Exocelina pinocchio Shaverdo & Balke

Shaverdo, Helena, Sagata, Katayo, Panjaitan, Rawati, Menufandu, Herlina & Balke, Michael, 2014, Description of 23 new species of the Exocelinaekari-group from New Guinea, with a key to all representatives of the species group (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae, Copelatinae), ZooKeys 468, pp. 1-83 : 18-19

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Dytiscidae

12. Exocelina pinocchio Shaverdo & Balke sp. n. Figs 24, 48

Exocelina undescribed sp. MB3321: Toussaint et al. 2014: Supplementary figs 1-4, Tab. 2.

Type locality.

Papua New Guinea: Madang Province, Usino, 05°31.13'S; 145°25.32'E.

Type material.

Holotype: male "Papua New Guinea: Madang, Usino, 260m, 15.iii.2007, 05.31.125S 145.25.316E, Kinibel (PNG 158)" (ZSM). Paratype: 8 males with the same label as the holotype, one of them additionally with green label "DNA M.Balke 3321" (NHMW, ZSM).

Additional material.

26 females with the same label as the holotype (NHMW, ZMS). These females might belong to of two species: Exocelina pinocchio sp. n. and Exocelina brahminensis , therefore, they are not included in the type series.

Diagnosis.

Beetle small, dark brown to piceous, with paler head and pronotal sides, shiny; pronotum without lateral bead; male antennomeres simple; male protarsomere 4 with large, thick, strongly curved anterolateral hook-like seta; in ventral view, median lobe with strong submedian constriction and ventral sclerite apically divided in three parts and in lateral view, with very strongly protruding apex, forming long thin prolongation; paramere with strong notch on dorsal side and subdistal part elongate but broad, with numerous long, dense setae, thinner and shorter distally and thicker, longer, and curved at apex proximally. This species can be easily distinguished from all small, shiny, with simple antennae, and without pronotal bead species (e.g., Exocelina brahminensis or Exocelina lembena sp. n.) with shape of its median lobe.

Description.

Size and shape: Beetle small (TL-H 3.15-3.45 mm, TL 3.50-3.8 mm, MW 1.64-1.87 mm), with oblong-oval habitus, broadest at elytral middle. Coloration: Head dark brown, paler anteriorly; pronotum dark brown, with reddish brown sides and in some specimens also paler disc; elytra uniformly dark brown to piceous; head appendages red to reddish brown (in teneral specimens yellow to yellowish-red), legs darker, especially metathoracic legs (Fig. 48).

Surface sculpture: Head with dense (spaces between punctures 1-3 times size of punctures) but fine punctation; diameter of punctures evidently smaller than diameter of cells of microreticulation. Pronotum with much sparser and finer punctation than on head. Elytra with extremely sparse and fine punctation, almost invisible. Pronotum and elytra with weakly impressed microreticulation, dorsal surface shiny. Head with microreticulation stronger. Metaventrite and metacoxa distinctly microreticulate, metacoxal figs with longitudinal strioles and transverse wrinkles. Abdominal ventrites with distinct microreticulation, strioles, and fine sparse punctation, coarser and denser on two last abdominal ventrites.

Structures: Pronotum without lateral bead. Base of prosternum and neck of prosternal process with distinct ridge, smooth and rounded anteriorly, without anterolateral extensions. Blade of prosternal process lanceolate, relatively broad, slightly convex, with distinct lateral bead and few setae; neck and blade of prosternal process evenly jointed. Abdominal ventrite 6 broadly rounded apically.

Male: Antenna simple (Fig. 24A). Protarsomere 4 with large, thick, strongly curved anterolateral hook-like seta. Protarsomere 5 ventrally with anterior row of 12 and posterior row of 4 short setae (Fig. 24B). Abdominal ventrite 6 with 8-10 lateral striae on each side. Median lobe with strong submedian constriction and ventral sclerite apically divided in three parts in ventral view and with very strongly protruding apex, forming long thin prolongation in lateral view (Fig. 24C, D). Paramere with strong notch on dorsal side and subdistal part elongate but broad, with numerous long, dense setae, thinner and shorter distally and thicker, longer, and curved at apex proximally (Fig. 24E).

Holotype: TL-H 3.4 mm, TL 3.8 mm, MW 1.8 mm.

Female: Without evident differences in external morphology from males, except for abdominal ventrite 6 without striae.

Distribution.

Papua New Guinea: Madang Province. This species is known only from the type locality (Fig. 53).

Etymology.

The species is named for a fictional character from the book "The Adventures of Pinocchio" by Carlo Collodi because the apex of its median lobe has a prolongation like a “nose”. The name is a noun in the nominative singular standing in apposition.