Figure 3.6.1 Ocypus nitens (Schrank), habitus. 11.5.1 O. nitens from Massachusetts.

Ocypus nitens is unique among the Staphylinina in ECAS for its combination of black body, black legs, and distinctively short elytra (distinctly shorter than the pronotum when measured at the middle) (Fig. 3.6.1).

This species is native to Europe, Russia, the Caucasus, Turkey, and Iran (Herman 2001). Its range in North America is mostly limited to the coastal northeastern United States and we record it here for the first time from Maine and New York. Its range in ECAS is given in Map 8.

UNITED STATES: ME: York Co., Kittery, 43.0833 -70.7333, 5-IV-1989, G. Clark, 1 (DENH). NY: Saratoga Co., Ballston Lake, at porch light, 21-IV-2010, K. Hillig, 1, based on photographic record from bugguide.net/node/view/387557.

Adjacent U.S.: NY, NH, ME

This species has been collected in North America year-round, with a large peak in abundance in April-May and a smaller peak in September.

Ocypus nitens is a non-native species that was first reported in North America from Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire (Newton 1987). It was first collected in Massachusetts in 1944 from sifted debris and has since become common in forested and open habitat in Massachusetts and New Hampshire (Fig. 11.5.1). This species is also found at carrion-baited pitfall traps and often wanders into dwellings. It has similar habits in its native range (Balog et al. 2003) and is pronouncedly synanthropic. All examined specimens with exposed hind wings were brachypterous. Ocypus nitens has since expanded its range to Maine by 1989, Rhode Island by 1995 (Sikes 1995) and New York by 2010. This species will likely continue to spread westwards into eastern Canada in the near future.