Omalium cocleare Shavrin, 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Shavrin, Alexey V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Omalium
Omalium cocleare

description: 3.4.2. Omalium cocleare sp. nov.
(Figs 16–17, 32, 40–43, 47, 49)
Type material examined. Holotype ♂ (Fig. 32): CHINA: YUNNAN: ‘CHINA: Yunnan, Dali | Cangshan ca 2500 m | 10.. IV.2003 in moss | G. de. Rougemont leg.’ <printed>, ‘ Omalium | n. sp. | det. 2002 | G. de Rougemont [printed]’ <handwritten>, ‘HOLOTYPE | Omalium | cocleare sp. nov. | Shavrin A.V. des. 2025’ <printed> (OUMNH).
Paratypes (16 ♂♂, 9 ♀♀): CHINA: YUNNAN: 2 ♂♂ (one specimen dissected), 1 ♀: ‘CHINA: Yunnan, Dali | Cangshan ca 2500 m | 10.IV.2003 stream moss | G. de. Rougemont leg.’ <printed> (1 ♂: cSh; 1 ♂, 1 ♀: OUMNH); 1 ♂ (dissected; left paramere missing): ‘P.R. CHINA, Yunnan, E | slope Cangshan at Dali, | N25°40´15.1´´ E100°07´| 39.9´´, 10.v.2010, 2711m, | sifting04, V. Grebennikov’ <printed> (CNC); 2 ♂♂ (one specimen dissected), 5 ♀♀: (two specimens dissected): ‘ CHINA: Yunnan: Lijiang | Yushuizhai ca 2600 m | 14.IV.2003 stream moss | G. de Rougemont leg.’ <printed> (1 ♂, 3 ♀♀: cSh; 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀: OUMNH); 1 ♂: ‘ CHINA: Yunnan, Lijiang | Yushuizhai ca 2500 m | 14.IV.2003 stream moss | G. de Rougemont leg.’ <printed> (OUMNH); 1 ♂: ‘ CHINA X.1986 | Yunnan: Kunming | G. de Rougemont’ <printed>, ‘ Omalium sp. [handwritten] | O. malaisei [handwritten] | det. 198 [printed] Scheerp? [handwritten] | G. de. Rougemont’ <printed> (OUMNH); 1 ♂: ‘ CHINA: Yunnan, Lijiang | Yushuizai ca 2500 m | 14.IV.2003 stream moss | G. de Rougemont’ <printed> (OUMNH); 1 ♂ (dissected): ‘ CHINA: N-Yunnan [C03-19B] | Dali Bai Nat. Aut. Pref., Diancang Shan, | 3 km W Dali old town, | pine forest at “ Cloud Road ”, | right upper chairlift station, | 25°41.1´N, 100°06.8´E, 2650–2750m,’ <printed>, ‘[C03-19B] pine needles, moss | (dry) in ditches, mushrooms, tra[?] | 1.IX.2003, leg. M. Schülke’ <printed>, ‘Museum für Naturkunde | Berlin | Sammlung M. Schülke’ (cSch); 1 ♂: ‘ CHINA: N-Yunnan [C2005-11] | Dali Bai Nat. Aut. Pref., Diancang | Shan, 3 km W Dali old town, pine | forest at “ Cloud Road ”, 25°41.1´N, | 100°06.8´E, 2650–2750m, | 17.VI.2005, M. Schülke’ <printed> (cSch); 1 ♂ (dissected): ‘ CHINA (Yunnan) Dali Bai Aut. Pref., | mount range E Weishan, 12 km NE | Weishan, 2630–2660 m (scrub with | pines and bamboo, litter sifted) | 25°17´02-15´´N / 100°22´23-30´´E | 15.IX.2009 D.W. Wrase [54A]’ <printed>, ‘Museum für Naturkunde | Berlin | Sammlung M. Schülke’ <printed> (cSh); 1 ♀ (right antennomeres 3–11 missing): ‘ CHINA: N-Yunnan Diqing Tibet | Aut.Pr.Bitai Hai Lake area | 29km ESE Zhongdian 27°43.65´N | 99°58.97´E 3540m 1.VI.2005 | A. Smetana [C147]’ <printed> (cSh); 1 ♀: (left antennomeres 7– 11 missing): ‘ CHINA: N-Yunnan Diqing Tibet. | Aut.Pr. Zhongdian Co. 35 km ESE | Zhongdian 27°41.00´N | 100°01.47´E 3450m | 3.VI.2005 A. Smetana [C150]’ (CNC); SICHUAN: 1 ♂ (dissected): ‘ CHINA X.1986 | Sichuan: Emei Shan | G. de Rougemont’ <printed>, ‘ Omalium sp. [handwritten] | det. 198 | G. de Rougemont’ <printed> (OUMNH); 1 ♂: ‘ China S Sichuan | S Xichang Mt. Luoji | 2300–2500 litter | 16–24.07.[19]96 Kurbatov’ <printed> (MHNG); 1 ♀: ‘ CHINA: Sichuan, | 50 km W Dayi, Xiling | mts., 2300 m, 5.–8.V.2006 | S. Murzin & I. Shokhin’ <printed>, ‘Museum für Naturkunde | Berlin | Sammlung M. Schülke’ <printed> (cSch); 1 ♂: ‘ CHINA: Yunnan | above Dali, 2000–2200 m | 4.–17.IV.1999 | leg. W. SCHAWALLER’ <printed> (SMNS); 2 ♂♂ (one specimen dissected): ‘ CHINA: Yunnan | above Dali, 2500–2700 m | 8.–18.IV.1999 | leg. W. SCHAWALLER’ <printed> (1 ♂: cSh; 1 ♂: SMNS). All paratypes with additional red printed label: ‘ PARATYPE | Omalium | cocleare sp. nov. | Shavrin A.V. des. 2025’.
Description. Measurements (n=26): HW: 0.49–0.52; HL: 0.36–0.40; OL: 0.13–0.15; TL: 0.07; AL (holotype): 1.10; PL: 0.39–0.46; PWmax: 0.64–0.70; PWmin: 0.55–0.61; ESL: 0.85–0.95; EW: 0.88–0.96; MTbL (holotype): 0.42; MTrL (holotype): 0.25 (MTrL 1–4: 0.08; MTrL 5: 0.17); AW: 0.88–0.94; AedL: 0.58–0.62; BL: 2.70–3.56 (holotype: 3.55).
Habitus as in Fig. 32. Body brown to reddish-brown, with slightly darker head and abdomen (lateral and basal portions of abdomen, lateral and apical portions of elytra and paratergites of abdomen sometimes yellowish); antennomeres 6–11 or 7–11 brown; mouthparts, antennomeres 1–5 or 1–6 and legs yellowish. Punctation of head moderately dense, usually larger and deeper in middle, sometimes slightly finer in laterobasal portions of clypeus and on infraorbital portions, with interspaces between punctures in middle about as long as diameter of one-two nearest punctures; neck with dense and fine punctation, sparser in middle in several paratypes; pronotum with dense punctation about as that in middle part of head, distinctly sparser in mediobasal portion; punctation about as that on pronotum, sometimes slightly denser and coarser in basal portion and finer and sparser in middle, particularly along suture; abdomen with indistinct, fine and sparse or without visible punctation. Clypeus with distinct transverse microreticulation; scutellum with dense and fine isodiametric meshes; abdominal tergites with dense isodiametric microsculpture. Anterior and posterior margins of pronotum with indistinct short cuticular fringe.
Head 1.3 times as broad as long, with strongly convex supra-antennal elevations and deep and relatively narrow anteriomedian depressions, reaching level of apical margins of eyes; posteriolateral margins of clypeus subdiagonally stretching posteriad and reaching level of anterior third of eyes. Latero-apical margin between anterior margin of eyes and clypeus with small semicircular notch. Dorsal surface with distinct diagonal elevations between punctures in basal portion of clypeus, with irregular elevations in middle and on postocular portions, sometimes forming indistinct four to six longitudinal wrinkles. Anteocellar foveae deep and moderately wide, suboval, indistinctly convergent latero-apicad toward level of posterior third or middle length of eyes. Temples 1.8 times to twice as long as longitudinal length of eye, from posterior margins of eyes gradually narrowed toward widely rounded hind angles. Apical part of neck sometimes narrowly depressed, with several short longitudinal elevations between punctures. Distance between ocelli about 1.8 times to twice as long as distance between ocellus and posterior margin of eye. Antenna with elongate antennomeres 5–7 and distinctly transverse 8–10; 4 short, about as long as broad, significantly shorter and slightly narrower than 3, 5 longer than 4, 6 slightly longer and broader than 5, 7 indistinctly broader than 6, 8 slightly shorter and distinctly broader than 7, 9–10 slightly broader than 8, apical antennomere about 1.3 times as long as 10.
Pronotum 1.5–1.6 times as broad as long, 1.3 times as broad as head, widest in anterior third portion, distinctly more narrowed posteriad than anteriad. Apical angles not or slightly protruded anteriad. Lateral and laterobasal portions deeply and widely impressed. Surface of disc with two longitudinal depressions, significantly broadened basad; medioapical portion with indistinct or distinct and moderately shallow oval depression. Middle portions with indistinct or distinct irregular subdiagonal or longitudinal elevations between punctures.
Elytra indistinctly broader than long, twice as long as pronotum. Middle and apical portions of each elytron with irregular diagonal elevations between punctures.
Metatarsi slightly less than twice as long as metatibia.
Male. Posterior margin of abdominal tergite VIII truncate. Posterior margin of abdominal sternite VIII sinuate. Aedeagus with moderately wide basal portion, slightly narrowed toward wide median lobe; median lobe spoon-shaped, from widest middle part gradually narrowed toward rounded apex; accessory plates narrow and relatively short; parameres moderately narrow, distinctly broadened in apical portions, with widely rounded apices, reaching preapical part of median lobe, each with two long and one short apical setae; internal sac wide and moderately short, with two elongate parallel and two shorter transverse sclerotized structures in basal portion (Figs 40, 43). Lateral aspect of the aedeagus as in Fig. 41; apical portion of median lobe (lateral view) wide, with truncate ventrolateral margin (Fig. 42).
Female. Posterior margin of abdominal tergite VIII truncate. Posterior margin of abdominal sternite VIII rounded. Accessory sclerite with wide basal portion and median part gradually narrowed toward rounded apex (Fig. 16). Spermatheca as in Fig. 17.
Comparative notes. Based on the length of the body, the presence of moderately strong longitudinal elevations on postocular portions of the head, the shape of the pronotum widest in apical third, and the general shape of the aedeagus, O. cocleare sp. nov. is similar to the Himalayan O. altivagans Bernhauer, 1915, known from Kashmir, India (Shavrin 2023a) and O. latissimum Shavrin, 2023, described recently from Taiwan (Shavrin 2023b). From O. altivagans it can be distinguished by the significantly denser punctation of the head and the pronotum, sligthly longer temples, slightly more protruded apical angles of the pronotum with the presence of medioapical depression, longer and narrower parameres, distinctly narrower median lobe without crenulation on lateral margins and the presence of elongate sclerotized structures in basal part of the internal sac. From O. latissimum it differs by the broader pronotum, longer elytra, narrower median lobe and sligthly longer and broader parameres. From both species it differs by the details of the external and internal morphology of the aedeagus, and different shape of the female accessory sclerite.
Distribution. Omalium cocleare sp. nov. is known from several localities in Yunnan and Sichuan, China (Fig. 47).
Etymology. The specific epithet is the Latin noun coclearium, - i (spoon). It alludes to the shape of the median lobe.
Bionomics. Specimens were collected at elevations from 2300 to 3540 m a.s.l. and were sifted from leaf litter, mosses and mushrooms. Some specimens were collected by sifting wet moss and various debris around small seepages in an old, devastated mixed forest (Abies, Larix, Betula, Rhododendron) (C147) and in remnant of an original Abies, Betula, Rhododendron forest, treading of quite wet, mostly grassy vegetation in a seepage (C150). The photograph of the locality of one paratype in Diancang Shan Mts. (C03-19B) as in Fig. 49.
description: Published as part of Shavrin, Alexey V., 2025, Review of the genus Omalium Gravenhorst, 1802 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Omaliinae: Omaliini) of China, pp. 501-543 in Zootaxa 5588 (4) on pages 514-518, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5588.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14896684