Ora mediolineata Libonatti & Nardi, 2022

Libonatti, María Laura & Nardi, Gianluca, 2022, A commentary on the status of Scirtes brevenotatus v. mediolineatus Pic, 1928 from Argentina (Coleoptera: Scirtidae), Zootaxa 5190 (1), pp. 141-142 : 141-142

Ora mediolineata Libonatti & Nardi , sp. nov.

Scirtes brevenotatus v. mediolineatus Pic, 1928: 9 [unavailable name].

Scirtes brevenotata [sic!] Pic, [19]15 var. mediolineata [sic!] Pic, [19]28: Blackwelder 1944: 267.

Ora mediolineata ( Pic, 1928) : Libonatti 2015: 82 .

Type material. Holotype: ♂ (deposited in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris , France), labelled: “FÉVRIER” [white label, printed], “Républ. Argentine / CHACO DE SANTIAGO / DEL ESTERO. RIO DULCE ” [white label, printed], “ v. mediolineatus / Pic” [label handwritten by Pic], “ HOLOTYPUS / Scirtes brevenotatus / var. mediolineatus Pic , / 1928” [red label, printed].

Paratypes (all deposited in the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia , Buenos Aires, Argentina), labelled : 1 ♀, “ ARGENTINA: CHACO / ~ 200m PN Chaco entrance / 18 January 2011, light trap / coll. M. C. Michat ” ; 3 ♂♂, “ ARGENTINA: CORRIENTES / RP 86 to PN Mburucuyá / 28º 3’ 39” S 58º 9’ 32” W / 10 December 2012, light trap / coll. M. C. Michat & / P. L. M. Torres ” ; 3 ♂♂, “ ARGENTINA: CORRIENTES / PN Mburucuyá: Aº Portillo / 28º 2’ 11” S 58º 6’ 33” W / 11 December 2012, light trap / coll. M. C. Michat & / P. L. M. Torres ” ; 1 ♀, “ ARGENTINA: CORRIENTES / RN del Iberá – Colonia Pellegrini / Seccional Iberá / 28°32’48.65’’S, 57°11’48.015’’W / 16 February 2018, light trap / coll. M. C. Michat, G. Rodríguez / & J. I. Urcola; 1 ♀, “ ARGENTINA: CORRIENTES / RN del Iberá – Colonia Pellegrini / Seccional Iberá / 28°32’48.65’’S, 57°11’48.015’’W / 17 February 2018, light trap / coll. M. C. Michat, G. Rodríguez / & J. I. Urcola ”. All paratypes bearing a yellow, printed label: “ PARATYPUS / Ora mediolineata / Libonatti & Nardi, 2022” .

Diagnosis. Ora mediolineata shares with O. brevenotata (Pic) (from Brazil), O. sigmoidea Libonatti (from Argentina) and O. texana Champion (from Costa Rica, Mexico, and USA ( Epler & Gimmel 2019)) a relatively large elliptical body and a highly asymmetrical aedeagus, with penis consisting of a dorsal piece and a ventral piece attached anteriorly to each other. Ora mediolineata can be distinguished from those three species by the following characteristics: presence of a subapical spiny region on the right-handed side of tegmen, dorsal piece of penis laminar with straight lateral margins that diverge posteriorly to rounded apex (not laminar and with pointed apex in O. brevenotata , laminar with curved lateral margins that converge posteriorly to obliquely truncate apex in O. sigmoidea , and laminar with curved lateral margins that converge posteriorly to acutely rounded apex in O. texana ), posterior half of ventral piece of penis straight in its major part and slightly curved at apex (abruptly curved at apex in O. brevenotata , uniformly curved in O. sigmoidea , very slightly curved in O. texana ). O. mediolineata also differ from O. sigmoidea in the shape of the prehensor (female genitalia of O. brevenotata and O. texana are unknown). For detailed description and figures see Libonatti (2015: 13–17, 79–92).

Ora mediolineata is endemic to Argentina, where currently is recorded from five provinces ( Libonatti 2015).