Miritius egleri Bechyné & Bechyné, 1965

Morais, Ana Carla C., Ribeiro-Costa, Cibele S. & Linzmeier, Adelita M., 2016, On the taxonomy of the Brazilian flea beetle genus Miritius Bechyné & Bechyné (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae: Alticini: Monoplatina) with description of two new species, Zootaxa 4067 (3), pp. 334-344 : 336-338

Miritius egleri Bechyné & Bechyné, 1965

( Figs 1–10 )

Miritius egleri Bechyné & Bechyné, 1965: 39 (original description, type locality: Brazil, Pará), Scherer 1983: 5 (citation).

Description. Body 4 mm long and 1.8–2 mm wide (N= 5), pubescent, moderately convex in lateral view ( Fig. 2 ), fuscous. Color light brown to dark brown with dark brown spots as follow: one on basal calli, one medially close to elytral sutural margin, one oblique spot from eplipeural margin to first stria on posterior half of elytra; first two spots in some specimens may be connected by one larger spot extending obliquely to humeral calli. Pronotal disc dark brown ( Fig. 1 ).

Head ( Fig. 3 ) with supraorbital pore almost indistinguishable. Vertex with silver pilosity. Antennal calli slightly pronounced, separated by narrow and well-marked midfrontal sulcus. Suprafrontal, orbital and frontolateral sulci absent. Suprantennal, supraorbital and supracallinal sulci shallow. Midcranial suture slightly developed. Frontal ridge narrow and slightly developed, extends from superior antennal margin to anterofrontal carina, with punctation and pilosity. Anterofrontal ridge narrow and slightly developed, extending obliquely until imaginary line of antennal socket external margin from which it extends almost straight to base of mandibles, without punctation and pilosity. Frontoclypeal suture absent. Frontoclypeal region densely punctate and pilose. First antennomere 2x longer than second; third to sixth antennomeres narrower and longer than other, with fifth longest (1.28x the length of anterior two antennomeres); seventh to eleventh antennomeres slightly thicker and more pilose than previous; eleventh slightly longer than anterior; seventh and eighth antennomeres dark brown, ninth to eleventh light yellow ( Fig. 1 ). Gena 0.77x the length of the eye, densely punctate. Labrum rectangular with anterior angles rounded.

Pronotum ( Fig. 1 ) transverse, 1.2x to 1.3x wider than long. Anterior margin straight, posterior margin sinuate. Pronotal disc raised with slight longitudinal depression medially. Scutellum triangular with rounded apex. Anterior margin of metasternum punctuated. Basal and humeral calli well developed, forming a slight depression between them that extends to first stria behind basal calli. Elytral apex slightly truncate.

Metafemur 1.5x longer than wide. Metatibial thickened at base and attenuated near apex, straight in lateral view; inner and outer dorsal margins diverge at base and converge in the middle third, in dorsal view; outer dorsal margin with a pre-apical projection, followed by numerous denticles; metatibial spur short; first and second metatarsomeres similar in size, 2x the size of the third, fourth metatarsomere globose, dark brown, nearly as long as the first and second together.

Abdomen with ventrite IV medially constricted. Aedeagus with lateral margins almost parallel, apex rounded, slightly more sclerotized and basal part long, in ventral view ( Fig. 9 ). Aedeagus concave, basal part long and plane ventrally in lateral view ( Fig. 10 ). Internal sac of median lobe with a sclerite large, globose, C-shaped at apex ( Fig. 10 ). Tignum spoon-shaped, truncate at apex, with long setae in lateral margin ( Fig. 8 ). Vaginal palpi diverging medially ( Fig. 7 ). Spermatheca with receptacle and pump distinct, pump somewhat longer and sclerotized than receptacle ( Fig. 6 ).

Type material. Miritius egleri Holotype ♂. Labels: 1) Cach. Miriti, 23.8; 2) Brasil, PA/AP, Rio Jari, 1961, Dr. W. Egler; 3) Holotype ♂, Miritius egleri n., J. Bechyne det., 1961; 4) MPEG-COL, 15011346 ( MPEG).

Material examined. 1 exemplar ♀. Labels: 1) Benevides, 30.12.1960; 2) Brasil, PA, J. & B. Bechyne; 3) Allotype ♀, Miritius egleri n., J. Bechyne det., 1961; 4) MPEG-COL, 15011347 ( MPEG). 1 exemplar ♂. Labels: 1) Icoraci, 4.11.1961; 2) Brasil, PA, J & Bechyné; 3) Miritius egleri n., J Bechyne det., 1966 [microtube with male genitalia] ( MPEG). 1 exemplar ♀. Labels: 1) Santa Isabel, 14.09.1962; 2) Brasil, PA, J. &B. Bechyne; 3) Miritius egleri n., J. Bechyné det., 1966 [microtube with female genitalia and abdomen; without head] ( MPEG). 1 exemplar ♀. Labels: 1) Vigla, 30.8.1962; 2) Brasil, PA, J. & B. Bechyne; 3) Miritius egleri n., J. Bechyné det., 1966 [microtube with female genitalia and abdomen] ( MPEG). 1 exemplar ♀. Labels: 1) Icoraci, 19.12.1961; 2) Brasil, PA, J. & B. Bechyné; 3) Miritius egleri n., J. Bechyne det., 1966 ( MPEG). 1 exemplar ♂. Labels: 1) Marituba, 10.6.1961; 2) Brasil, PA, J. & B. Bechyné; 3) Miritius egleri Morais & Linzmeier det. 2015 ( MPEG). 1 exemplar ♀. Labels: 1) Benevides, 30.12.1960; 2) Brasil, PA, J. & B. Bechyné; 3) Miritius egleri Morais & Linzmeier det. 2015 ( MPEG). 1 exemplar ♀. Labels: 1) Santa Isabel, 28.7.1962; 2) Brasil, PA, J. & B. Bechyné; 3) Miritius egleri Morais & Linzmeier det. 2015 ( MPEG). 1 exemplar ♂. Labels: 1) Icoraci, 3.8.1962; 2) Brasil, PA, J. & B. Bechyné; 3) Miritius egleri Morais & Linzmeier det. 2015 [microtube with male genitalia] ( MPEG).

Comments. Among the Miritius species M. egleri is the most robust. Miritius egleri and M. claudius have a large sclerite, globose, C-shaped in the internal sac of the median lobe of aedeagus and antennomeres 7 and 8 darker. However, M. egleri can be separated from M. claudius by the following characters: vertex with silver pubescence (gold in M. claudius ); suprafrontal and frontolateral sulci absent (present in M. claudius ); elytral markings not forming a triangular pattern (markings form a triangular pattern in M. claudius ), frontoclypeal region densely punctate and pilose (frontoclipeal poorly punctate and pilose in M. claudius ), absence of spicules in the internal sac of the median lobe of aedeagus (present in M. claudius ).

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 10. Miritius egleri Bechyné & Bechyné, 1965. 1 Dorsal habitus 2 Lateral habitus 3 Head, frontal view 4 Prosternum 5 Mesosternum and metasternum 6 Spermatheca 7 Vaginal palpi 8 Tignum 9 Aedeagus ventral view 10 Aedeagus lateral view.