Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Staphylinidae

Philhygra hygrotopora (Kraatz) Figs 109-115

Homalota hygrotopora Kraatz 1856: 220. As Philhygra: Palm 1970: 134; Webster et al. 2016.

Diagnosis.

This species may be distinguishable from two other similar Nearctic species of Philhygra by the following combination of characters: body length 3.4 mm; body narrow with subparallel sides; antennae, head, pronotum, and abdomen dark brown, legs and elytra yellowish-brown (Fig. 109); integument not glossy; forebody with minute and dense punctation and dense pubescence (Fig. 109); head rounded postero-laterally, with large eyes; antenna with articles V-X slightly elongate to subquadrate (Fig. 109); pronotum rounded anteriorly and angular postero-laterally, transverse, slightly wider than head and slightly narrower than elytra, pubescence directed laterad on arcuate lines from midline of disc (Fig. 109); elytra slightly transverse, with pubescence directed postero-laterad and forming waves; abdomen subparallel, narrower than elytra. Median lobe of aedeagus and terminal abdominal structures as illustrated (Figs 110-115). For more details, see Webster et al. 2016.

Distribution.

Bionomics .

In Newfoundland, specimens were found in gravel and moss on a riverbank, under seaweed on a sandy beach, and by sweeping vegetation in riparian habitat. In New Brunswick, Philhygra hygrotopora were found in moss near the splash zone of a waterfall, in gravel on the margin of a shaded spring-fed brook near a waterfall, among gravel on a gravel bar along a shaded brook in a northern hardwood forest, and in gravel along a cold shaded brook. A few individuals were found under decaying seaweed on a sea beach. Adults were collected during June, July, August, and September.