Colyphus lamed Rifkind

Rifkind, Jacques & Barr, William F., 2011, New species of Colyphus Spinola (Coleoptera: Cleridae: Clerinae) from Central America, with taxonomic and distributional notes on some others, Zootaxa 2821, pp. 55-61 : 58-60

Colyphus lamed Rifkind , n. sp.

( Fig. 3)

Type specimens. Holotype female: Honduras, Octopeque [sic] [should read "Ocotepeque"], El Portillo, Guisayote Bio Preserve, 21-22-V-1995, R. Morris. ( CSCA). Paratype (male): same data as Holotype.

Diagnosis. Distinguishable from its congeners on the basis of a unique combination of body shape, integumental sculpturing, setation and elytral markings. Colyphus lamed is superficially similar to C. pictus ( Gorham, 1882) , but has different elytral markings and lacks that species' distinct band of cinereous vestiture at the elytral apices. The new species does not fit neatly within any of the species groups proposed by Ekis (1977) in his revision of Colyphus .

Description (Holotype). Length 8.6mm. Form: medium sized, elongate, dorsoventrally compressed. Color: integument black to reddish black (elytra slightly iridescent in some lights), except antennomeres 1–3 testaceous ventrally, maxillary palpi and labial palpomeres 1–2 testaceous, legs reddish brown, epipleuron dark testaceous, and each elytron with a stramineous checkmark-shaped marking as in Fig. 3. Head: surface shining, finely, rather sparsely punctate; vestiture sparse, composed of mostly fine, suberect, silvery setae, with a thin admixture of longer, erect black setae; front distinctly bi-impressed; eyes moderately convex, emargination shorter than length of antennal scape; antennae just attaining base of pronotum, antennomeres 8–11 forming a rather loose, gradually expanded club, 11 elongate, inner margin subsinuate, with apex subacute. Gular process rectangulate, distinctly concave at its base. Pronotum: weakly convex, slightly broader than long, wider than head measured across eyes, narrower than base of elytra; surface shining, shallowly, indistinctly and rather minutely punctate, obscurely and transversely rugulose; vestiture consisting of a rather sparse covering of suberect, fine, silvery setae with a thin commixture of longer, erect dark setae; anterior transverse impression deeply incised across disk, broadly Ushaped at middle; lateral foveae small, anterior margin transverse, sides constricted at anterior transverse impression, convexly expanded to maximum width at middle, then arcuately narrowed to subparallel sides of rather short basal collar; posterior pronotal slope acute but shallow. Scutellum rounded apically, surface set with pale setae. Elytra: quite shallow, more than 2x as long as wide, widest just posterior to middle; surface shining, indistinctly rugulose (more obscurely so on posterior 1/2), densely but rather shallowly punctate, punctures smaller on posterior 1/2; vestiture rather inconspicuous, consisting of very fine, subrecumbent, rather short, pale setae, sparsely arranged on anterior 1/2, more densely arrayed on posterior 1/2, intermixed with fewer fine, somewhat longer, suberect black setae; disk flattened above, subbasal tumescences absent; umbones oblique; sides distinctly precipitous anteriorly, margins broadly subsinuate posterior to base, broadly, arcuately rounded from middle, converging to notably dehiscent, subacute apices; apical slope very gradual. Legs: moderately long. Posterior mesosternal process and anterior metasternal process not elevated. Abdomen: sternites shining, rather smooth, very sparsely set with scattered fine, pale setae; visible sternite 5 with sides slightly convergent posteriorly, hind angles rounded and hind margin shallowly, arcuately emarginate; visible sternite 6 with sides converging posteriorly to rounded hind margin.

Variation. The male paratype is 7.8mm in length. It has the pale elytral markings reduced and broadly interrupted at the middle; its elytral surface is more uniformly and coarsely punctate. Visible abdominal sternite 6 is feebly, arcuately emarginate at the posterior margin. The tegmen is sagittate.

Etymology. The specific epithet is the Hebrew letter " lamed ," archaic cursive forms of which are similar in shape to the elytral markings of the holotype.

Biology. Habitat at the Biological Reserve Guisayote type locality is composed of tropical moist forest and cloud forest.

Systematic and distributional notes. We have examined the types and other specimens of three species of Central American Enoclerus Gahan and determined that they more properly fit within the generic concept of Colyphus as established by Ekis (1977). Because all are rare in collections, we also give new locality data for these species.