Meganeltumius juani Romero and Johnson

Romero, Jesús & Johnson, Clarence Dan, 2003, Meganeltumius juani, New Genus, New Species (Coleoptera: Bruchidae), The Coleopterists Bulletin 57 (2), pp. 237-242 : 238-242

Meganeltumius juani Romero and Johnson , new species

Description. Male. Integument Color. Antennal segments yellowish with apex and base dark brown, some specimens with first two and last four segments black, rest of segments dark brown; head, thorax, abdomen black; legs yellowish, except ventral spot on femur, dorsal spot on tibia and first two tarsal segments yellowish with apex and base dark brown, rest of tarsi black.

Vestiture. Antenna clothed with gray pubescence; frons sparsely covered with gray and pale yellow hairs; prothorax with intermixed gray, pale yellow and dark pubescence, with paired brown spots at apex and base; base of prothorax with mesal yellowish spot; scutellum covered with white pubescence; dorsum clothed with brown, gray, and pale yellow hairs in distinctive pattern; sides with intermixed gray, pale yellow and dark pubescence and venter mainly with gray hairs; legs clothed with gray and pale yellow hairs with median brown band on posterolateral face of each tibia; without tuft of hair on first abdominal sternum; pygidium with indistinct pattern of gray, pale yellow and dark pubescence; with a faint, longitudinal line of whitish hairs and a subtriangular spot of whitish hairs at apex; elytron with mesal, subtriangular spot, flanked basally with gray hairs ( Fig. 2 ).

Head. Antenna with first two segments and the last filiform, segment 3–10 subpectinate; frons with strong, median carina glossy, head finely punctate; labrum foveolate, apical portion finely striate; clypeus bare, with anterior line of unisetose foveolae; eyes rounded, dark brown to black; ocular sinus 0.6 to 0.66 width of eye.

Prothorax. Subconical, pleura slightly concave; disk with two anterior and two posterior gibbosities, second protrudes two times higher than first ( Fig. 1); base strongly lobed at middle, posterior corners acute ( Fig. 2 ); basal margin with carina.

Mesothorax and Metathorax. Scutellum small, subquadrate, bidentate at apex; elytron evenly convex; humerus prominent, granulate, with vague serrate carina connecting base of striae 6 and 7; with gibbosity anteriorly between stria 2 and 5, two more small gibbosities on strial interval 2, one mesal and one posteriorly; strial interval 6 bulky; striae narrow, deep with setiferous punctures hardly discernible; metepisternum micropunctate without unisetose foveolae; hind coxa microfoveolate and setose, short area near trochanteral insertion with setose foveolae, small elongate lustrous area on anterior portion; hind femur constricted basally and apically, expanded medially to slightly wider than width of coxa ( Figs. 3, 4 ); undersurface of femur very shallowly sulcate, armed on inner edge with about eight small serrations beginning about 0.5 from base and ending in a subapical spine about 0.5 as long as width of tibial base ( Fig. 4 ); tibia with lateral and ventral carinae, inner face convex; apex with five spinules, the outer lateral and inner ventral subequal, others smaller; claws lobed at base.

Abdomen. First abdominal sternum three times as long as second; second, third and fourth subequal; fifth slightly elongate and slightly emarginate apically; sterna 2–5 with a line of strong, black setae; pygidium ovate and convex.

Size. Length (pronotum-elytra) 2.31 to 2.61 mm. Width 1.32 to. 35 mm. Maximum thoracic depth 1.32 to. 35 mm.

Genitalia. Median lobe elongate, thin, with ventral valve acuminate at apex, dorsal valve membranous and subquadrate; armature of internal sac formed by anterior linear cluster of minute scales, followed by a median cluster of small spines interrupted by a group small scales, basal portion with granulated sclerites ( Fig. 5 ). Lateral lobes elongate, very thin, cleft to 0.65 their length ( Fig. 6 ).

Female. Similar to male except antennae serrate, the inner face of hind tibia flat, with lateral dorsal and ventral carina well developed, first sternum without tuft of hairs; fifth sternum not emarginate, pygidium somewhat gibbous at apex, gray-pale yellow with dark T-shaped mark in apical half connected with vague spots near apex, narrow median line gray-pale yellow.

Size. Length (pronotum-elytra) 2.55 to 2.70 mm. Width 1.5 to 1.53 mm. Maximum thoracic depth 1.47 to 1.5 mm.

Host Plants. Unknown.

Type Series. Male Holotype: MEXICO. Cerro El Cimatario , Queretaro, 30-IX- 1998, R. Jones collector . Female Allotype: same data as holotype. Paratypes: MEXICO. Cerro El Cimatario , Queretaro, 30-IX-1998, R. Jones collector ; Cerro El Capula , Queretaro, 30-VII-2000, J. L. Cozar collector ; Cerro El Ermitaño, Km 6 carr. Queretaro. Humilpan , Queretaro, 6-VII-1999, J. L. Cozar collector ; Cerro El Zamorano, 7 km NE Trigos, Colon , Queretaro, 9-III-1997, F. Landeros collector ; Cañon Zuñigas, Amealco , Queretaro, 8-VII-2000, R. Jones collector, 2,100 m ; 208209280N, 1008079100W.

Holotype, and paratypes deposited in the Colección Nacional de Insectos , Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México . Paratypes deposited in the Colección Entomológica del Instituto de Fitosanidad , Colegio de Postgraduados, Montecillo, México . Allotype and paratype deposited in the C.D. Johnson collection. One paratype in the U.S. National Museum of Natural History , Washington, D.C., USA , and two paratypes in Colección Zoológica , Universidad Autónoma de Queretaro, Queretaro, Estado de Queretaro, México .

Distribution. Mexico (Queretaro).

Discussion. As discussed above under the genus, this species and genus are quite distinct due to the combination of the large gibbosities on the prothorax, the gibbosities on the elytra, the elongate genitalia, the unique pattern of serrations on the metafemur, and the elongate genitalia. All of these characters separate this species from any other and the pattern of serrations on the metafemur separates this genus from any genus known to us.

Etymology. This species is named in memory of the late Juan Romero Beristain, father of the first author.

Figures

Fig. 2. Meganeltumius juani, male adult. 2) Dorsal view.

Figs. 3–4. Meganeltumius juani, male adult. 3) Hind leg, lateral view; 4) Hind leg, medial view.

Figs. 5–6. Meganeltumius juani, male genitalia. 5) Median lobe, ventral view; 6) Lateral lobes, ventral view.