Oxypoda (Podoxya) pontica Assing, 2007, sp. n.
Creators: name: Assing, Volker
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2007
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Oxypoda
Oxypoda pontica

description: Oxypoda (Podoxya) pontica sp. n.
(Figs. 3–20)
Type material. Holotype ɗ: " TR [5a] - Rize, ca. 50 km SSE Rize, Ovitdaġı Geç[idi]., 2510 m, sifted, 40°37’31”N, 40°45’27”E, 25.VII.2006, V. Assing / Holotypus ɗ Oxypoda pontica sp. n. det. V. Assing 2006" (cAss). Paratypes. 4ɗ ɗ, 3ΨΨ: same data as holotype (cAss); 1 ex.: same data, but leg. Schülke (cSch); 2ΨΨ: same data as holotype, but "[5] ... under stones" (cAss); 7 exs.: same data, but leg. Schülke (cSch); 2ɗ ɗ, 4ΨΨ: " TR [6] - Rize, ca. 50 km SSE Rize, Ovitdaġı Geç[idi]., 2710 m, under stones, 40°37’25”N, 40°46’47”E, 25.VII.2006, V. Assing" (cAss); 1 ex.: same data, but leg. Schülke (cSch); 1Ψ: " TR [7] - Rize, ca. 50 km SSE Rize, Ovitdaġı Geç[idi]., 2940 m, under stones, 40°36’46”N, 40°46’58”E, 25.VII.2006, V. Assing" (cAss); 1ɗ, 1Ψ: " TR [7a] - Rize, ca. 50 km SSE Rize, Ovitdaġı Geç[idi]., 2850 m, sifted, 40°37’N, 40°47’E, 25.VII.2006, V. Assing" (cAss).
Description. Body length 2.7–3.1 mm (abdomen moderately extended). Habitus as in Fig. 4. Coloration: head dark brown to blackish; pronotum and elytra slightly paler than head, reddish brown to blackish brown; abdomen blackish brown to blackish, with anterior segments, posterior margins of segments V–VI narrowly, and posterior margins of segments VII–VIII broadly paler brown; legs yellowish to yellowish brown; antennae dark brown, often with antennomere I paler; maxillary palpus yellowish brown, with palpomere III usually weakly infuscate.
Head approximately as wide as long, widest at some distance behind eyes; puncturation dense and fine (but distinct); microsculpture pronounced, surface matt or nearly so; pubescence short, pale, and depressed; eyes moderately small (Fig. 6), weakly protruding from lateral contours of head, slightly longer than postocular region in dorsal view (Fig. 5). Antenna rather slender, gradually and weakly incrassate apically; antennomeres I and II of subequal length; III slender and almost as long as II; IV subquadrate or weakly oblong; V as wide as long or weakly transverse; VI–X of gradually and weakly increasing width and increasingly transverse; X usually slightly less than 1.5 times as wide as long; XI approximately as long as the combined length of IX–X (Fig. 7). Maxillary palpus moderately slender, palpomere III approximately 3 times as long as wide.
Pronotum of somewhat variable shape and relative size, 1.3–1.4 times as wide as head and 1.2–1.3 times as wide as long; maximal width in or slightly behind middle; lateral margins moderately convex in dorsal view; posterior margin wider than anterior margin (Fig. 5); puncturation fine and dense, usually slightly more distinct than that of head; surface with distinct microsculpture and only subdued shine; pubescence similar to that of head.
Elytra slightly (approximately 1.1 x) wider than pronotum and at suture 0.8–0.9 times as long as pronotum; posterior margin near posterior angles distinctly sinuate (Fig. 5); puncturation similar to that of pronotum, but usually slightly more distinct; surface with fine microsculpture and subdued shine; pubescence similar to that of pronotum. Hind wings of reduced length, extending to posterior margin of tergite III when unfolded. Legs moderately slender; metatarsomere I as long as the combined length of II–IV, occasionally even longer.
Abdomen approximately as wide as elytra or slightly narrower, widest at segments IV–V, posteriorly moderately tapering; tergites III–VIII very densely and finely punctate, with fine microreticulation, and with very weak shine; puncturation of posterior tergites not distinctly sparser than that of anterior tergites; posterior margin of tergite VII with palisade fringe (Fig. 8); tergite VIII without distinct sexual dimorphism, oblong and with strongly convex posterior margin (Figs. 9, 16).
ɗ: posterior margin of sternite VIII distinctly pointed in the middle (Fig. 14); median lobe of aedeagus as in Figs. 10–13, ventral process not incised apically; apical lobe of paramere very long, with one minute apical and with three long basal and subapical setae (Figs. 17–18).
Ψ: posterior margin of sternite VIII convex, in the middle weakly concave (Fig. 15); spermatheca as in Figs. 19–20.
Comparative notes. Among similar Podoxya species of moderately small size, dark coloration, very dense and fine puncturation, and reduced shine, O. pontica is characterised especially by the primary sexual characters and by the combination of the following external characters: slender antennae with rather weakly transverse preapical antennomeres, relatively small eyes, elytra at suture clearly shorter than pronotum, hind wings of reduced length, metatarsomere I at least as long as the combined length of II–IV, posterior segments of abdomen as densely punctate as anterior segments. From O. libanotica, which is somewhat similar in coloration, puncturation, body shape, and shape of aedeagus and which is widespread in the eastern Mediterranean region, O. pontica is readily distinguished by smaller size, matter forebody, much more slender antennae, smaller eyes, shorter elytra and hind wings, the distinctly convex posterior margin of tergite VIII, the less pronounced crista apicalis and longer flagellum of the aedeagus, the different shape of the (equally long) apical lobe of the paramere, as well as by the different shape of the spermatheca (much longer duct, different morphology of the capsule). For figures illustrating the external and sexual characters of O. libanotica see Assing (2006a).
Etymology. The name (Latine, adjective) is derived from the ancient name of the region where the species was discovered.
Distribution and bionomics. The species was found at the Ovitdaġı Geçidi, the major pass between Rize and Erzurum, Rize province, northeastern Anatolia (Fig. 3). The type specimens were collected by sifting moss and the roots of grass and herbs near rocks, as well as by turning stones on grazed grassland at altitudes of 2510–2940 m.
description: Published as part of Assing, Volker, 2007, On the Oxypoda species of Turkey and adjacent regions. II. Three new species, additional records, and a checklist (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae), pp. 1-24 in Zootaxa 1411 on pages 7-8, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.175620