Cryptosphaeroides tenrec, Ballerio, 2008

Ballerio, Alberto, 2008, Descriptions of two new endemic genera and four new species of Ceratocanthinae (Insecta, Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea, Hybosoridae) from Madagascar, Zoosystema 30 (3), pp. 605-628 : 616-618

Cryptosphaeroides tenrec n. sp.

( Figs 7 ; 8 A-E)

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype, ♂ ( CASC): “ Madagascar: Province d’Antsiranana, Ampasindava, Foret d’Ambilanivy, 3.9 km 181° S. Ambaliha, elev. 600m, 4-9 March 2001 / 13°47’55” S 48°09’42” E, coll. Fisher, Griswold et al., Calif. Academy of Sciences , sifted litter in rainforest, collection code: BLF3252” [specimen in good condition, distended and glued on a card, the dissected aedeagus, abdomen and genital segment are mounted in DMHF resin on a separate card on the same pin].

Paratypes: 4 ♂♂, 7 ♀♀ ( CASC), 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀ (coll. ABCB), 1 ♀ ( MNHN): same data as holotype [6 ♂♂ and 2 ♀♀ dissected].

ETYMOLOGY. — From the Tenrec ( Mammalia Tenrecidae ): a Malagasy hedgehog-like mammal. Once again because of the thorny appearance of the beetle. Noun in apposition.

DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT. — Known only from the type locality, the forest of Ambilanivy in northern Madagascar (Antisranana Province). Th is forest belongs to the Western Domain ( Paulian 1961) and can be classified as “deciduous, seasonally dry, western forest” ( Du Puy & Moat 1996). All specimens have been collected by sifting leaf litter.

DIAGNOSIS. — Th is is the largest of all known species of Cryptosphaeroides . Besides the distinctive shape of aedeagus and genital segment, this species can be easily identified by the combination of elytral puncturation and sculpturing of elytral sides as well as by the pronotal margins with a row of short clavate dense setae.

DESCRIPTION

HL = 0.76 mm; HW = 1.30 mm; PL = 1.03 mm; PW = 1.91 mm; EL = 2.00 mm; EW = 1.83 mm.

Black to dark brown, shiny; underside alutaceous, yellowish/reddish-brown; head, pronotum, margins of pronotum and elytra with yellowish/whitish sparse long clavate erect pubescence.

Head: frons with impressed transverse small comma-shaped punctures, the remaining dorsal surface with sparse transverse short comma-shaped punctures and, only distally, transversal irregular long lines. Pubescence shorter than on pronotum and elytra.

Pronotum: surface with relatively sparse puncturation made of large transverse irregularly spaced out punctures, deeply impressed, bearing an erect long clavate seta. Lateral margins of pronotum with a row of shorter clavate setae. Scutellum: covered by irregular deeply impressed transverse punctures. Elytra: surface covered by medium sized relatively dense (their distance being often shorter than their width) impressed mostly comma-shaped punctures, longitudinally oriented and opened outwards, each one bearing an erect clavate seta internally, occasionally punctures transversely oriented and forming a short horseshoe-shaped puncture; pseudoepipleuron indistinct, each side of elytra distally with up to five smooth longitudinal broad and poorly raised carinae reaching apex of elytra.

Parameres: Fig. 8 B-E. Genital segment: Fig. 8A .

Figures

FIG. 7. — Cryptosphaeroides tenrec n. sp.: A, female dorsal view; B, male lateral view. Scale bar: 1 mm.

FIG. 8. — A-E, Cryptosphaeroides tenrec n. sp.; A, outline of genital segment; B-E, aedeagus; F-I, Cryptosphaeroides ankaranensis n. sp.; F, genital segment; G-I, aedeagus. Scale bar: 4 mm.