5 mm; length of forebody 1.2–1.6 mm. Habitus as in Fig. 47. Coloration: head blackish; pronotum bright reddish; elytra yellowish with the scutellar and the postero-lateral portions more or less distinctly and more or less extensively infuscate; abdomen pale-reddish with segments VI, the posterior portion of segment V, and the anterior portion of segment VII blackish; legs yellowish; antennae dark-brown to blackish-brown with the basal two antennomeres paler; maxillary palpi dark-yellowish with palpomere III often somewhat infuscate.
Head (Fig. 48) approximately as broad as long, with distinct microsculpture and moderately dense and rather fine punctation. Eyes weakly convex, approximately as long as postocular portion in dorsal view. Antenna (Fig. 49) 0.8–0.9 mm long; antennomeres III–X distinctly transverse. Maxillary palpi with palpomere III moderately slender, approximately three times as long as broad.
Pronotum (Fig. 48) relatively small, 1.15 times as broad as long and 1.25–1.30 times as broad as head; punctation denser and more distinct than that of head; interstices with pronounced microsculpture.
Elytra (Fig. 48) 1.00–1.15 times as long as pronotum; punctation dense and fine. Hind wings fully developed. Metatarsomere I longer than the combined length of metatarsomeres I and II, but shorter than the combined length of metatarsomeres I–III.
Abdomen with punctation dense and fine, finer on posterior than on anterior tergites; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe.
♂: sternite VIII (Fig. 50) posteriorly distinctly produced in the middle; aedeagus (Figs 51–53) 0.28–0.32 mm long; ventral process apically short, stout, and rounded in ventral view, apico-laterally with pronounced lateral folds; paramere 0.47–0.50 mm long and shaped as in Fig. 54.
♀: sternite VIII (Fig. 55) with weakly convex, nearly truncate posterior margin and with weakly modified and rather short marginal setae; spermatheca shaped as in Fig. 56.
Comparative notes: Based on external (habitus, coloration, punctation) and the primary sexual characters, O. retunsa is most similar and most closely related to the widespread O. formosa KRAATZ, 1856. It is distinguished from this species by smaller average body size, a more slender habitus, and particularly by a smaller aedeagus with an apically stouter, shorter and more rounded ventral process (lateral view) and with more pronounced apico-lateral folds (O. formosa: median lobe of the aedeagus 0.35–0.36 mm long). Oxypoda retunsa differs from the similarly small, mostly parthenogenetic O. turcica ZERCHE, 1999 by a more distinctly bicoloured body with a bright reddish pronotum (O. turcica: pronotum usually yellowish to yellowish-brown), longer elytra, and the shape of the spermatheca. For illustrations of the genitalia of O. formosa and O. turcica see ZERCHE (1999).
Distribution and natural history: The type material was collected in several localities distributed across most of Crete mostly by sifting litter, grass roots, and moss both in forested and unforested habitats; four specimens were collected with subterranean pitfall traps. The altitudes range from 390 to 1460 m. Some specimens collected in March are somewhat teneral.
description: Published as part of Assing, Volker, Brachat, Volker & Meybohm, Heinrich, 2019, Monograph of the Staphylinidae of Crete (Greece). Part II. Descriptions of new species (Insecta: Coleoptera), pp. 239-289 in Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 69 (2) on pages 259-260, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.69.2.239-289, http://zenodo.org/record/4755240