Ocypus (Matidus) corcyranus Assing & Schülke & Brachat & Meybohm 2018, spec. nov.
Creators: name: Assing, Volker
name: Schülke, Michael
name: Brachat, Volker
name: Meybohm, Heinrich
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Ocypus
Ocypus corcyranus

description: Ocypus (Matidus) corcyranus ASSING spec. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank. org:act: 812099FA-F72A-41E5-B96B-258F8F48639A
(Figs 11, 23–25)
Type material: Holotype ♂: “ GREECE: Corfu [6b], Pandokratoras, N-slope, 39°44'56"N, 19°52'18"E, 860 m, litter sifted, 3.VI.2017, V. Assing / Holotypus ♂ Ocypus corcyranus sp. n. det. V. Assing 2017” (cAss). Paratypes: 1 ♂: same data as holotype (cAss); 1 ♂: “ GREECE: Corfu [7a], Pandokratoras, N-slope, 39°44'57"N, 19°52'12"E, 800 m, litter sifted, 4.VI.2017, V. Assing ” (MNB); 1 ♂: “ GREECE: Corfu [8a], Pandokratoras, summit, 39°44'54"N, 19°52'19"E, 905 m, monastery wall, 1.VI.2017, V. Assing ” (NHMW); 1 ♂: “ GREECE: Corfu [18], W Pandokratoras, 39°44'55"N, 19°51'26"E, 750 m, litter sifted, 4.VI.2017, V. Assing ” (cAss); 1 ♂: “GR NO Korfu, Archaravi [recte: Acharavi], 20.–25.X.91 Katschak” (cWun).
Etymology: The specific epithet is an adjective derived from Corcyra (Latin: Corfu).
Description: Measurements (in mm) and ratios (n = 6): body length: 27.0–29.2; length of forebody: 13.7–16.1; head length (HL): 3.92–4.21; head width (HW): 4.90–5.49; length of pronotum (PL): 4.51–5.10; width of pronotum (PW): 4.80–5.29; elytral length (EL): 2.25–2.55; length of metatibia (TiL): 3.82–4.21; length of metatarsus (TaL): 3.53–3.92; length of aedeagus: 2.74; HL/HW: 0.77–0.81; HW/PW: 1.02–1.04; PL/PW: 0.94–0.98; EL/PL: 0.47– 0.54; TiL/TaL: 1.05–1.13. Habitus as in Fig. 11. Coloration: whole body including appendages black. Head moderately transverse (see ration HL/HW), only slightly broader than pronotum (see ratio HW/PW); dorsal surface with dense and fine punctation and dark pubescence directed diagonally postero-mediad or transversely mediad in lateral portions and predominantly posteriad along midline; interstices on average narrower than diameter of punctures, with fine microreticulation. Eyes of moderate size, approximately half as long as postocular region in dorsal view. Antenna somewhat variable; antennomeres III 2.5–3.0 times as long as broad, IV–VII shorter than III and approximately 1.2–1.5 times as long as broad; VIII–X of decreasing length and increasingly conical and depressed; X weakly transverse; XI asymmetric and shorter than X.
Pronotum slightly broader than long (see ratio PL/PW), broadest in anterior half and very weakly tapering posteriad; punctation similar to that of head, but on average slightly denser; interstices without distinct microsculpture; pubescence short, dark, and directed predominantly posteriad in more or less irregular rows.
Elytra approximately half as long as pronotum, or slightly longer (see ratio EL/PL); punctures very dense, and situated in a network of somewhat diamond-shaped microsculpture. Legs of moderate length; protarsomeres I–IV distinctly dilated, without sexual dimorphism; metatibia slightly longer than metatarsus (see ratio TiL/TaL).
Abdomen broader than elytra; punctation dense and fine; interstices with microsculpture composed of a mix of isodiametric and short transverse meshes; posterior margin of tergite VII without palisade fringe.
♂: posterior margin of sternite VIII weakly concave in the middle; aedeagus 2.7–2.8 mm long and shaped as in Figs 23–25.
Comparative notes: In external characters, O. corcyranus is highly similar to O. tenebricosus (GRAVENHORST, 1846), whose distribution ranges from the Alps southeastwards to Albania and Serbia and Montenegro (SCHÜLKE & SMETANA 2015). It is reliably distinguished from this species by a less broad head in relation to the pronotum (no overlap) and by the shape of the aedeagus, and additionally by on average longer elytra, an on average less transverse head, and an on average more transverse pronotum. For comparison, the measurements (mm) and ratios (range; n = 16) of O. tenebricosus (based on material from the East Alps) are as follows: HL: 3.43–4.02; HW: 4.51–6.17; PL: 4.02–4.90; PW: 4.02–5.19; EL: 1.96–2.45; TiL: 3.53–4.21; TaL: 3.23–3.92; 2.45–2.74; HW/PW: 1.07–1.21; HL/HW: 0.59–0.79; PL/ PW: 0.94–1.05; EL/PL: 0.44–0.51; TiL/TaL: 1.03–1.11. For illustrations of the aedeagus of O. tenebricosus see SCHILLHAMMER (2012).
The new species is distinguished from the geographically close O. albanicus (J. MÜLLER, 1943) (one male from Albania in coll. Hromádka examined) by a less broad head in relation to the pronotum, a weakly tranverse pronotum (oblong in O. albanicus), longer elytra, and the shape of the aedeagus. The measurements and ratios of the examined specimen of O. albanicus are as follows: HL: 4.02; HW: 5.10; PL: 4.61; PW: 4.51; EL: 2.06; HL/HW: 0.79; HW/PW: 1.13; PL/PW: 1.02; EL/PL: 0.45. The slightly damaged aedeagus of the examined specimen is illustrated in Figs 26–27.
Distribution and natural history: Most of the type specimens were collected on or near Oros Pandokratoras (Northeast Corfu); one paratype was found near Acharavi (Northeast Corfu) near the coast. It appears likely that the specimens recorded as O. tenebricosus from Oros Pandokratoras by SAHLBERG (1903) belong to O. corcyranus, too. With one exception, the specimens from Pandokratoras were found while scraping a mix of soil and calcareous stones from the ground beneath trees. One specimen was observed running near the monastery walls on the summit of Oros Pandokratoras in broad daylight. Considering that a large and conspicuous species like Ocypus corcyranus living in a rather well-studied island like Corfu has remained undescribed up to the present, it seems likely that it mainly forages in a subterranean habitat. Oros Pandokratoras is a calcareous mountain with the superficial subterranean habitat (MSS) practically reaching the surface and also hosts the subterranean Quedius hellenicus, which was observed to emerge from the mountain in amazing quantities (ASSING 2017d).
description: Published as part of Assing, Volker, Schülke, Michael, Brachat, Volker & Meybohm, Heinrich, 2018, On the Staphylinidae of the Greek island Corfu (Insecta: Coleoptera), pp. 31-67 in Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology (Beitr. Entomol.) (Beitr. Entomol.) 68 (1) on page 58, DOI: 10.21248/contrib.entomol.68.1.031-067, http://zenodo.org/record/4755016