Odontocheila parafemoralis, Moravec, 2021

Moravec, Jiří, 2021, Taxonomic and nomenclatorial revision within the Neotropical genera of the subtribe Odontocheilina W. Horn in a new sense- 23. Odontocheila parafemoralis sp. nov., a new species of the O. cajennensis species-complex (Coleoptera Cicindelidae), Zootaxa 4995 (1), pp. 96-110 : 100-108

Odontocheila parafemoralis sp. nov.

( Figs 1–12 )

Type locality. Brazil: area of Río Tapajós near the town of Itaituba in the state of Pará .

Type material. Holotype ♂ in IRSNB, labelled: “Itaituba / Rio Tapajoz” [printed] // “ Avril 1926 / Coll. Le Moult ” [printed] // Allotype. ♀ in IRSNB with same label as holotype . Paratypes. 69 spms (♂♂, ♀♀) in IRSNB , 2 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀ in CCJM , 1 ♂, 1 ♀ in CJVB , 1 ♂ in JWCW , 1 ♂, 1 ♀ in MNHN , 1 ♂, 1 ♀ in BMNH , 1 ♂ in NMPC with same locality label as in the holotype yet some of them missing the second label and/or inconsistently with additional labels: “ Le Moult vend.: / Odontochila / cayennensis / var. femoralis Chd. ” [printed] // “sec. W. Horn, Col. Cat. / Junk. I, 86, 1926, p. 118: / Odontochila / cayennensis / bipunctata F.” [printed] // R. Mus. Hist. Nat. / Belg. I. G. 11.230” [printed] . 9 ♂♂, 8 ♀♀ in SDEI , 2 ♂♂ in CCJM (ex SDEI) [some of them were originally standing under a collection label as: “ O. cayennensis / bipunctata X oseryi X femoralis ]: “Itaitũba [sic!] / Tapajoz” [handwritten] // “Coll. W. Horn / DEI Eberswalde” [printed], 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀ in NHMW : “ Itaituba / Rio Tapajoz ” . 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀ in SDEI : “ Est de Pará / Itaituba / ( Tapajoz ) / V. or III. 1926 ” [handwritten, partly illegible] // “ Coll. DEI / Eberswalde ” [print- ed] . 1 ♀ in SDEI : “ Pará / Itaituba” / Tapajoz / 20.3.57” [printed]. The type specimens labelled: “ Holotype (Allotype or Paratype respectively) / Odontocheila / parafemoralis sp. nov. / det. Jiří Moravec 2021” [red label, printed] (the paratypes in NHMW to be labelled additionally) .

Differential diagnosis. Odontocheila parafemoralis sp. nov. is immediately distinguished from all species of the O. cajennensis species-complex by its uniquely short male labrum ( Figs 3–5 ). Females of the new species may be distinguished from those of O. femoralis and O. ochreata by their entirely black femora (lacking testaceous femoral apices characteristic of O. femoralis ( Fig. 36 ) and O. ochreata ). For the male labrum of O. femoralis see Figs 34–35 ).

Adults of O. oseryi (particularly those from Peru, but also from other countries of occurrence) possess black metatarsi, but some of them, including the lectotype (MNHN), have the metatarsi partly testaceous (as in Figs 24–28 adopted from my photographs in Moravec & Brzoska 2015 and Moravec 2016, 2018), thus similar to the metatarsi of O. parafemoralis sp. nov. However, apart from their much longer male labrum with anteriad-prolonged antero- median lobe ( Figs 21–23 ), the adults of O. oseryi are clearly distinguished by their larger and more anastomosing elytral punctures in both sexes ( Figs 29–33 ).

Description. Body ( Fig. 1 ) medium-sized to large, 13.8–16.3 (HT 14.1, AT 15.4) mm long, 4.20–5.20 (HT 4.50, AT 5.00) mm wide, dorsally dark cupreous, brighter to reddish-cupreous and narrow longitudinal stripe of greenish lustre on lateral areas of pronotum and elytra.

Frons of triangular shape, steeply sloping towards clypeus, smooth and metallic black-violaceous or black-blue with faint bronze iridescence, clearly separated from clypeus and delimited from vertex by distinct frons-vertex fold formed by triangular, rather blunt edge in middle and short, sharper edges laterally; supra-antennal plates flat almost smooth, vaguely triangular, barely delimited from the rest of frons surface, usually with metallic-green and cupreous lustre at their apices (which partly form the lateral edges).

Vertex with usual juxtaorbital easily abraded sensory setae (on either side), almost flat, cupreous to metallic copper-darkened, often with greenish lustre on anterior sublateral areas and reddish-cupreous reflections on juxtaorbital areas anteriorly; anteromedian triangular area irregularly vermicular-rugulose, passing to finer, irregularly vermicular to granulate sculpture on large median and posterior areas; large juxtaorbital areas rather coarsely lon- gitudinally parallel striate-rugulose, striae with irregularly granulate surface; occipital area with much finer, irregu- larly vermicular rugae fragmented into almost asperate sculpture.

Clypeus bright reddish-cupreous or dark coppery, usually with greenish lustre on margins, distinctly irregularly wrinkled.

Genae metallic-black, usually with faint blue or violaceous lustre, mostly on their anterior area, almost smooth and shiny.

Labrum 4-setose, with seven teeth, sexually distinctly dimorphic: male labrum ( Figs 3–5 ) notably short, lacking median lobe, length 1.15–1.25 mm, width 1.75–1.95 mm, ochre to reddish-testaceous, large basomedian area and apices of teeth black; basolateral, anterolateral and anterior teeth mostly acute except for median tooth which is mostly right-angled; labral surface almost smooth, indistinctly irregularly wrinkled on basomedian convexity; fe- male labrum ( Fig. 6 ) possessing prolonged tridentate anteromedian lobe with prominently protruding median tooth, length 1.60–1.90 mm, width 2.00– 2.20 mm, black median area more expanded towards margins and anteriad.

Palpi. Both labial and maxillary palpi normally shaped with only moderately and gradually dilated terminal palpomeres, metallic black except for longest palpomeres of maxillary palpi which are ochre-testaceous (with darkened lateral areas, more darkened in female); penultimate (longest) palpomeres of labial palpi elongate-cylindric, only gradually dilated towards apex, which is 0.25–0.30 mm wide.

Mandibles ( Fig 2 ) shiny black, basal half with whitish to testaceous lateral stripe; dilated basolateral portion (visible in lateral view) with strong metallic violaceous-blue lustre; shape subsymmetrical, right mandible with only three teeth (and basal molar), while left mandible may have also small, rudimental fourth tooth, indicated by raised edge.

Antennae ( Figs 1–2 ) rather short, reaching elytral third in male, somewhat shorter in female; scape metallic black with strong, blue, violet and green lustre, possessing one apical seta; pedicel concolorous with scape except for testaceous narrow apical area; antennomeres 2–4 metallic black with mostly strong cyaneous-green or blue lustre on their dilated apices, with only sparse whitish setae; antennomeres 5–11 black-brown, usually smoky-black- ened towards apices and with usual greyish micropubescence

Thorax. Pronotum ( Figs 7–8 ) approximately as long as wide (variably slightly longer or wider), length 2.70– 3.05 mm, width 2.60–3.20 mm; cupreous, darker in middle with more vividly cupreous lustre on sublateral areas and faint greenish iridescence laterally yet juxtanotopleural areas with cobalt-blue or violaceous lustre; anterior sulcus pronounced laterally, dorsally shallow in middle, posterior sulcus deeper also dorsally; anterior lobe always wider than posterior lobe and of the same width as upper lateral margins of disc, its anterior margin anteriad-prolonged in middle, surface finely and densely irregularly vermicular-rugulose; disc with lateral margins of dorsally visible pro- episterna and together with notopleural sutures (which are indistinctly visible from above) moderately convex only behind the anterior sulcus, then moderately or mostly more distinctly attenuated towards posterior sulcus; medial line developed but mostly indistinct in anterior area as it usually almost merges with surface sculpture; discal sur- face densely covered with very fine, irregularly vermicular rugae which are fragmented on anteromedian area and zigzag-wavy on sublateral areas; posteromedian area with subparallel and more continuous stria-like rugae which are irregularly or more clearly converging towards median line; rugae on lateral areas become much thicker and elongate-transverse, but become shallow towards juxtanotopleural limited areas; posterior lobe with rather distinct basal rim, more coarsely and irregularly wavy-rugose to vermicular rugulose; dorsolateral bulges distinct, nearly and shiny iridescent reddish and green; prosternum, proepisterna, mesosternum, mesepisterna, metasternum and metepisterna smooth and entirely glabrous, shiny metallic-black, only very rarely with indistinct greenish diffusing yet usually with green or reddish lustre on limited borders of prosternum and mesosternum; metepisterna with deep impressions at metepimeron, forming raised thin ridge (another ridge is in metepimeron); female mesepisternal coupling sulci not developed, with longitudinal central sulcus lacking any pit, thus not markedly differentiated from the analogous sulcus in male mesepisternum.

Elytra (9–12), elongate, 8.50–10.0 mm long; humeri rounded or subangular; lateral margins subparallel, in female slightly more dilated in middle, with arcuate anteapical angles, then running obliquely towards apices that are rounded toward indistinct sutural spine (independent of sex); microserrulation very faint and irregular; elytral surface nearly even, slightly convex on posterior half of elytral disc, humeral impressions moderate yet together with moderate or more distinctly deep discal impression clearly delineating moderately raised basodiscal convexity; apical impressions moderate; elytral coloration mostly almost uniform, dark cupreous on elytral disc, iridescent reddish-cupreous on sublateral areas and with narrow, iridescent-green to green-blue longitudinal lateral area; juxtaepipleural area (obvious in lateral view) dark violaceous to purple (except for iridescent green margin of anteapical angles); whole elytral surface rather densely punctate, punctures with thin intervals, largest on first half of elytral disc, particularly so within discal impression, isolated or anastomosing in chains (the shape of punctation appears considerably changed depending on angles of illumination); surface glabrous except for the usual few, hair-like sen- sory setae sparsely scattered mostly on basal area and others adjacent epipleura and few microsetae scattered also along margins of elytral apices; whitish elytral maculation indistinct, consisting of only small, triangular or slightly longitudinal-elongate lateromedian macula in both sexes.

Abdomen. Ventrites shiny black, sometimes with faint varying lustre, their surface glabrous, with only hair-like sensory seta at posterior margins on each side of the ventrites.

Legs ( Figs 1 , 13–16 ). Pro- and mesocoxae brown ventrally, dorsal area with strong green, bronze and blue lustre and densely punctate-setose; metacoxae with one central sensory seta and setose lateral margin (setae often abraded); trochanters pale brownish or darkened, glabrous (except for usual, easily abraded apical seta on pro- and mesotrochanters); femora metallic black including their apices, sometimes with chatoyant greenish lustre; pro- femora rather densely covered with rows of white, mostly erect setae, sparser on mesofemora and much sparser on metafemora which may be almost glabrous (but setae easily abraded); protibiae and mesotibiae testaceous with brown apical area, covered with scattered, stiff, whitish to rusty setae, apical half of mesofemora covered with a dense pad of rusty setae; metatibiae ( Figs 1 , 13 ) always yellow or ochre-testaceous (except for blackened apex), covered with sparse, short, stiff to thorn-like rusty setae; protarsi black with strong blue, greenish and violaceous lustre; mesotarsi black-brown; metatarsi ( Figs 1 , 13–16 ) concolorous with metatibiae, yellow- to ochre-testaceous except for three or two last tarsomeres black; claws brownish.

Aedeagus ( Figs 17–18 ) robust (shape similar to all species of the O. cajennensis species-complex), length 4.85–5.05 mm, width 0.80–1.10 mm; basal portion short, median portion rather voluminous, widest in middle with ventral side straight, apical portion dorsally attenuated towards small, blunt, dorsally more or less distinctly emarginated apex; dorsoapical orifice with a small, convex protrusion with protruding flagellum; internal sack ( Figs 19–20 ) characteristic of the species-group, its structure consisting of large, reniform central-ventral piece with narrow basal appendage, and long, convoluted flagellum with moderately bulbous base which has bilobed apex, multicoiled flagelliform part usually visible as protruding from the dorsoapical orifice; other sclerites comprise thin dorsal-upper arciform piece, small dorsally placed stiffening rib, central sclerite folded in middle, and large elongate basodorsal piece with bent basal third.

Variability. Only unimportant variability in size and coloration. This new species appears to be less variable than most others of the species-complex.

Etymology. The species name is derived from the somewhat similar Odontocheila femoralis Chaudoir with which it was commonly confused in collections.

Distribution ( Fig. 37). Odontocheila parafemoralis sp. nov. was obviously common in the type locality in the Brazilian state of Pará. The city of Itaituba (04°16´34´´S; 55° 59´01´´W) is situated on the left bank of Rio Tapajós (Tapajoz on labels), named after the extinct Tapajós Indians. The stream joins the Amazon River near the city of Santarém. It is possible that the biotopes in the area of the type locality disappeared due to continuous and pervasive clearing of large areas of the tropical rainforest of the Amazon Basin (Foley et all. 2007). As discussed by Roza & Mermudes (2015), the Atlantic Rainforest is one of the most threatened biomes of the world, with only 11−12 % of its original cover. Notwithstanding, although the municipality of Itaituba is known as gold mining area, there are several areas protecting a humid forest, still with high biodiversity due to high temperature and great amounts of rain (André Silva Roza pers. com.).

Nothing is known about the behaviour of adults and biology of the new species.

Remarks. As discussed in “Introduction” and in “ O. cajennensis species-complex” above, some of the species of this complex, including O. parafemoralis sp. nov., were partly confused with O. bipunctata , as well as with O. femoralis and O. ochreata , and sometimes also with O. oseryi . Because of the variably coloured metatarsi in O. oseryi , the specimens from Itaituba, Rio Tapajoz were previously considered by me as aberrant adults of O. oseryi and were included within O. oseryi in the recent papers ( Moravec & Brzoska 2015, Moravec 2016), as well as in the concluding publication of the taxonomic revision of the genus ( Moravec 2018). However, my recent examina- tion of the numerous above-listed specimens has revealed the constant distinguishing characters (see “Differential diagnosis” above), which clearly differentiate the new species not only from O. oseryi but also from all other species of the complex.

Figures

FIGURES 1–6. Odontocheila parafemoralis sp. nov. from type locality. 1—habitus, ♂, 14.1 mm, HT (IRSNB); 2—head, ♂, HT; 3–6—labrum: 3—♂, HT; 4–5—♂, PT (CCJM ex IRSNB); 6—♀, AT (IRSNB). Bars = 1 mm.

FIGURES 7–12. Odontocheila parafemoralis sp. nov. from type locality. 7–8—pronotum: 7—♂, HT (IRSNB); 8—♀, AT (IRSNB); 9–12—elytron: 9—♂, HT (IRSNB); 10—ditto, detail of elytral punctation; 11—♂, PT (CCJM); 12—♀, AT (IRSNB). Bars = 1 mm.

FIGURES 34–36. Odontocheila femoralis (Fabricius). 34–35—male labrum: 34—ex Chaudoir, LT (MNHN); 35—ibid., PLT (MNHN); 36—apical portion of metafemur with basal portion of metatibium, LT (MNHN). Bars = 1 mm.

FIGURES 21–33. Odontocheila oseryi (Lucas). 21–23—male labrum: 21—Peru, Mission de Sarayacu, LT (MNHN); 22— Co- lombia, Leticia (CCJM); 23— Peru, Loreto (CCJM ex DBCN); 24–28—metatarsi: 24—♂, LT; 25–28—syntopic adults from Leticia: 25—♀ (CMNH); 26—♂ (CCJM); 27—♀ (CMNH); 28—♀ (CCJM); 29–33—elytron: 29—♂, LT; 30—♂, Leticia (CCJM); 31—ditto, detail of punctation; 32—♂, Peru, Loreto (CCJM); 33—ditto, detail of punctation. Bars = 1 mm.

FIGURES 13–20. Odontocheila parafemoralis sp. nov. from type locality. 13—femoral apex with metatibium and metatarsus, ♂, PT (CCJM); 14–16—metatarsi: 14–15—♂, PT (CCJM); 16—♀, AT (IRSNB). Bars = 1 mm. 17–20—male aedeagi: 17—HT (IRSNB); 18—PT (CCJM); 19–20—ditto, showing internal sac in left and right lateral views. Bars = 1 mm.