Phyllophaga (Phyllophaga) guanacasteca Morón and Solís, 2000

Vallejo, Luís Fernando & Wolff, Martha, 2013, The genus Phyllophaga Harris (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) in the Colombian Andean Mountains, Zootaxa 3722 (2), pp. 101-142 : 132-135

27. Phyllophaga (Phyllophaga) guanacasteca Morón and Solís, 2000

Redescription. Length 21.7 mm in males and 22.2 mm in females. The species has an elongate, oval body; reddish chestnut-brown in color; with a dull, glabrous surface; elytra has longitudinal striations, consisting of fine punctures. Pronotum ( Fig. 116 ) is wider than it is long, darker than the corrugated elytra, with a surface densely covered in minute punctures; it has straight lateral, non-granulated margins; head has minute punctures, especially on the vertex and the clypeus. Clypeus is wide, with two pronounced lobes and a raised, concave anterior margin. Antennae ( Fig. 117 ) have 10 antennomeres with short, compact antennal clubs. Protarsal claws ( Fig. 118 ) are deeply cleft with a wide, sharp tooth very close to the ungual base; flattened protibiae are not very wide, with three toothed projections on the external margin, the third tooth being reduced. Metatibiae ( Fig. 120 ) are long and wide, with two spurs, of which the inner is shorter than the outer and is fused with the tibia. Metatibiae have toothed carinae in the mid region. Pygidium ( Figs. 121–122 ) is wide and evenly convex; fifth abdominal sternites, have long, fine setae on each side. The male genital capsule ( Figs. 123–124 ) is short, cylindrical, and curved, with two enormous parameres, slightly longer than two thirds of the genital capsule, each with a symmetrical tooth projected from the mid distal region. The base of the aedeagus has a cylindrical and sclerotized structure from which a membranous sac, widening in the distal zone, is projected. The complete structure is clearly different in appearance to the rest of the abovementioned species.

Comments. The diagnostic features of this species do not correspond to any group of species as described by Morón (1986, 1996, 2003). The Colombian specimens have slight differences with specimens from Guanacaste, Costa Rica, but these may represent geographic variation.

New geographic records. Departamento del Tolima ( Colombia): Municipio de Fresno, vereda Alegrías (1,560 m), cafetal, September 2008, Fernando Vallejo, 3 males, 2 females; verada La Mireya (1,500 m), July and August 2010, 2012 Fernando Vallejo, 5 males, 1 female.

Figures

FIGURES 116 – 124. Phyllophaga guanacasteca adult male. Pronotum, dorsal view (116), left antenna (117), right protarsal claw (118), right metatarsal claw (119), right metatibia (120), abdomen apex appearance, frontal view (121), ventral view (122), male genital capsule, transversal view (123), lateral view (124). Scale: 1 mm.