Miritius benevidensis Bechyné & Bechyné, 1967

Morais, Ana Carla C., Ribeiro-Costa, Cibele S. & Linzmeier, Adelita M., 2016, On the taxonomy of the Brazilian flea beetle genus Miritius Bechyné & Bechyné (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae: Alticini: Monoplatina) with description of two new species, Zootaxa 4067 (3), pp. 334-344 : 340-342

Miritius benevidensis Bechyné & Bechyné, 1967

( Figs 22–28 )

Miritius benevidensis Bechyné & Bechyné, 1967: 1037 (original description, type locality: Brazil, Pará).

Description. Body 3 mm long and 1.3 mm wide (N=1), silver pubescence, moderately convex in lateral view ( Fig. 23 ). Color reddish brown; head, pronotal disc, scutellum and first antennomere darker; legs (except posterior femur), second and fifth antennomeres lighter in color, sixth to eighth antennomeres black, ninth to eleventh light brown ( Fig. 22 ).

Head ( Fig. 24 ) with supraorbital pore nearly indistinguishable. Vertex with silver pilosity. Antennal calli slightly developed, separated by poorly developed midfrontal sulcus. Suprafrontal sulcus almost indistinguishable. Suprantennal, supraorbital and supracalinal sulci slightly developed. Orbital and frontolateral sulci absent. Midcranial suture absent. Frontal ridge narrow and well developed, extending from interantennal region to anterofrontal ridge, pubescent. Anterofrontal ridge narrow, slightly developed, vanishing before reaching base of mandibles. Frontoclypeal suture slightly evident. First antennomere 2x longer than second; third to fifth antennomeres narrower and longer than others; sixth to eleventh antennomeres slightly thicker and shorter than anterior and similar in size; eleventh slightly longer than previous antennomere; second to fifth antennomeres lighter in color, sixth to eighth black, ninth to eleventh light brown ( Fig. 22 ). Gena 0.65x length of eye, punctate. Labrum short and rounded.

Pronotum 1.2x longer than wide; anterior margin straight, posterior margin almost straight; antebasal impression with lateral regions very deep. Humeral and basal calli well-developed, forming well-marked depression between them that extends to first line of punctation, behind basal calli. Elytral apex rounded.

Metafemur 2x longer than wide. Metatibia straight in lateral view with outer inferior margin forming apical protuberance ( Fig. 26 ); inner and outer dorsal margins diverge at base and converge in middle third, in dorsal view; outer dorsal margin with pre-apical projection, followed by numerous teeth; metatibial spur short; first metatarsomere longer than second, second metatarsomere 2x size of third, fourth metatarsomere globose, darkbrown, longer than the first and second together.

Abdomen with circular hole containing internal setae on male ventrite I, ventrite IV constricted medially ( Fig. 25 ). Aedeagus with lateral margin almost parallel, base slightly wider than apex ( Fig. 27 ). Apex rounded, slightly more sclerotized, basal part long, in ventral view. Basal part long and plane ventrally in lateral view. Internal sac with spicules. Female unknown.

Type material. Miritius benevidensis Holotype ♂. Labels: 1) Benevides, (Para), Gounelle 2.1895; 2) TYPE ♂, Miritius benevidensis n., J. Bechyne det. 1966 ( MNHN).

Material examined. 1 exemplar ♂. Labels: 1) Brasil, PA, J. & B. Bechyné; 2) Benfica, 21.7.1962; 3) P-Type, Miritius benevidensis n., J. Bechyné det., 1966; 4) MEPG-COL, 15011345 [microtube with male genitalia] ( MPEG).

Comments. Miritius benevidensis can be immediately separated from all other Miritius species by its smaller size, reddish color and pronotum 1.2x longer than wide (other species are wider than long), and the outer inferior margin of metatibiae forming an apical protuberance ( Fig. 26 ). In Miritius benevidensis and M. abdominalis the large, C-shaped sclerite in the internal sac of the median lobe of aedeagus is absent. M. benevidensis can be separated from M. abdominalis by antennal calli slightly developed, separated by poorly developed midfrontal sulcus (antennal calli well-developed separated by midfrontal sulcus narrow and deep in M. abdominalis ), frontal ridge narrow and well-developed (narrow and undeveloped in M. abdominalis ), gena 0.65x the length of eye (as long as the length of eye in M. abdominalis ), antenomeres 6 to 8 darker (antennomeres 6 and 7 darker in M. abdominalis ), elytra apex rounded (truncated in M. abdominalis ). In addition, M. benevidensis differs from other Miritius by the presence of a circular hole containing internal setae on male ventrite I, the pattern of marking on elytra and internal sac of aedeagus with spicules.

Figures

FIGURES 22 – 28. Miritius benevidensis Bechyné & Bechyné, 1967. 22 Dorsal habitus 23 Lateral habitus 24 Head, frontolateral view 25 Abdomen 26 Metatibia and metatarsomeres 27 Aedeagus ventral view 28 Aedeagus lateral view.