Dyscolus barragani Moret 2020, sp. nov.

Dyscolus barragani Moret sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: ACA0E4AD-2254-492D-9BD9-0107CDD395F6

Figs 43–44

Etymology

Noun in the genitive case, dedicated to Álvaro Barragán, associate professor of entomology at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, co-organizer of the research project that led to the discovery of most of the new species described here.

Type material

Holotype

ECUADOR • ♂; Chimborazo Province, Ayapungu, Cerro Púlpito, Waypoint 417; 2°18′16.2″ S, 78°34′33.4″ W; 4290–4320 m a.s.l.; 24 Mar. 15; P. Moret and A. Barragán leg.; QCAZ.

Paratype

ECUADOR • 1 ♂; Chimborazo Province, Ayapungu, Cerro Púlpito, Waypoint 416; 2°18′29.0″ S, 78°34′38.8″ W; 4180 m a.s.l.; 24 Mar. 15; P. Moret and A. Barragán leg.; COI voucher PM417-02, BOLD sequence SUM021-18; CPM.

Diagnostic description

Habitus: Fig. 43. Wingless. Body length: 8.9–9.2 mm. Body with a varying coloration, from reddish brown to piceous black, the sides of the pronotum and of the elytra lighter than the discal area; legs, antennae and mouthparts testaceous to reddish brown. Elytral microsculpture isodiametric, distinctly impressed. Head broad and convex, neck markedly constricted, eyes moderately bulging, genae oblique, almost flat in dorsal view; antennae moniliform, very short. Pronotum transverse, quadrate; lateroapical lobes small, not protruding; sides feebly arcuate distally, almost straight in basal third; hind angles bluntly obtuse, almost rounded; two pairs of lateral setae. Elytra subparallel, convex; preapical sinuation obsolete; striae fine and shallowly impressed, almost obsolete; intervals flat or subconvex; third elytral interval without discal setae. Legs short and robust; fourth metatarsomere triangular, with one pair of apical dorsolateral setae; apical lobes very short, the outer lobe slightly larger than the inner lobe; fifth metatarsomere asetose ventrally. Last visible abdominal ventrite of the male with one pair of setae along its apical margin. Male genitalia: Fig. 44. Median lobe weakly arcuate with a long apical blade, endophallus unarmed. Female genitalia: unknown.

Comparisons

This species closely resembles Dyscolus saxatilis Moret, 1993 in its general sturdy aspect, asetose third elytral interval, shallow striae, and in the form of the fourth metatarsomere. It differs from it by its smaller size (D. saxatilis: 10.0– 10.8 mm), elytral microsculpture less granulose, eyes bigger, genae shorter and flat (convex in D. saxatilis), lateroapical lobes of the pronotum smaller. Our molecular analysis (Fig. 2) puts D. barragani Moret sp. nov. closer to D. hebeculus (Bates, 1891), with a very weak bootstrap support. Dyscolus hebeculus shares with D. barragani Moret sp. nov. an asetose third elytral interval, but otherwise the morphological differences are many. Dyscolus hebeculus has smaller eyes, longer antennae, a more elongate pronotum with more developed hind angles, elytral striae well impressed, and markedly asymmetrical lobes at the apex of the fourth metatarsomere.

Habitat

Humid superpáramo, at around 4300 m a.s.l.

Geographic distribution

Microendemic species, restricted to the Ayapungu massif.