Neomida diminuta, Aloquio, Sergio & Lopes-Andrade, Cristiano, 2015

Aloquio, Sergio & Lopes-Andrade, Cristiano, 2015, A new species of Neomida Latreille from Colombia, with additional records and a complementary description for Neomidasuilla (Champion) (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae, Diaperini), ZooKeys 495, pp. 133-142 : 135

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Tenebrionidae

Neomida diminuta sp. n. Figs 1-4

Diagnosis.

Neomida diminuta sp. n. differs from all other Neomida by its minute size (TL 1.74 mm), while other species in the genus are at least 1.85 mm long. It differs from Neomida suilla and Neomida picea in the possession of two clypeal tubercles instead of one, from Neomida cioides in the subcylindrical and straight frontal horns, and from Neomida inermis by its subtle clypeal sinuosity instead of conspicuous and cylindrical tubercles. Neomida diminuta sp. n. males have eyes, body shape and cephalic horns similar to those of Neomida occidentalis , but the latter are twice as long. In Neomida diminuta sp. n., the epipleura extends from base to apex of elytra, a feature observed only in other six species of Neomida : Neomida cioides (Champion), Neomida deltocera Triplehorn, Neomida occidentalis , Neomida pentaphyllodes (Champion), Neomida picea (Laporte and Brullé) and Neomida suilla .

Etymology.

The name “diminuta” means small, referring to its minute size.

Description.

Male. Body moderately convex, opaque, glabrous; length 1.74 mm; elytra, pronotum and head reddish-brown; antennae and legs golden-yellow. Head with vertex deeply concave; frons armed with a pair of long, subcylindrical, subparallel narrow horns, each rising close to an eye; clypeus with two small sinuosities contiguous to antennal insertions. Eyes with anterior portion emarginated by antennal insertion, forming a lower lobe approx. four times as large as upper lobe. Antennae with antennomeres 5-11 expanded forming a club. Pronotum strongly transverse, approx. twice as wide as long, widest and longest at middle, sides subparallel and narrowed anteriorly; lateral edges explanate, visible for their entire lengths from above; anterior edge truncate. Elytra approx. twice as long as pronotum, widest at middle and narrowing to apex, epipleura extending to apex. Hind wings developed, apparently functional. Ventral surface slightly darker than dorsum, punctation sparser; prosternal process subparallel. Protibiae with outer edge serrate; apex bearing a row of spines; inner apical angle with two long spines. Hind tarsi with basal tarsomere approx. as long as the following three together. Aedeagus with basale approx. three and a half times as long as apicale, curved at base, sides subparallel, a bit wider in the second third; apicale with sides subparallel, narrowing near middle to apex; penis about as long as basale, cylindrical, expanded at apex, with struts converging and fusing at basal one-fifth; internal sac not observed (possibly lost during dissection). Female unknown.

Measurements.

Male holotype (in mm): TL 1.74, PL 0.49, PW 0.89, EL 1.17, EW 0.98, GD 0.69; ratios: PL/PW 0.55, EL/EW 1.19, EL/PL 2.39, GD/EW 1.70, TL/EW 2.46.

Type specimen.

Male holotype (MNHN) labeled: "Dup Colomb 41 [sic] {circular green label}\ ♂ {small green label}\ Neomida diminuta , HOLOTYPUS, Aloquio & Lopes-Andrade {handwritten in red label}".

Comments.

Neomida diminuta sp. n. was collected in 1841 and remained unrecognized as a tenebrionid beetle in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle of Paris, France, until recently. It was found among specimens identified as Cis Latreille ( Ciidae ), possibly confounded due to its small size and head bearing horns. The great age certainly affected important morphological features, such as body vestiture, pronotal and elytral punctation and integrity of membranous structures as the internal sac of aedeagus. Information on host fungus was not available. The extension of exposed epipleura and other conspicuous characters need to be more carefully observed, because they can be important for proposing species-groups or even subgenera for Neomida , in order to facilitate the work with such a speciose genus.