Berosus garciai Oliva & Short

Oliva, Adriana & Short, Andrew E. Z., 2012, Review of the Berosus Leach of Venezuela (Coleoptera, Hydrophilidae, Berosini) with description of fourteen new species, ZooKeys 206, pp. 1-69 : 25-27

Berosus garciai Oliva & Short sp. n. Figs 6 A–B, 7B, 29

Type material.

Holotype (male): "VENEZUELA: Amazonas State/ 5°30.311'N, 67°36.921'W / nr. Campamento Canturama/ 14.i.2009; leg. Short, Camacho,/ Miller, García, & Joly; Orinoco/ floodplain pools; VZ09-0114-03B", "[barcode]/ SM0844153/ KUNHM-ENT", "HOLOTYPE/ BEROSUS/ garciai sp. n./ des. Oliva & Short 2010" (MIZA). Paratypes (242):VENEZUELA: Amazonas State: Culebra, N. Duida, 7-16.iv.1950, "J. Maldonado Capriles Coll." (4 exs., USNM, SEMC); Same data as holotype (119 exs., SEMC, MIZA, MALUZ, NHMW, NMPC); ca. 7 km S. Samariapo, 5°10.900'N, 67°46.078'W, 95 m, roadside pond; 15.i.2009, leg. Short, Miller, García, Camacho & Joly, VZ09-0115-02X (2 exs., SEMC); at river near confluence of Orinoco/Sipapo rivers, rock pool, 15.i.2009, leg. García, VZ09-0115-01D (12 exs., SEMC); same locality but leg. Short, VZ09-0115-01C (1 ex., SEMC); S. Communidad Porvenir, 5°20.514'N, 67°45.315'W, 87 m, pool in culvert, 14.i.2009, leg. Short & García, VZ09-0115-03A (2 exs., SEMC); ca. 15 km S. Puerto Ayacucho, 5°30.623'N, 67°36.109'W, 110 m, rock pools et al., 14.i.2009, leg. Short, VZ09-0114-03B (30 exs., MIZA, SEMC); nr. Iboruwa, “Tobogancito”, 5°48.414'N, 67°26.313'W, 80 m, rock pool with detritus, 13.i.2009; leg. Short, VZ09-0113-02B (42 exs., MIZA, SEMC); S. Puerto Ayacucho, 5°36.250'N, 67°34.955'W, 96 m, 4.i.2006, leg. Short, HG-vapor light, AS-06-010 (7 exs., SEMC); S. Puerto Ayacucho, El Tobogan de la Selva, 5°23.207'N, 67°36.922'W, 125 m, margin of main slide, 14.i.2009, leg. Short, Miller & Joly, VZ09-0114-01A (1 ex., SEMC). Bolívar State: ca. 25 km E El Burro, 06°13.059'N, 67°14.467'W, 62 m, rocky side pools of morichal, 13.i.2009, leg. Miller, VZ09-0113-01A (22 exs., SEMC). Representative specimen will be deposited in NHW, NMPC, and USNM.

Diagnosis.

Within the sticticus-complex (small species without dorsal metallic luster), this species is remarkable by the strongly melanic labrum and by the absence of the pair of spots usually present on the elytral disc on the fourth interstria. It may be distinguished from the other new species with a similar coloring by the tenth elytral interstria wider than the eleventh, the weak anterior tooth of the mesoventral process, directed downwards and backwards, and by the apical notch in the fifth apparent ventrite, which bears a pair of teeth at bottom.

Description.

Body length: 2.2-2.8 mm (holotype: total length: 2.2 mm; humeral width: 1.05 mm). Shape depressed. Eyes rather prominent. Labrum strongly melanic, clypeus testaceous, in most specimens melanic at the base, frons melanic save at the anterolateral areas. Pronotum testaceous with a pair of small, round, weakly melanic spots behind the eyes. Scutellum testaceous. Elytra testaceous with small, strongly melanic spots; those usually placed on fifth interstria absent. Venter melanic, dark reddish to black. Maxillary palpi darkened on apical one-fourth. Femora with pubescent portion darkened, glabrous portion testaceous.

Clypeus convex in lateral aspect, sparsely and finely punctured. Frons with somewhat coarser punctures; frontal carina apparent; base of frons weakly reticulate. Pronotum very short and wide, about three times as wide as long; punctures round to polygonal, on disc about twice the size of an ommatidion, at the sides coarser, contiguous. Background micropunctate, shining. Scutellum with a few coarse punctures; ground rugulose, shining. Elytral striae fine with deeply impressed punctures about the size of those on pronotum. Interstriae moderately wide, flat except for the ninth, tenth and eleventh which are very weakly convex, step-shaped, bearing punctures much smaller than the serial ones; ground micropunctate. Elytral apices simple. No spine-like hairs.

Mesoventral process with large, weakly curved anterior tooth that points downwards and backwards; behind this the ventral margin finely serrate; posterior angle weakly raised. Metaventral process narrow; posterolateral angles produced into small rounded lamellae; posterior angle carinate, in lateral aspect convex, not more strongly raised than posterolateral ones. First ventrite carinate in anterior two-thirds, the carina thick at base, gradually narrowing backwards. No lateral depressions. Fifth ventrite with shallow apical notch; bottom of the later produced into a wide-based tooth.

Maxillary palpi short; second segment shorter than fourth, which is ensiform but very thick. Basal pubescence on two-thirds of mesofemora and three-fourths of metafemora, limit transverse. Protarsus of male with small adhesive soles on the two basal segments, which are weakly thickened; basal segment hardly longer than the following one; distal segment as long as the other three together. Claws slender, weakly arched, toothed at base.

Male genitalia: basal piece three-quarters of total length. Parameres curved towards the sternal side; apices narrow; short subapical row of hairs; sternal margin straight. Median lobe as long as parameres, nearly straight, with weakly swollen spindle-shaped apex.

Etymology.

This species is dedicated to Mauricio García, who has been an ardent student of aquatic Coleoptera of Venezuela for the last fifteen years, and friend and colleague of the authors.

Distribution.

Venezuela (Amazonas, Bolívar).

Remarks.

This species is known from pools and streams along the northwestern margin of the Guiana Shield (Fig. 29). In a few instances during the dry season, when habitats are becoming scarce, the species was collected by the thousands in rock pools along the Orinoco River.