Cyclocephala chera Ratcliffe, 2008

Ratcliffe, Brett C., 1821, More New Species ofCyclocephalaDejean, 1821 from South America (Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae: Cyclocephalini), The Coleopterists Bulletin 62 (2), pp. 221-241 : 221-241

Cyclocephala chera Ratcliffe , new species

( Fig. 8)

Type Material. Holotype female, labeled ‘‘ GUYANA: White Water Cmp., Burra Burra (sic) R. Iwokrama Res., 250–300 m, 16.II.02, 4 ° 40 9 31 0 N / 58 ° 40 9 59 0 W, Davis, Pogue & Solis. ’’ Five paratypes with same data; three paratypes with same data but with date of 15.II.02, and one paratype with same data but with date of 14.II.02.

Holotype and three paratypes deposited at the U. S. National Museum, Washington, D. C.; two paratypes deposited at the University of Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln, NE; four paratypes placed in the Brett C. Ratcliffe Collection (Lincoln, NE).

Holotype. Female. Length 15.2 mm; width across humeri 9.1 mm. Color of clypeus, tibiae, pygidium, and venter dark brown; pronotum, scutellum, and femora light orange; frons black with small, orangish subtriangular spot at center apex; elytra black and weakly suffused with dark orange on disc behind humeri. Head: Frons with moderately dense, moderately large punctures. Frontoclypeal suture biarcuate, distinct. Clypeus with surface roughened, vaguely rugopunctate; apex semicircular with thin, marginal bead. Interocular width equals 2.7 transverse eye diameters. Antenna 10-segmented, club slightly longer than segments 2–7. Pronotum: Surface weakly shagreened, punctate; punctures moderate in density and size. Base without marginal bead. Posterior angles broadly rounded. Elytra: Surface weakly shagreened, punctate; punctures large, dense, double rows of punctate striae distinct. Apical angles with sparse, minute setae. Pygidium: Surface vaguely shagreened, punctate; punctures small, moderate in density, setigerous; setae minute, tawny. In lateral view, surface weakly convex. Legs: Protibia tridentate, basal tooth small and strongly removed from apical teeth. Protarsus simple. Metatarsus subequal in length to metatibia. Venter: Prosternal process long, columnar, apex transversely oval and flat with a raised, transverse ‘‘button’’ on anterior half.

Variation. Females (9 paratypes). Length 13.9–14.8 mm; width across humeri 7.6–8.5 mm. The paratypes do not differ significantly from the holotype except that the pronotal punctures become denser on the sides in some specimens.

Etymology. The specific epithet is the Greek word chera , meaning a widow and is used here as a noun in apposition in reference to the type series of females only.

Distribution. Cyclocephala chera is known only from Guyana. The specimens were taken in lowland rainforest at the Iwokrama Field Station along the Burroburro River nearly in the middle of the country at its narrowest point.

Diagnosis. Normally, I am hesitant to describe a new species of Cyclocephala based upon females only, because it is usually the male characters of enlarged protarsi, protibial teeth, pygidium, and parameres that provide the most reliable features for distinguishing species. I make an exception in this case because (1) the body form and coloration are so distinctive, (2) it will not key out in Endrödi (1985) nor is it described in any new species descriptions that have appeared since Endrödi (1985), and (3) I have not seen anything like it in any collection.

The broadly oval and vaulted body form most closely resembles C. conspicua Sharp and C. gregaria Heyne and Taschenberg. In those species, however, the elytral margin is thickened into a distinct swelling or flange, whereas the margin in C. chera is imperceptibly thickened. Moreover, those species have characteristic black patterns on the pronotum and/or elytra, whereas C. chera does not. The darkest and relatively uncommon forms of C. complanata Burmeister resemble the color in C. chera , but C. complanata has the base of the pronotum with a marginal bead, has a more slender body form, and occurs only in Mesoamerica. In short, I know of nothing else like C. chera . In Endrödi (1985), it will key on so far as couplet 382 in the female key, and then no other choices fit.