Dyscolus donosoi Moret 2020, sp. nov.

Dyscolus donosoi Moret sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: F31CFECF-7D04-4800-9559-EA234039B5DD

Figs 15–16

Etymology

Noun in the genitive case, dedicated to David A. Donoso, assistant professor at the Escuela Politécnica Nacional (Quito), specialist of the ecology of neotropical ants, who took part in the discovery of the holotype of this new species.

Type material

Holotype

ECUADOR • ♀ (lacks the right foreleg and the right middle leg); Zamora-Chinchipe Province, Parque Nacional Podocarpus, Estación El Colibrí; 3°59′16.1″ S, 79°5′39.0″ W; 2110 m a.s.l.; 18 Mar. 2015; P. Moret, C. Ruiz and D. Donoso leg.; COI voucher PM402-02, BOLD sequence SUM187-18; QCAZ.

Paratypes (2 ♂♂)

ECUADOR • 1 ♂ (lacks middle and hind legs); Zamora-Chinchipe Province, Parque Nacional Podocarpus, Fundación Arcoiris; 3.988º S, 79.093º W; 2140 m a.s.l.; C. Ruiz and D. Marín leg.; COI voucher CR017, BOLD sequence GBNP 014-17; CISEC • 1 ♂ (lacks middle and hind legs); same collection data as for preceding; COI voucher CR018, BOLD sequence GBNP 015-17; CISEC.

Diagnostic description

Habitus: Fig. 15. Wingless. Body length: 11.8–13.9 mm. Body shiny black with a bluish, faintly iridescent lustre on the elytra; femora and tibiae nigropiceous, tarsi and palpi reddish brown; antennomeres 1–3 brunneopiceous, 4–11 reddish brown. Elytral microsculpture transverse. Head elongate, moderately convex, eyes relatively small, not protruding, genae slightly convex; mandibles very long, acute and arcuate at apex. Pronotum large, oval, completely rounded basally, with only one pair of lateral setae, lacking the basal pair; laterobasal depressions shallow. Elytra elongate-oval, convex; base arcuate; striae entire, broad and deeply impressed; intervals flat on disc, subconvex near apex; preapical sinuation obsolete. Third elytral interval without discal setae. Last visible abdominal ventrite. With one pair (♂) or two pairs (♀) of setae along its apical margin. Legs slender, fourth metatarsomere with one pair of subapical dorsolateral setae, apical lobes asymmetrical with a big outer lobe and no inner lobe. Male genitalia: Fig. 16. Median lobe arcuate with a long, spatulate apex, endophallus unarmed. Female genitalia: unstudied.

Comparisons

Owing to the unique combination of a rounded basal half of pronotum, absence of pronotal hind setae, and asetose third interval of the elytra, Dyscolus donosoi Moret sp. nov. has no close relatives among the described Ecuadorian Dyscolus. In our molecular analysis (Fig. 2) D. donosoi Moret sp. nov. forms a clade with D. saxatilis Moret, 1993, but the bootstrap support for this relationship is very weak. Dyscolus saxatilis is a páramo high-altitude species with black non-metallic integuments, broad head, short mandibles, and short and robust appendages.

Habitat

Montane forest on the Eastern slope of the Andes, at around 2100–2200 m a.s.l. Active at the beginning of the night (7–8.30 pm), on the trunk of a medium-sized tree, one meter above ground.

Geographic distribution

Only known from the type locality in Southern Ecuador, in the Parque Nacional Podocarpus. Probably microendemic.