Kumatoeides, Gómez-Zurita, 2018

Gómez-Zurita, Jesús, 2018, Description of Kumatoeides gen. nov. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae, Eumolpinae) from New Caledonia, Zootaxa 4521 (1), pp. 89-115 : 91-92

Kumatoeides gen. nov.

Type species: Kumatoeides aulacia sp. nov.

The new genus currently includes nine species of small sized (2.23–3.20 mm), winged species, glabrous on dorsum and of orange to brownish coloration, with or most typically without greenish metallic luster, and antennae, legs and mouth appendages uniformly pale. All the species have bulging, nearly entire eyes, and very short genae, with slender antennae, reaching slightly beyond middle of elytra in males and shorter in females, with pedicel short and slightly globose in males, shorter than third antennomere, fifth antennomere longest of basal six antennomeres, and antennomeres 7–11 feebly incrassate, with seventh longest of the antennal club (except for eleventh antennomere). Punctation generally strong and dense ( K. aulacia group) or moderate and sparser ( K. tarsalis group) on frons and pronotum. Pronotum transverse, anterior border of hypomera straight, and elytra as wide or imperceptibly wider at base than base of pronotum, with humeri marked, and generally with weak transverse depression behind humeri; elytra striate-punctate, with eight regular striae in their mid section, an additional subhumeral, curved stria connected to margin of elytron before middle, and short scutellar striae (missing in K. anomala sp. nov.). Tibiae dilated at apex and mesotibiae slightly shorter than mesofemora, feebly curved, with first pro- and mesotarsomeres of males strongly dilated and all claws appendiculate. Pygidium with median longitudinal groove, as an important trait to place the new genus among the Eumolpini (e.g., Gómez-Zurita et al. 2005). The genus is tentatively subdivided in two species groups, as named above, based on the characters used in the first couplet of the dichotomic key.

Derivatio nominis: The genus name is the Latin transliteration of the Greek adjective κυµατoειδής (fem.), meaning corrugated, i.e. surface bent into alternate folds and ridges, in reference to the regular striae on the elytra of these animals, an infrequent trait in Eumolpini , and particularly the New Caledonian Eumolpini .

Distribution: All known species of Kumatoeides gen. nov. have ranges in Grande Terre within the broad terrestrial ecoregion defined as New Caledonia rain forests in Olson et al. (2001). No species is known for the time being from the New Caledonia dry forests ecoregion or from the Loyalty Islands.