Glaresis hespericula, Kral, David & Hruzova, Lucie, 2018

Kral, David & Hruzova, Lucie, 2018, Glaresishespericula sp. n. from the Cape Verde Islands (Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea, Glaresidae), ZooKeys 792, pp. 91-97 : 92-95

Glaresis hespericula sp. n. Figures 1-10

Type locality.

Cape Verde, Boa Vista Island, 10 km S of Sal Rei, near Praia de Chavez 16.12°N 22.91°W, [ca. 7 m a. s. l.].

Type material.

Holotype (♂) and paratype (♀), "CAPE VERDE Boa Vista | Isl., 10 km S of Sal Rei, N | 16°12' W22°91'; near Praia | de Chavez, 28.-29.x.2015, | on light, V. Novák lgt."

Description of male holotype.

Body robust, strongly convex, weakly widened posteriad, brownish yellow coloured, weakly shining, macrosetation pale (Figs 1, 2).

Head (Figs 1, 4) surface finely rugose, semialutaceous. Mandibles robust, with strong lateral prominence, external margins sinuate. Anterior margin of clypeus shallowly sinuate, distinctly upturned, smooth, lateral angles rounded; lateral margin shallowly sinuate; posterior angles acutely angular. Surface of frons and clypeus covered with sparsely, irregularly spaced, shiny tubercles, some of them bearing stout, semi-erect macrosetae. Genae transversal, lateral margin rounded, smooth and bare. Epistomal grooves distinct. Occiput with irregularly spaced tubercles, tubercles somewhat smaller than on clypeus and frons. Each tubercle bearing very short, indistinguishable macroseta.

Pronotum (Figure. 1) transverse, moderately convex, pronotal grooves absent, medial longitudinal groove shallow; margins not bordered; anterolateral, lateral and basal margins serrate and with row of approximately clavate macrosetae, posterior corners rectangular; surface covered with densely almost regularly longitudinal carinae, each carina bearing thick, recumbent macroseta.

Scutellar plate small, almost triangular, alutaceous, smooth, and bare.

Elytra (Figs 1, 6) strongly convex, with ten striae and ten intervals; each stria with a row of coarse, simple punctures; intervals 1-7 and 10 remarkably costate, 8, 9 flat, all bearing a row of short, simple to weakly clavate, erect macrosetae.

Macropterous.

Pygidium weakly shining, scabrous.

Ventral surface (Figs 2, 5) alutaceous, abdominal ventrites covered with sparse fine macrosetae. Metaventral plate flat, bare and smooth, bearing row of stout macrosetae all around and with darkened translucent, longitudinal endocarina basally. Metaventral oblique grooves absent (Figure 5).

Legs. Posterior-superior margin of metafemora with blunt, broadly triangular teeth, anterior-superior margin of metafemora with a row of long macrosetae (Figs 9-10). Protibia distinctly tridentate (Figs 1, 2). Mesotibia (Figs 7, 8) long, nearly straight, with prominent median projection situated approximately in middle of length of mesotibia, distal part of outer edge broadly, shallowly emarginate, bearing nine short, stout spines; basal external tooth of mesotibia slightly emarginate basally. Metatibia (Figs 9, 10) broadly triangular, outer margin irregularly serrate, with faint median projection and faint median ridge, strongly macrosetaceous; row of four spine-bearing tubercles extending from base to apex medially; inner margin smooth, macrosetaceous; apex of metatibia with outer horseshoe shaped portion sub-equal than inner spur-bearing portion; inner margin of the horseshoe portion with a row of contiguous short macrosetae.

Male external genitalia (Figure 3). Aedeagus with parameres distinctly longer than phallobasis; parameres sclerotized in whole length, lateral margin regularly arcuate to almost regularly rounded tips; phallus sclerotised, sides straight, weakly divergent anteriad.

Sexual dimorphism and variability.

Female paratype differs from male by body indistinctly broader posteriad (Figure 2) and by row of ten spines on outer edge of distal part of mesotibia.

Measurements.

Total body length: 4.0-4.3 mm (holotype 4.2 mm; paratype 4.3 mm).

Differential diagnosis.

The new species is similar to Glaresis walzlae Scholtz, 1983, described from Sudan, mainly in having the following characters: absence of the pronotal grooves beside the medial longitudinal groove (Figure 1), absence of the metaventral oblique grooves (Figure 5), protibia with three prominent teeth (Figs 1, 2), and smooth anteior clypeal margin (Figs 1, 4); for more details see also Petrovitz (1968) and Scholtz (1983). From this species, Glaresis hespericula sp. n. clearly differs in the following characters:

- mesotibia with prominent median projection situated approximately in middle of length of mesotibia (Figs 1, 2, 7, 8) (mesotibia with small median projection situated before middle of length of metatibia in G. walzlae ( Scholtz 1983: fig. 8));

- distal part of outer edge of mesotibia broadly, shallowly emarginate, with row of 9-10 spines (Figs 1, 2, 7, 8) (distal part of outer edgr of mesotibia straight, with row of 7-9 spines ( Scholtz 1983: fig. 8));

- metatibia with faint median projection on outer margin, with faint median ridge (Figs 1, 2, 9, 10) (metatibia with prominent median projection on outer margin, with distinct median ridge ( Scholtz 1983: fig. 19)).

Collecting events.

The material was collected on sand dunes using a light trap approximately between 7-9 p.m., the temperature was around 24 °C and two days before it rained very strongly.

Etymology.

Hespericula means a small, yet juvenile hesperid; noun in apposition.

Distribution.

So far known only from the Boa Vista Island, the Cape Verde Islands.