Pseudocerocoma tulenapa Serna-Muñoz & Alzate-Cano, 2024

Serna-Muñoz, Sebastian & Alzate-Cano, Julian David, 2024, A new species of the highly modified genus Pseudocerocoma Pic, 1919 from Colombia (Coleoptera: Cantharidae: Ichthyurini), Zootaxa 5424 (4), pp. 490-496 : 491-493

Pseudocerocoma tulenapa Serna-Muñoz & Alzate-Cano , new species

https://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:7FFAA599-AE4D-4299-8046-34714711F907

( Fig. 1 )

Type material. Holotype: COLOMBIA. Antioquia: Carepa: Estacion Biologica Tulenapa Universidad de Antioquia , 7.77289, -76.66947, 50 m a. s. l., 13 May 2023, tropical moist forest, entomological net, col. S. Serna-Muñoz, ♂, CEUA 152261 .

Description. Holotype male: Maximum width of pronotum: 1.28 mm, maximum length of pronotum: 1.05 mm, scape width: 1.00 mm.

Head: Mostly yellow, slightly darker in the lower zone of the frons. Covered with short and fine setae. Hypognathous. Interocular space wide, the width of one eye. Space between the base of antennae short, less than width of scape. Antennae variegated, the base yellowish and turning darker towards the apex. Highly modified. Curved scape, swelling towards the apex. Short pedicel, cylindrical, slightly curved. Antennomeres 3–4 conical and short. Antennomere 5 apically elongated, with three prominent teeth in the anterior portion, covered with longer setae in the apical portion. Antennomeres 6–8 laterally expanded, concave, mainly clear colored, outwards margins black and covered with long setae in the outer margins. Antennomere 9 widely expanded, laterally projected and concave, longer setae in the inner and upper margin of the antennae, mainly dark colored. Antennomere 10 expanded but smaller and, in the opposite direction of the previous, covered with very few setae in the outer margins, dark colored. Apical antennomere flattened, elongated, rounded, and projected upward towering over the previous ones almost perpendicularly, mostly yellow, except the margins from the middle towards the apex, entirely black ( Fig. 1G–I ). Eyes slightly protruding. Head depressed between the eyes and the vertex. Fronto-clypeal suture distinct laterally, indistinct in the middle. Maxillary palps modified, with the palpomere 3 laterally projected and laterally compressed, giving the palps a forked appearance ( Fig. 1F ). Labial palps unmodified. Palpomere 3 as long as 1–2 combined, darker.

Thorax: Pronotum 1.3 times as wide as long. Anterior border convex. Posterior flat at the center and concave at the sides. Posterolateral margins slightly projected posteriorly. Lateral borders parallel. Sparsely covered with fine and short setae. Yellow with a semicircular testaceous marking close to the anterior border. Elytra 2.5 times longer than its maximum width, narrowing distally. Short and subtriangular, reaching the middle of the abdominal tergite 1. Apex rounded and swollen dorsally. Covered with short setae. Testaceous yellow, the base darker than the apex. Wings reaching the anterior border of abdominal tergite 8 at the time of collection. Legs increasing in length from fore to middle. Front and hind tibiae longer than their respective femora. Middle tibiae shorter than femora. Legs densely clothed with setae, longer on tibiae. Coxae elongated, mostly the middle, light yellow. Middle coxae brighter yellow towards the apex and outer border. Hind coxae with brighter markings on inner and outer border. Trochanters light yellow with basal union brighter. Femora fusiform, slightly curved, and apically swollen. Femora light yellow, the apex brighter yellow on the fore, apex on the middle and hind testaceous. Tibiae broader at the apex. Fore tibiae different from the others, the internal margin sinuous with two low protuberances, one near the middle and other at the apex. Tibial spurs absent All tibiae testaceous, lighter at the base. Tarsomere 1 longest, the following each one smaller than the previous, with short setae distally projected, testaceous. Tarsal claws with rounded basal teeth internally ( Fig. 1C ).

Abdomen: Weakly sclerotized, straight, and elongate. Opening of abdominal glandular pores small and inconspicuous, not on a tubular projection. Segments 1–7 testaceous with the posterior borders and pleura yellowish white. Sternite 8 forked, into two major lobes that do not meet at the posterior end. Lobes with a central small projection covered with sparce setae. External border of lobes composed by a curved lamina, forming a concavity. Each lamina with an internal lobe diagonally projected, the tip densely covered with setae. Sternite 8 yellowish white at the base, darkens towards the posterior end ( Fig. 1D ). Tergite 8 broad, greater than sternite 8. Tergite 8 forceps-like, with a strongly sub quadrate excavation at middle of posterior margin and a bifid lobe projected backwards at the center ( Fig. 1E ).

Female: Unknown. We suspect that as in P. mirabilis , the female of P. tulenapa would differ from the male for its minor size and by having simple but widened antennal joints ( Fig. 2B ; Brancucci 1986).

Diagnosis. The males of this new species can be distinguished from those of the other species of the genus by having the two lateral projections of the abdominal sternite 8 that do not meet or close at the distal end ( Fig. 1D ), the presence of a bifid lobe at the center of the abdominal tergite 8 ( Fig. 1. A, D – E ), and by having the antennomere 11 elongated, rounded, and projected upward towering over the previous ones almost perpendicularly ( Fig. 1G–I ); in the males of P. mirabilis the two lateral projections of the abdominal sternite 8 meet at the distal end ( Fig. 2E ), the abdominal tergite 8 has a conical lobe facing backwards ( Fig. 2F ) and the last antennomere is less flattened, more angular and projects upwards along with the previous antennomere ( Fig. 2D ).

Etymology. Name in apposition of the type and only known locality: Tulenapa biological station, newly established as natural reserve in 2023. The name means “land of the cosmos knowers” in Guna Dule language.

Distribution. Only known from the Department of Antioquia, Colombia ( Fig. 3 ). The specimen was collected in a moist tropical forest ( Holdridge 1967). The genus Pseudocerocoma was previously known from Mexico to Costa Rica ( Fig. 3A ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Pseudocerocoma tulenapa sp. nov. holotype, male. A. Dorsal view B. Lateral view. C. Pretarsus and tarsal claws. D–E. Terminal abdominal segments. D. Ventral view detail. E. Dorsal view, detail. F. Head in frontal view. G–I. Antennae. G. Dorsal. H. Lateral. I. Ventral.

FIGURE 2. Pseudocerocoma mirabilis. A. Dorsal view of male lectotype (© Keita Matsumoto, BMNH). B. Dorsal view, female (© Gabriel Biffi). C. Dorsal view, male (© Gabriel Biffi). D. Male head, frontal view (© Gabriel Biffi). E–F. Last male abdominal segments (© Gabriel Biffi). E. Ventral view. F. Dorsal view.

FIGURE 3. Distribution of the genus Pseudocerocoma. A. General distribution of the genus. B. Type locality of P. tulenapa sp. nov., with emphasis on the surrounding land use covers.