Lelegeis pytanga, Aloquio & Lopes-Andrade, 2017

Aloquio, Sergio & Lopes-Andrade, Cristiano, 2017, A new species of Lelegeis (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Diaperini) from the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Zoologia (e 19990) 34, pp. 1-5 : 2-4

Lelegeis pytanga sp. nov.

http://zoobank.org/ 74420FC0-7AA0-478A-B1D3-BDCE5866DF59

Figs 1–10

Type locality. Estação de Pesquisa , Treinamento e Educação Ambiental Mata do Paraíso (EPTEA Mata do Paraíso), Viçosa, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, 20°48’08”S, 42°51’30”W .

Diagnosis. Lelegeis pytanga sp. nov. can be easily distinguished from the other species of the genus by its dull reddish brown to reddish orange elytral coloration, while the remaining body surface is dull black. Lelegeis nigrifons is light colored with dark spots, L. hispaniolae is entirely shiny dark reddish brown, L. apicalis is shiny dark brown and L. aeneipennis is shiny testaceous.

Description. Male, holotype ( Figs 1–2, 5, 7–8). Body moderately convex, dull, glabrous; length 6.48 mm, width 4.00 mm; pronotum, head, scutellar shield, antennae and legs black, elytra reddish brown. Head finely punctate, rounded anteriorly; clypeus transverse, clearly defined, its punctation denser than that of the remaining head dorsum; epicanthus expanded and covering antennal insertions dorsally. Eyes with anterior portion emarginated by epicanthus, forming a lower lobe about 2.5 times as large as upper lobe. Antennae 11-segmented; antennomere 2 shorter than the remaining, about half the length of the antennomere 3; antennomeres 4–11 gradually expanded into a long, loose club, compound sensoria small, each with about the diameter of an ommatidium, distributed all over the surface of all the club antennomeres. Pronotum strongly transverse, trapezoidal, about 2.5 times as wide as long, widest at base; lateral edges explanate, visible for their entire lengths from above; anterior edge truncate and posterior edge sinuate; punctation not discernible. Elytra approximately 3.5 times as long as pronotum, widest at middle; epipleuron reaching elytral apex; punctation striate, with 8 striae on each elytron. Hind wings developed, apparently functional. Ventral surface shiny, with small golden setae; prosternal process rhombus-shaped, expanding to middle and then narrowing to apex. Protibiae with inner edge serrate; apex bearing a row of small spines; inner apical angle with two long, thick spines. Tarsomeres bearing two rows of small setae ventrally. Protarsi with the first protarsomere expanded ( Fig. 5), about twice as wide as the others and about as long as the following three; basal protarsomeres with a ventral plaque instead of rows of setae. Abdominal process sharply acute. Metaventrite with a small median groove in the point of contact with the abdominal process ( Fig. 2, arrow). Aedeagus ( Fig. 7) dorso-ventrally flat; basale about 2.5 times as long as apicale; apicale widest at base, strongly narrowed from middle to apex, apex sharply acute; basale widest at basal 1/3, slightly curved ventrally; penis narrow, about as long as basale, membranous, except for the lateral edges. Spiculum gastrale ( Fig. 8) Y-shaped, with posterior branches expanded. Female paratypes ( Figs 3–4, 6, 9–10) similar to males except for the following features: Protarsi without modified basal tarsomere ( Fig. 6). Female abdominal terminalia ( Fig. 9) with bursa copulatrix about three times as long as gonocoxites together; bursa without window or other visible sclerites; common oviduct about as long as bursa; spermatheca( Fig. 10) about as long as the apical gonocoxite, devoid of check valve, with basal and apical cylindrical sclerotized invaginations, the basal invagination reaching about the middle of spermatheca, the apical invagination reaching about the apical 1/3 of the spermatheca and forming a dome-like structure apically; each side of ovipositor transversely divided into four gonocoxites; gonocoxites varying in length, with the basal gonocoxites small, bearing oblique baculi; second and third gonocoxites similar in length, about twice as long as the basal ones; each apical gonocoxite small, about as long as the basal, bearing long setae and one long gonostylus; gonostyli inserted almost laterally, about as long as apical gonocoxites, slightly expanding to apex, apex bearing five long setae; paraprocts about as long as gonocoxites together, bearing long parallel baculi. Proctiger long, slender, medially membranous, bearing baculi laterally.

Measurements. Male holotype (in mm). TL = 6.48, PL = 1.36, PW = 3.44, EL = 5.20, EW = 4.00, GD = 2.64; ratios: GD/ EW = 0.66, TL/EW = 1.62. Male paratypes (in mm; n = 7). TL = 6.32–8.00 (7.19 ± 0.58), PL = 1.28–1.76 (1.52 ± 0.18), PW = 3.28–4.16 (3.73 ± 0.33), EL = 5.04–6.40 (5.67 ± 0.44), EW = 4.00–5.04 (4.54 ± 0.32), GD = 2.56–3.12 (2.85 ± 0.17); ratios: GD/EW = 0.59–0.68 (0.63 ± 0.03), TL/EW = 1.54–1.62 (1.58 ± 0.02). Female paratypes (in mm; n = 11). TL = 6.56–7.60 (7.27 ± 0.43), PL = 1.28–1.76 (1.60 ± 0.15), PW = 3.36–4.00 (3.76 ± 0.26), EL = 4.96–6.00 (5.66 ± 0.34), EW = 4.08–5.20 (4.67 ± 0.41), GD = 2.72–3.12 (2.93 ± 0.12); ratios: GD/EW = 0.55–0.73 (0.63 ± 0.06), TL/EW = 1.46–1.63 (1.56 ± 0.06).

Variation. Elytra varying in color from reddish brown to reddish orange.

Material examined. Holotype, male (CELC), labeled “ BRASIL: MG, Viçosa; Mata do Paraíso; 11.x.2016; C. Lopes-Andrade & I. Souza-Gonçalves\ex Hydnopolyporus fimbriatus \ HOLOTYPE Lelegeis pytanga Aloquio & Lopes-Andrade [red label]”. Paratypes as follow: 1 female (CELC) labeled “ BRASIL: MG, Viçosa; Mata do Paraíso ; 11.x.2016; C. Lopes-Andrade & I. Souza-Gonçalves \ ex Hydnopolyporus fimbriatus ” ; 1 male (CELC) labeled “ BRASIL: MG, Viçosa; Mata do Paraíso ; 17.v.2014; leg. C. Lopes-Andra- de et al.\ex Favolus tenuiculus ” ; 1 male and 2 females (CELC) labeled “ BRASIL: MG, Viçosa; Mata da Biologia , 18.ii.2015; leg. S. Aloquio, A. Orsetti & M. Bento; ex Favolus tenuiculus ” ; 1 male (CELC) labeled “ BRASIL: MG, Viçosa; Mata do Paraíso ; 03.ii.2014; LabCol leg.” ; 1 female (CELC) labeled “ BRASIL: MG, Viçosa; Mata da Biologia ; 26.x.2016; Orsetti & Pecci-Maddalena leg.\ex Lentinus brumalis ” ; 1 male (CELC) labeled “ BRASIL: MG, Alto Caparaó; PARNA do Caparaó; Vale Verde 1200m; 06.xii.2016; Aloquio & Orsetti leg.\ex Favolus tenuiculus ” ; 3 females (1 AMBC, 1 CEMT and 1 CERPE) labeled “ BRASIL: MG, Viçosa; EPTEA Mata do Paraíso ; 14–15.xii.2016; ‘trilha do pesquisador, perto das jabuticabeiras’; I. Pecci-Maddalena & C. Lopes-Andrade leg.\ex Favolus tenuiculus ” ; 1 female (CELC) labeled “ BRASIL: MG, Viçosa; Mata da Biologia ; 26.i.2017; Aloquio & Gomes leg.\ex Favolus tenuiculus ” ; 1 male (CEIOC) labeled “ USINA TIJUCA; RIO DE JANEIRO; P BOHRNHEIM; 2/X/1963 [handwritten]\COLEÇÃO FIOCRUZ” ; 3 males and 3 females (CEIOC) labeled “ Itatiaia ; RJ – BRASIL; III-1933 [handwritten]; J. F. Zikán \ Coleção J F. Zikan ”. All paratypes are additionally labeled “ PARATYPE Lelegeis pytanga Aloquio & Lopes-Andrade [yellow label]”

Host fungi. Specimens from Viçosa were collected once in Hydnopolyporus fimbriatus (Cooke) Reid ( Meripilaceae ) and Lentinus brumalis (Pers.) Zmitr. ( Polyporaceae ), and four times in Favolus tenuiculus P. Beauv. Larvae were not found and the number of individuals in each basidiome was low, thus these cannot be considered breeding records.

Etymology. The species name “ pytanga ” comes from the Tupi-Guarani, the most widely distributed indigenous language in Brazil, and means “red” or “reddish”, in reference to the elytral color. The term “ pytanga ” is not Latinized and its ending is unchanged, so it does not agree in gender with the genus name.

Remarks. Triplehorn (1962) pointed out that another diagnostic feature for Lelegeis would be the mesotibiae of males being slender and straight for about half their lengths, then strongly curved and broadly expanded apically, being unmodified in females. However, we did not observe a significant difference between the mesotibiae of males and females, either in L. pytanga sp. nov. or L. nigrifons . Therefore, we did not add this character to the diagnosis of Lelegeis . The posterior median groove of the metaventrite, in contact with the abdominal process, is potentially a good feature for defining Lelegeis . However, its presence needs to be confirmed in species of Lelegeis that we have not examined ( L. aeneipennis , L. apicalis and L. hispaniolae ), and its absence in Platydema species needs to be confirmed. More accurate delimitations for Diaperinae genera may only be possible after a broad comparative morphological study of the character sets within the subfamily, especially characters that have been either completely neglected or insufficiently explored until now. A structure that can be easily examined, requiring only a small background in dissecting beetles, is the female abdominal terminalia. Our preliminary results show great differences in the morphology of the ovipositor, bursa copulatrix and spermatheca, all of which can be explored for taxonomic purposes. Differences in the sclerites of the female terminalia would be very helpful to separate females of Lelegeis from females of Platydema , which are almost identical in other characters.