Liogenys pallidicornis Blanchard, 1851

Cherman, Mariana Alejandra, Mise, Kleber Makoto, Moron †, Miguel Angel, Vaz-de-Mello, Fernando Z. & Almeida, Lucia Massutti de, 2017, A taxonomic revision of Liogenys occurring in Brazil with an interactive key and remarks on New World Diplotaxini (Coleoptera, Melolonthidae), ZooKeys 699, pp. 1-120 : 42-46

Liogenys pallidicornis Blanchard, 1851 Figs 67, 89

Liogenys pallidicornis Blanchard, 1851: 167 (orig. desc.); Lacordaire 1856: 269 (sys.); Harold 1869a: 1140 (check.); Dalla Torre 1913: 318 (check.); Blackwelder 1944: 227; Evans 2003: 212 (check.); Evans and Smith 2005: 176 (check.); Evans and Smith 2009: 180 (check.)

Type material.

Liogenys pallidicornis male syntype (MNHN): [white handwritten] "Capite/des Mines", [green handwritten] " Liogenys pallidicornis ./Cat. Mus./ Brésil /M. A. St. Hilaire", [light green printed] "MUSEUM PARIS. [handwritten] Cap. des/Mines", [red printed] “SYNTYPE”. Genitalia mounted. This type is here designated the lectotype [white, outlined in red, printed] "LECTOTYPE/ Liogenys pallidicornis / Blanchard 1851 /des. M. A. Cherman 2014". Male syntype (MNHN): [white handwritten] "Capite/des Mines", [green handwritten] " Liogenys pallidicornis ./Cat. Mus./ Brésil /M. A. St. Hilaire", [light green printed] "MUSEUM PARIS. [handwritten] Cap. des/Mines", [red printed] “SYNTYPE”. This type is here designated the paralectotype: [white, outlined in red, printed] "PARALECTOTYPE/ Liogenys pallidicornis / Blanchard 1851 /des. M. A. Cherman 2014".

Non-type material.

BRAZIL. Without locality, date and collector, 4 ex. (ZMHB); CE: without date and collector, 2 ex. (ZMHB); Ubajara, "P.N. Portão Neblina", 3°50'35.5"S, 40°54'1"W, 16/II/2013, 850 m, Vaz-de-Mello and Grossi col., 1 ex. (CEMT); “Nordeste”, without date and collector, 2 ex. (CEMT); RN: Jardim de Angicos, I/1952, M. Alvarenga, 1 ex. (DZUP); Natal, XII/1956, A.F. Magalhães col., 1 ex. (DZUP); 2 ex. (MNRJ); Mossoró, I/1952, M. Alvarenga col., 4 ex. (DZUP); SE: Caninde do São Francisco, "Faz. Miramar", 11/III/2000, L. Iannuzzi col., 1 ex. (CEMT); BA: Jacobina, XII/1941, Mangabeira col., 2 ex. (CMNC). ARGENTINA. Chaco austral, without date, C. Bruch col., 1 ex. (MLPA).

Diagnosis.

Body, pronotum and elytra purplish brown or dark brown; elongate; distance between eyes more than twice the width of one eye; frons longer than clypeus; clypeal emargination sub-angled, shallow and narrow; clypeal lateral margin convex; pronotal posterior corners sharp, obtuse-angled; prothorax scaly posteriorly; pro-, meso- and metasternum, pro- and metacoxae scaly abundantly; male mesotibia sub-quadrate in cross section; protarsal claws symmetrical; basal metatarsomere shorter than tarsomere II and slightly wider; pygidium flat or convex and wide, pygidial width exceeding distance between spiracles of propygidium; total length of parameres more than five times the length of their apex, narrowed subapically; inner margins convergent; apex harpoon-like with lateral angle curved projecting almost perpendicular to parameres (Fig. 67F).

Redescription.

Length: 11.0-13.0 mm; width: 6.1-7.2 mm. Purplish brown. Head: distance between eyes more than twice the width of one eye; frons longer than clypeus; clypeal emargination sub-angled, shallow and narrow; outer sides of anterior teeth follow the lateral margin of clypeus; canthus not exceeding the outer margin of the eye; distal maxillary palpomere, maximum width twice the width of apex; fovea shallow and oval, extending past the transverse midline of the palpomere; labium transversely carinated, as wide as it is long; antenna 10-articulated, lamellae lighter in color than flagellum and equal in length. Thorax: anterior margin of pronotum straight, flanged throughout; maximum length of pronotum exceeding the length of tarsomeres I, II and III together; pronotal disc glabrous, punctures dense and fine, smooth at the posterior longitudinal midline; pronotal posterior corners sharp, obtuse-angled; prothorax scaly posteriorly, abundant scales; proepisternum with long bristles; mesepisternum scaly, as are the sides of metasternum, also with few long bristles on the anterior margin; distance between meso- and metacoxae up to twice longer than the metacoxa; scutellum triangular, smooth. Elytra: shiny, glabrous, uniform dark brown to purplish; elytra more than three times longer than the pronotum; elytral suture and elytron unicolored and elevated; four elytral ridges barely noticeable. Legs: procoxa scaly on infra-carinal and outer surface; punctures visible at 12 × magnification; three protibial teeth, middle and apical equal in size, in males the three teeth equally spaced, in females distance between basal and middle teeth longer than between middle and apical; protibial inner apical spur present; mesofemural disc glabrous, with a row of long bristles on the anterior margin; mesotibia sub-quadrate in cross section in males, cylindrical in females, disc finely sculptured, two mesotibial transverse carinae, the apical one complete; basal apophysis of metacoxa produced beyond the outer margin of trochanter; metatibial apical spurs of different lengths, the longest equal in length to the diameter of the tibial apex, inner margin of male metatibia carinated towards apex, apical inner surface setose; metatibial disc finely sculptured in males, coarsely in females; two metatibial transverse carinae present posteriorly; basal metatarsomere smaller and slightly wider than tarsomere II, in males protarsomere II long; pro- and mesotarsomeres I to IV enlarged, protarsomeres slightly wider than the mesotarsomeres and more than twice as wide as metatarsi; claw bifid, symmetrical, superior and inferior tooth equal in length and wider; distance between teeth shorter than the inferior tooth. Abdomen: band of abundant scales visible at the lowest magnification beneath the outer margin of elytra; ventrites bristled on disc and sides, on sides also scaly; propygidium visible, glabrous; pygidium flat or convex, sub-quadrate, wide; pygidial width exceeding distance between spiracles of propygid ium; pygidial disc bristled only on apex, with long bristles; finely punctured; pygidial apex quadrate or sub-quadrate. Parameres: width of basal region equal to the parameres together at its maximum width, parameral split at 2/3; total length of parameres more than five times the length of their apex; inner margins convergent; narrowed sub-apically; apex harpoon-like with lateral angle curved projecting almost perpendicular to parameres (Fig. 67F). In lateral view parameres convex (Fig. 67G).

Type-locality.

BRAZIL. "Capit.e des Mines" [today Minas Gerais state].

Geographical distribution.

BRAZIL (CE, RN, SE, MG, BA); ARGENTINA ("Chaco Austral").

Remarks.

Liogenys pallidicornis resembles L. fusca (Fig. 64) and L. bidentata (Fig. 57) and differs from them in the shape of the clypeus being not produced laterally; scutellum smooth; and parameres being narrowed sub-apically, the shape of the apex is distinctive and parameres convex in lateral view. Liogenys pallidicornis is the sister lineage of L. bidentata ( Cherman et al. 2016) and differs in the fovea of the distal maxillary palpomere being shallower and narrower, metatibial disc finely sculptured; metatarsomere I slightly wider than tarsomere II and pygidium convex.