Menudos Linzmeier & Konstantinov, 2020

Linzmeier, Adelita M. & Konstantinov, Alexander S., 2020, Moss inhabiting flea beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae: Alticini) of the West Indies II: Menudos, a new genus from Puerto Rico and description of methods to collect moss inhabiting flea beetles, Zootaxa 4786 (1), pp. 1-22 : 2-4

Menudos Linzmeier & Konstantinov new genus

( Figs. 1–44 )

Description. Body 1.76–2.33 mm long and 0.94–1.32 mm wide, elliptic, pilose, shiny, slightly convex in lateral view. Color brown, blackish or yellowish with golden and black setae forming different patterns.

Head hypognathous, slightly convex in lateral view. Vertex densely covered with large setiferous pores. Supraorbital pore indistinguishable to distinct. Antennal calli rounded, punctured or smooth, slightly raised above surface of vertex, separated by relatively wide and deep midfrontal sulcus. Supracallinal, supraorbital and suprafrontal sulci absent, however there are shallow impressions in their places. Orbital sulcus absent. Orbit narrow, narrower than diameter of antennal socket. Interantennal space wide, as wide as the length of first antennomere. Antennal socket small, rounded. Frontal ridge between antennal sockets wide and flat or slightly raised forming a single triangular structure with anterofrontal ridge, generally punctuated. Eye small, rounded, slightly projected. Labrum notched in middle, with six setiferous pores, four with long setae and two with short setae. First maxillary palpomere conical, slightly longer than wide, wider at apex; second maxillary palpomere wider and slightly shorter than first, wider at apex; third palpomere thinnest, conical, short, slightly shorter than second. First and second labial palpomeres wider than long; third conical. Antenna with 11 antennomeres, pubescent; antennomeres 7 to 11 widest, 7 to 10 almost rounded to longer than wide; antennomere 4 shortest.

Pronotum rectangular, wider than long, not margined laterally. Anterior margin straight, posterior margin concave, sides parallel, slightly rounded posteriorly. Anterior and posterior setiferous pores present, facing dorsolaterally. Surface densely punctuated with closely placed punctures, pilose. Pronotal surface uneven, raised with two longitudinal ridges anteromedially, separated by two wide concavities between them, the most posterior concavity usually shallower, placed near base. Scutellum triangular, densely covered with yellow or white setae directed posteriorly and ventrally on sides. Some shorter dark setae along pronotal margin bent dorsally like hooks.

Elytra elliptical, apical third bent (in lateral view). Elytral surface uneven, shiny, deeply punctured, with dense black and golden yelow, recumbent setae. Few similarly colored long, semi-erect setae situated throughout surface. Punctures forming nine striae (not counting short scutellar and marginal striae). Scutellar striae short. Interspaces convex or flat, with interspaces between puncture rows two and three at basal third always convex. Basal calli poorly developed. Humeral calli absent. Small depression posterior to basal callus more or less evident. Epipleura narrow, sinuous, oblique, visible in lateral view, narrowing at elytral apex, more or less reaching elytral apex. Elytral apex slightly truncate. Hind wings absent.

Prosternal intercoxal process canaliculate, covered with deep, often merging, punctures, extended and widened posteriorly beyond coxa. Posterior end about twice as wide as middle. Procoxa elongate. Procoxal cavities closed posteriorly. Mesosternum shorter than prosternum, punctuated, mesosternal intercoxal process concave with lobes raised above metasternum. Metasternum short, smooth to punctuated, with sparse pilosity, concave medially, as long as prosternum; anterior margin deeply punctured, margined; anterior process narrowly rounded; posteriorly margined with an inverted U-shaped depression medially. Metanotum greatly simplified. Among various ridges only two bordering scutellar groove present. Prephragma and metapostnotal mediophragmite absent. Metendosternite simplified as well, its stem short, arms slender, all missing sclerotized ridges.

Pro- and mesofemora slightly dilated medially; tibiae subcylindrical, obliquely narrowed at apex (in lateral view), pubescence sparsely distributed. First to third pro- and mesotarsomeres small; first slightly longer than wide; second slightly wider than long; third slightly wider than second, bilobed; fourth tarsomere as long as first and second together, the thinnest. Metafemur greatly enlarged, about 1.6 times longer than wide, longer than metatibia, sparsely pilose, with denser pilosity dorsally. Metatibia nearly straight; wider at apex in lateral view, slightly curved in dorsal view. Apex of outer lateral dorsal ridge with seven denticles. Inner lateral dorsal ridge with five denticles at apex. Metatibial spur short. Outer and inner dorsal margins of metatibia not connected at apex. Metatarsomeres inserted preapically; tarsomeres one and two similar in size, longer than wide; third half as long as second, not bilobed; fourth globose. Claws bifid (appendiculate in females).

Abdomen sparsely pubescent, with five visible ventrites, each convex in lateral view. Anterior projection of ventrite 1 deeply punctuated. Ventrite 5 with distinct sexual dimorphism: males with concavity medially on posterior margin; females without this concavity, posterior margin slightly rounded. Pygidium exposed.

Median lobe simple, flattened dorso-ventrally, slightly curved in lateral view, with apex bent ventrally in lateral view; lateral margins parallel in ventral view, narrowing towards apex; apex subtriangular without denticle. In female posterior part of sternite eight lightly sclerotized along its entire margin. Tignum with rounded anterior margin wider than middle part; posteriorly more sclerotized in middle, but more or less evenly otherwise, bearing moderately long setae. Vaginal palpi elongate, anteriorly and along middle strongly sclerotized and merged anteriorly for one third of their length, each with about eight setae at apex, with posterior sclerotization relatively long. Spermatheca curved, with receptacle and pump not differentiated from each other (pump about as wide as receptacle). Apex of pump with flattened projection. Spermathecal duct long, forming “S” coils.

Sexual dimorphism. Apart from the tip of the abdomen being obviously different in both sexes, males of flea beetles often have wider pro- and mesotarsomeres. In this genus, males are a bit darker in color, body surface in females is usually dark brown to amber; number of white antennomeres in males and females is different depending on the species; and even less common in flea beetles females have wider head and frontal ridge compared to males ( Fig. 3 and 5 ).

Etymology. The name of the genus alludes to Menudos—Puerto Rican-based boy band, that achieved much success during the 1980s. Besides this, the word “ Menudos ” means “small” a characteristic observed in the species (less than 3mm long).

Type species. Menudos toronegro Linzmeier & Konstantinov , new species.

Remarks. We compared Menudos with the following West Indian Monoplatina genera: Aedmon Clark, 1860 , Apleuraltica Bechyné, 1956 , Distigmoptera Blake, 1943 and Ulrica Scherer, 1962 . In addition, we compared it to Andersonaltica Linzmeier & Konstantinov, 2012 , which representatives inhabit leaf litter in Central America. Distigmoptera is included here as some West Indian Monoplatina were identified as such.

Menudos shares the following characters with the rest of West Indian Monoplatina and Andersonaltica : closed procoxal cavities; puctured-striated and pilose elytra; head and pronotum covered with large punctures; pronotum with tubercles, frontal ridge between antennal sockets wide and last five antennomeres much wider than basal. Menudos can be differentiated from these genera by the interspaces between puncture rows two and three convex basally, antennomere 4 shortest and exposed pygidium.

In addition to the above mentioned characters, Menudos can be differentiated from Distigmoptera (characters in parenthesis) by the following: oval body shape in dorsal view, elytra convex in lateral view (more or less parallel sided in dorsal view, flat in lateral view); pronotum about 1.4 times wider than long, (pronotum generally more elongate, about 1.1 times wider than long); pronotal protuberances more developed (pronotal protuberances more or less flat); humeral callus absent (humeral callus prominent); setae on pronotum and elytra not erect (setae in part erect). Blake (1943a) specifically mentioned that in Distigmoptera there is “a depression running obliquely from within the humerus to a more or less pronounced depressed spot on each elytron near the suture before the middle” present in all the species, especially in ones with more southern distribution. Blake used this characteristic for the name of the genus. This feature is missing in most Menudos species. Only in M. toronegro barely perceptible depression can be seen, but it does not run from the humerus as occurs in all Distigmoptera species. Also, in Menudos , the metatibia is without a transverse ridge above insertion of tarsus. In Distigmoptera , the apex of the inner and outer dorsal ridge of metatibia come together forming a transverse ridge above insertion of tarsus, that in lateral view forms a preapical dorsal projection. This feature is absent in Menudos .

Menudos differs immediately from Ulrica , which in having glabrous head, pronotum, and elytra; antennae with distal antennomeres not much wider than basal; relatively small punctures on the dorsal surface of the body; smooth dorsal surface and flat elytral interspaces; and long metatarsal spur ( Konstantinov & Konstantinova 2011).

Menudos and Apleuraltica both lacking humeral calli, have uneven elytra with interspaces between puncture rows convex, and rounded antennal calli, separated by a deep midfrontal sulcus. They can be differentiated (characters for Apleuraltica in parenthesis) by the presence of at least one antennomere distinctly lighter in color (antennomere unicolored); antennomeres 8 to 10 almost rounded to longer than wide (antennomeres 8 to 10 wider than long); pronotum with two ridges anteromedially (pronotum with three ridges, two anteromedially and one posteromedially); basal calli poorly developed (basal calli well developed); if present at all, only a small depression posterior to basal callus more or less evident (well-developed impression posterior to basal callus); metatibia without transverse ridge above insertion of tarsus (metatibia with transverse ridge above insertion of tarsus forming a preapical dorsal projection, in lateral view). This last character in Apleuraltica was misinterpreted in Konstantinov & Konstantinova (2011).

From Andersonaltica (characters in parenthesis), Menudos can be easily differentiated by the elyptic and slightly convex body (rounded, highly convex in lateral view), shorter setae covering the body (longer setae covering the body), basal calli poorly developed (basal calli generally well developed), antennal calli separated by a deep midfrontal sulcus (antennal calli widely separated anteriorly) and antennomeres 7 to 10 almost rounded to longer than wide (antennomeres 7 to 10 forming tight club).

Menudos can be separated from Aedmon based on the following features: shape of the pronotum and elytra (sides more convex in Menudos ); midfrontal sulcus relatively wide and deep (narrow in Aedmon ); metatibia with a number of short, stocky denticles preapically (such denticles absent in Aedmon ), lacking preapical tooth laterally (tooth followed by excavation in Aedmon ).

Figures

FIGURES 1–6. Menudos barberi (Blake). 1, habitus, holotype, male, dorsal view. 2, habitus, paratype, female, dorsal view. 3, frontal view, holotype, male. 4, habitus, holotype, male, lateral view. 5, frontal view, paratype, female. 6, median lobe of aedeagus, holotype (ventral, dorsal, and lateral views).

FIGURES 7–13. Menudos chamorrae (Konstantinov & Konstantinova). 7, habitus, male, dorsal view. 8, habitus, lateral view. 9, frontal view, female. 10, median lobe of aedeagus, holotype (ventral, lateral, and dorsal views). 11, spermatheca. 12, vaginal palpi. 13, tignum.

FIGURES 14–21. Menudos illariosus Linzmeier & Konstantinov, new species. 14, habitus, holotype, female, dorsal view. 15, habitus, holotype, female, lateral view. 16, frontal view, holotype, female. 17, last four abdominal ventrites. 18, spermatheca. 19, last abdominal tergite. 20, tignum. 21, vaginal palpi.

FIGURE 22. Menudos maricao Linzmeier & Konstantinov, new species. (illustration by Katie Sayers).

FIGURES 23–26. Menudos maricao Linzmeier & Konstantinov, new species. 23, habitus, male, dorsal view, holotype. 24, habitus, female, lateral view, paratype. 25, frontal view, male, holotype. 26, median lobe of aedeagus, holotype (ventral, dorsal, and lateral views).

FIGURES 27–29. Menudos toronegro Linzmeier & Konstantinov, new species, holotype. 27, habitus, male, dorsal view. 28, habitus, male, lateral view. 29, frontal view, male.

FIGURES 30–38. Menudos toronegro Linzmeier & Konstantinov, new species. 30, antenna. 31, mesotergite. 32, meso- and metasternites. 33, metatergite. 34, hind leg. 35, hind tarsi. 36, middle leg. 37, metendosternite. 38, elytron.

FIGURES 39–44. Menudos toronegro Linzmeier and Konstantinov, new species. 39, abdomen, female, ventral view. 40, abdomen, male, ventral view. 41, median lobe of aedeagus, holotype (ventral, dorsal, and lateral views). 42, spermatheca. 43, tignum. 44, vaginal palpi.