Ostomopsis neotropicalis Lawrence & Stephan

Jałoszyński, Paweł & Ślipiński, Adam, 2021, Revision of the subfamily Ostomopsinae (Coleoptera: Cerylonidae), Zootaxa 4985 (4), pp. 459-481 : 471-474

Ostomopsis neotropicalis Lawrence & Stephan

Ostomopsis neotropicalis Lawrence & Stephan, 1975: 146 .

( Figs 25–27 )

Type material examined. Holotype ( Panama): sex unknown, “ Fairchild Trail / Barro Colorado Island / Canal Zone, Jan. 28 1959 / berlese sample, B-180 / heart of old palm ground, H.S. Dybas ” ( FMNH).

Additional material examined. Dominican Republic: 4 exx (3 disarticulated on one card), Magua , 30.vii.1978, R.O. Schuster leg., from coconut log. ( ANIC) . Cuba: 1 ex., Holguin, Sierra de Nipe, Rio Gayabo Gorge , 5.vi. 1990, 530 m, M.A. Ivie leg. ( MAIC) . Guadelupe: 1 ex., Dufau , Coll. Grouvelle ( MNHN) . Panama: 2 exx., Madden lake area, 6.ii.1959, leg. H.S. Dybas, fibrous crown of dead fallen palm, Berlese ( FMNH, ANIC) ; 1 ex., Bocas del Toro, Almirante, trail to dam on Nigua Creek , 31.iii.1959, F. Dybas leg., cortex of hollowed palm stump, Berlese ( FMNH) . USA: 1 ex, Florida, Monroe County, Lignum Vice Key , 14.iii.1968, S. Peck leg., hardwood forest litter ( FMNH) . Jamaica: 1 ex., Negril, West mursland, 2.i.1956, P.F. Bellivger leg., litter on sand under coconut ( FMNH) . Montserrat: Cassava Ghaut, Beattie House , 190 m, 16°45.91’N, 62°12.95W, 21-30.vi.2002, M.A. Ivie, UV light trap ( MAIC) ; 1 ex., same data except for A. Krakower and 23.iii.-3.iv.2002 ( MAIC) .

Emended diagnosis. Body uniformly light brown; elytra elongate, with EL/EW 1.3 or more and sides parallel in more than anterior half; eyes large; sides of pronotum with conspicuously long, sparse setae; median area on pronotum and median area on mesoventrite punctate; punctures on sides of elytra in anterior half distinctly larger than those on median region of pronotum; prosternal process with strongly concave sides and straight distal margin; mesoventral process slightly less than twice as broad as prosternal process; scutellar shield over twice as broad as long; antennomere 3 2.5 × as long as broad, 4 about as long as broad, 5 weakly transverse; tegmen strongly elongate but much shorter than penis.

Redescription. Body of both sexes ( Figs 25–26 ) elongate oval, strongly flattened; BL 1.00– 1.13 mm, BL/EW 2.10–2.32; pigmentation uniformly light brown.

Head ( Figs 25–26 ) subtrapezoidal, HL 0.13–0.15 mm, HW 0.28–0.30 mm; vertex and frons weakly convex; eyes large and strongly convex, coarsely faceted. Vertex and frons relatively sparsely covered with shallow and small but distinct punctures of equal diameters and almost evenly distributed, not alveolate, those on median area separated by spaces as wide as 1–2 of their diameters; punctures on clypeus distinct but much smaller than those on frons and vertex. Setae moderately long and dense, suberect.

Antenna ( Fig. 26 ) about as long as pronotum or indistinctly shorter, AnL 0.23–0.25 mm; scape weakly elongate, pedicel 2.2 × as long as broad, antennomere 3 strongly elongate, 2.5 × as long as broad, 4 about as long as broad, 5–7 each weakly transverse, 8 about twice as broad as long, club elongate and distinctly subdivided by shallow constriction into nearly equally long, fused antennomeres 10 and 11.

Pronotum ( Fig. 25 ) broadest near posterior third, about 1.5 × as broad as head; PL 0.25–0.28 mm, PW 0.41–0.50 mm, PL/PW 0.55–0.65; anterior margin evenly, weakly rounded; anterior corners blunt and distinctly projecting anterad; lateral margins broadly rounded and sparsely crenulate; posterior corners blunt, strongly obtuse-angled; posterior margin shallowly bisinuate. Narrow area along each lateral margin distinctly flattened and largely impunctate, with distinct submarginal line posteriorly joining indistinct submarginal line of posterior pronotal margin; remaining surface of pronotum covered with small circular, variable in diameter and slightly unevenly distributed punctures; some punctures with sharply marked margins, some diffuse, especially those on anterolateral regions; several largest punctures are distributed along lateral portions of pronotal base; smaller punctures are distributed on convex portion of pronotal disc, sparser at middle (punctures separated by spaces 2–4 × as wide as their diameters), denser on anterolateral areas (where punctures are separated by spaces subequal to or narrower than their diameters). Dorsal setae as long as those on head, moderately dense and suberect; several setae on lateral pronotal margins are about twice as long as width of flattened area along each side.

Ventral surface of prothorax ( Fig. 26 ) with prosternal process about as long as wide, with sides strongly concave, strongly broadening posterad, posterior corners sharp-angled with acute tips and distinctly projecting laterad, distal margin nearly straight; entire prosternum covered with circular and oval alveolate punctures distinctly larger than those on median area of pronotum and unevenly distributed; those along anterior prosternal margin nearly touching one another, some even showing tendency to fuse together, those on median region separated by spaces 2–3 × as wide as diameters of punctures, those on sides of prosternum and on inner regions of hypomera slightly larger and distinctly denser, separated by spaces equal to and narrower than their diameters; outer regions of hypomera impunctate and smooth. Setae on prosternum sparse, short and nearly recumbent; setae on hypomera equally long but sparser; anterior prosternal margin microcrenulate and with dense row of short setae directed anterad.

Mesoventrite ( Fig. 26 ) with mesoventral process between mesocoxae with sub-parallel sides, about 1.3 × as wide as prosternal process; surface covered with variously large circular alveolate punctures distinctly larger than those on prosternum, on median area sparse, separated by spaces 1–2 × as wide as their diameters, on sides much denser, between mesocoxae punctures moderately dense and unevenly distributed.

Metaventrite ( Fig. 26 ) strongly transverse, clearly longer than mesoventrite; large median area impunctate, with variously visible, in most specimens indistinct discrimen in posterior 1/3–1/2; anterior region and sides with circular alveolate punctures only slightly variable in diameters, all smaller than largest punctures on mesoventrite, spaces between punctures subequal to their diameters; those along anterior metacoxal margins distinctly denser. Posterior metaventral margin between metacoxae slightly concave.

Hind wings long and functional.

Elytra ( Fig. 25 ) together semioval, 2.3–2.8 × as long as pronotum and indistinctly broader than pronotum; EL 0.63–0.70 mm, EW 0.45–0.51 mm, EL/EW 1.30–1.47. Sides nearly parallel in slightly more than anterior half or barely noticeably broadening from humeri to slightly behind middle, evenly rounded and moderately strongly convergent posterad in posterior 1/3; conspicuously narrow area along each lateral margin distinctly flattened; humeri slightly obtuse-angled, humeral calli weakly marked; each elytron with nine longitudinal rows of small, circular punctures, but two adsutural rows may be slightly irregular, at least some punctures on anterior or anteromedian half with sharply defined margins, slightly smaller than largest pronotal punctures, punctures reducing in diameter toward apices; remaining cuticle virtually impunctate or with a few tiny punctures near suture; setae similar to those on pronotum. Epipleura ( Fig. 26 ) near middle length about as broad as metafemur, weakly narrowing, largely parallel-sided, each with distinct undulate ridge along mesal margin.

Mesoscutellar shield ( Fig. 25 ) subtrapezoidal, distinctly over twice as broad as long, with sides straight in front of broadest site, lateral corners blunt but sharp-angled, posterior margin angulate with straight lateral portions.

Abdominal ventrites ( Fig. 26 ) together slightly longer than meso- and metaventrite combined; ventrite 1 slightly shorter than 2–4 together, with median area and narrow posterior stripe impunctate or nearly impunctate, with very shallow, ‘scaly’ punctures on sides similar in diameters to those on sides of metaventrite and separated by spaces subequal to or narrower than their diameters; ventrite 2 with transverse ridge bearing several triangular posterior projections, ventrites 2–5 with fine, inconspicuous punctures.

Aedeagus ( Fig. 27 ); tegmen nearly four times as broad as penis and strongly elongate, with sides broadly constricted in subapical region, with one conspicuously long and one short pair of lateral apical setae and with truncate apex; penis nearly filiform, slightly and gradually narrowing from base to subtriangular, pointed apex.

Distribution. USA (Florida); Mexico (San Luis Potosi, Veracruz), Panama, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Guadeloupe, Montserrat.

Remarks. Ostomopsis neotropicalis is most similar to O. solitaria , and somewhat also to O. solomon . All three species have elongate bodies, but can be easily distinguished by characters given in the key.Among elongate species with large eyes, O. solitaria can be recognized by a large median area on the pronotum and a small median area on the mesoventrite being impunctate, and by having much less distinct punctures on the pronotum and elytra than those in O. neotropicalis and O. solomon . The two latter species clearly differ in diameters and distribution of punctures ( O. neotropicalis is finely and sparsely punctate, and O. solomon has distinctly larger and denser punctures on all body parts), and proportions of antennomeres (in O. neotropicalis antennomere 3 more than twice as long as broad, 4 about as long as broad; in O. solomon antennomere 3 less than twice as long as broad, 4 strongly transverse).

Figures

FIGURES 25–27. Ostomopsis neotropicalis Lawrence & Stephan. Dorsal (25) and ventral (26) habitus, aedeagus in dorsal view (27).