Neomida suilla (Champion, 1896)

Aloquio, Sergio & Lopes-Andrade, Cristiano, 2015, A new species of Neomida Latreille from Colombia, with additional records and a complementary description for Neomidasuilla (Champion) (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae, Diaperini), ZooKeys 495, pp. 133-142 : 135-138

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Tenebrionidae

Neomida suilla (Champion, 1896) Figs 5-9, 10-12

Arrhenoplita suilla Champion 1896: 11

Hoplocephala suilla (Champion): Blackwelder 1945: 527

Neomida suilla (Champion): Triplehorn 1965: 375; Marcuzzi 1984: 87; Triplehorn 2006: 313

Diagnosis.

Males of Neomida suilla differ from males of all other described New World Neomida , except Neomida picea (Laporte and Brullé), in having a single prominent median clypeal tubercle ( Triplehorn 2006). Neomida suilla differs from Neomida picea by its shorter length, and males in having triangular-shaped cephalic horns with a tuft of bristles at their tips (Fig. 5, arrow).

Supplementary description.

Male. Body moderately convex, opaque, with vestiture of small seta; length 1.85-2.25 mm; elytra, pronotum and head reddish-brown; antennae, legs and mouthparts golden-yellow. Head with clypeus bearing a single prominent tubercle near the middle of anterior edge; frons armed with a pair of long, flattened, subtriangular, broad horns, each rising close to an eye and directed upward; horns with a row of bristles extending from about the middle of anterior edge to apex (Fig. 5, arrow); vertex deeply concave; Eyes with anterior portion emarginate by antennal insertion, forming a lower lobe about three times larger than upper lobe. Antennae with antennomeres 5-11 expanded forming a club; antennomeres 6-11 bearing multi-pronged sensilla (sensillifers) at the upper portion. Pronotum strongly transverse, twice as wide as long, widest posteriorly and longest at middle; lateral edges explanate, visible for their entire lengths from above; anterior edge slightly curved outward. Elytra approx. two and a half times as long as pronotum; sides subparallel at basal half, then narrowing to apex, epipleura extending to apex. Hind wings developed, apparently functional. Ventral surface slightly darker than dorsum, punctation sparser; prosternal process subparallel, narrowest at apex. Protibiae with outer edge serrate; apex bearing a row of spines; inner apical angle with two long spines. Aedeagus with basale about three times as long as apicale; basale most expanded near its base; apicale strongly narrowed at apex and with two lateral projections (ala) directed anteriorly and fitting the basale (Fig. 7, arrow); penis about as long as basale, cylindrical, expanded at apex, with struts converging and fusing at basal one-seventh of the length; internal sac narrow, elongated, about twice as long as penis. Females similar to males except for the following features: head without clypeal tubercle and frontal horns, and vertex devoid of concavity; eyes with lower lobe twice as long as upper one. Female abdominal terminalia with bursa copulatrix approx. one and a half time as long as gonocoxites together; common oviduct approx. as long as window of bursa; window of bursa about four times as long as spermatheca; spermatheca (Fig. 11) with check valve small, oval, bearing an invagination from upper portion to about middle; paraprocts about as long as gonocoxites together; baculi of basal gonocoxites perpendicular in relation to baculi of paraprocts; gonocoxites transversely divided into three parts; gonostyli inserted at top of apical gonocoxites.

Variation.

Males (n = 30), measurements (in mm): TL 1.90-2.20 (2.10 ± 0.09), PL 0.45-0.60 (0.56 + 0.04), PW 0.90-1.05 (1.00 + 0.04), EL 1.00-1.40 (1.28 + 0.08), EW 0.95-1.10 (1.05 + 0.04), GD 0.70-0.80 (0.74 + 0.03); ratios: PL/PW 0.50-0.60, EL/EW 1.00-1.35, EL/PL 2.00-2.67, GD/EW 0.64-0.75, TL/EW 1.82-2.15. Females (n = 10), measurements (in mm): TL 1.85-2.20 (2.08 + 0.10), PL 0.45-0.60 (0.56 + 0.05), PW 0.90-1.05 (1.00 + 0.04), EL 1.25-1.40 (1.32 + 0.05), EW 0.95-1.10 (1.06 + 0.05), GD 0.70-0.75 (0.74 + 0.02); ratios: PL/PW 0.50-0.60, EL/EW 1.18-1.35, EL/PL 2.17-2.78, GD/EW 0.68-0.74, TL/EW 1.91-2.10.

Material examined.

15 males and five females (1♂ and 1♀ ANIC, 13♂ and 3♀ CELC, 1♂ and 1♀ OSUC) labeled: "BRASIL: MG, Rio Doce, Lago da Candonga; área de mata, 16.ix.2009, leg. E.F. Barbosa". 15 males and five females (1♂ and 1♀ ANIC, 13♂ and 3♀ CELC, 1♂ and 1♀ OSUC) labeled: "BRASIL: ES, Linhares, Mata do Lago, 16.vii.2010, leg. S.Z. Aloquio Jr.".

Comments.

All specimens of Neomida suilla were found in basidiomes of Ganoderma sp., which is the primary host fungus record for the species. Neomida suilla was collected in two localities of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Fig. 13) separated by approx. 500 linear km, each at an extreme of the Doce River. These two localities are the most southern records for the species, which was known from only two localities in the Lesser Antilles (St. Vincent and Guadeloupe) and one in Recife (in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil). Its occurrence in the Lesser Antilles and in distant localities of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest suggests a wide distribution throughout the east coast of tropical South America.