Dyscolus famelicus Moret, 2020

Moret, Pierre & Murienne, Jérôme, 2020, Integrative taxonomy of the genus Dyscolus (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Platynini) in Ecuadorian Andes, European Journal of Taxonomy 646, pp. 1-55 : 29-30

Dyscolus famelicus Moret sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:FC15AE30-F921-48BF-BFDE-DD80F0CF7351

Figs 27–28

Etymology

Latin adjective meaning ‘scrawny, gaunt’, in allusion to the narrow and slender body of this species.

Type material

Holotype

ECUADOR • ♂; Napo Province, East of Papallacta–Guango Lodge, Waypoint 40; 0°22′42.6″ S, 78°4′26.6″ W; 2708 m a.s.l.; 24 Oct. 2015; P. Moret leg.; QCAZ.

Paratypes (2 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀)

ECUADOR • 1 ♂; same collection data as for holotype; MNHN • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype; CPM • 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype; COI voucher PM040-02, BOLD sequence SUM184-18; CPM .

Diagnostic description

Habitus: Fig. 27 . Wingless. Body length: 9.6–10.5 mm. Elytra brownish, disc of the pronotum brownish black, margins of the pronotum brownish as the elytra, head piceous black; femora brownish, tibiae, tarsi, mouthparts and antennae reddish brown. Elytral microsculpture isodiametric. Head narrow with bulging eyes, frons with two foveae. Pronotum elongate, as wide as long, constricted basally; lateroapical lobes reduced; hind angles laterally prominent, broadly rounded; two pairs of lateral setae. Elytra elongate, ovoid, with effaced humeri and no hint of subapical sinuation; striae shallow, broken into dashes over elytral disc; intervals flat; third interval without discal setae. Last visible abdominal ventrite with one pair (♂) or two pairs (♀) of setae along its apical margin. Legs and antennae elongate. Male genitalia: Fig. 28 . Median lobe forming an obtuse angle after basal third (in lateral view), apex short, denticulate and bent downward in lateral view; endophallus without sclerotized structure. Female genitalia: unstudied.

Comparisons

The slender, elongate body form, the dashed elytral setae and the hooked apex of the aedeagus separate D. famelicus Moret sp. nov. from any other species having an asetose third elytral interval. Our molecular analysis (Fig. 2) places this species close to D. gobbii Moret sp. nov. which lives in the páramo and has a very different external morphology, but the bootstrap support for this relationship is weak.

Habitat

Upper montane forest on the Eastern slope of the Andes , at around 2700 m a.s.l., collected above ground at the beginning of the night, on mossy trunks and on epiphytes.

Geographic distribution

Only known from the type locality in Northern Ecuador, probably microendemic.

Figures

Figs 25–28. 25–26. Dyscolus arborarius Moret sp. nov. 25. Habitus of the male holotype (MNHN, COI voucher PM170-02). 26. Aedeagus, median lobe in lateral view. 27–28. D. famelicus Moret sp. nov. 27. Habitus of a female paratype (CPM). 28. Aedeagus, median lobe in lateral view.