Phyllophaga (Listrochelus) choixiana, Morón, Lugo-García & Aragón-García, 2015

Morón, Miguel Ángel, Lugo-García, Gabriel A. & Aragón-García, Agustín, 2015, Five new species of Phyllophaga (Coleoptera: Melolonthidae) of northwestern Mexico, Florida Entomologist 98 (4), pp. 1036-1043 : 1039-1040

Phyllophaga (Listrochelus) choixiana sp. nov. (Figs. 17–18, 23–27)

MALE HOLOTYPE

Body length 16.9 mm; humeral width 6.4 mm. Reddish brown (Figs. 17–18). Clypeus wider than long (2.9:1.0), anterior border slightly sinuate, with margin clearly elevated, surface nearly flat, with dense punctures, glabrous. Frons wider than long (3.1:1.0), slightly convex, with irregularly distributed punctures, glabrous, 3.4× wider than 1 eye diameter. Canthus with 23 setae.Vertex with conspicuous transverse carinate ridge. Occipital area glossy, without punctures. Antenna 10-segmented; with club 1.3× longer than preceding 6 segments combined.

Pronotum wider than long (1.6:1.0) and 2.3× wider than frons, but only 1.4× wider than head including eyes. Pronotal disc with shallow punctures separated and regularly distributed on disc; lateral margins widely angled, lateral marginal bead irregularly crenulate, with long setae; anterior marginal bead without setae; anterior angles obtuse, not prominent; posterior angles broadly obtuse, rounded. Scutellum 1.3× wider than long, with 10 shallow, minute, round punctures. Elytron 2.4× longer than wide, with shallow punctures along the striae, and the interstriae weakly rugo-punctate, mostly glabrous, with a few scattered short setae near posterior borders. Pterosternum with long, abundant light-yellowish setae. Protibia shorter than protarsus (1.0:1.7). Metatibia shorter than metatarsus (1.0:1.2). Protarsomeres 1–4 with ventral- apical tufs of reddish setae. Tarsal claws irregularly bi-pectinate (Fig. 23).

Propygidium 1.3× longer than pygidium, dull, irregularly punctate. Pygidium strongly convex (Fig. 18), glossy, with sparse shallow punctures throughout; apical margin with 10 medium-size setae. Fifh abdominal sternite nearly flat at the middle, with weak transverse keel near posterior border; anal plate large, slightly convex, irregularly punctate along midline, with few short setae, posterior margin entire at middle. Parameres asymmetrical, fused dorsally; right paramere narrowed, lef paramere widened (Figs. 25–26); phallobase short, with distal bilobed projection on middle dorsally, and basal rounded prominences; sclerotized support of aedeagus curved downward with apex asymmetrical (Figs. 24–27). Length of genital capsule from the apex of parameres to the border of basal piece 6.0 mm. Female unknown.

TYPE MATERIAL

HOLOTYPE: male— MEXICO: Sinaloa, Choix, Santa Ana , 18-VII-2009, 270 m. M. Romero ( IEXA) .

TYPE LOCALITY

Santa Ana , Choix, Sinaloa, México (26°19'17.9"N, 108°19'19.3"W) .

BIOLOGICAL DATA

This specimen of P. choixiana was collected in a black-light trap in a tropical deciduous forest at 270 m elevation in Jul (1 specimen).

TAXONOMIC REMARKS

Phyllophaga choixiana dorsally appears similar to P. cristagalli (Arrow) , but in the latter the lateral border of the pronotum is strongly crenulate, the sternites have a large tridentate keel on the midline, and the parameres are symmetrical. Male genital form of the new species is near those of P. (L.) praesidi (Bates) and another undescribed species from the Pacific Coast of Mexico and Balsas River Depression, but none of these have a bilobed tubercle on distal border of the phallobase (Figs. 24 and 27).

ETYMOLOGY

Derived from the name of the type locality “Choix,” of the ancient “cahita” indigenous language, meaning “site of resin collectors.”