Stenocerus christus Lopes & Mermudes 2018, sp. nov.

Stenocerus christus sp. nov.

(Figs. 1–14)

Etymology. Latin, Christus = Christ, allusive to the type locality of Corcovado, which houses the monument “Christ the Redeemer” in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Diagnosis. Rostrum with longitudinal median carina, without lateral carinae. Pronotum with broad and moderate shallow depression, more pronounced near the sub-basal carina, and with medial transverse elevation. Antebasal carina sinuous at sides. Lateral carina elongate and sinuous, reaches the apical third of prothorax, and slightly more protruding after middle. Mesosternal process depressed at the base; anterior margin concave, with posterior-apical expansions and posterior margin subtruncate. Tegmen with apodeme about as long as the sclerotized ring, 3.3x longer than the arms, and basally pigmented margins; pre-apical margin slightly sinuous; parameres elongate and fused, distinctly subparallel at sides (dorsal view), and distinctly wider in lateral view; apical margin slightly sinuous, with moderately long and dense bristles.

Description. Male (Figs. 1–14). Integument black-brownish. Dorsal vestiture: rostrum with short, thin and decumbent black-brownish scales intermingled with light-brown and several tone of yellow scales, forming irregular spots; frons near the upper ocular margin, with yellowish thin and short stripe, formed by decumbent and dense yellowish scales; antennomere III–XI (Fig. 5) with long, thin and erect light brown bristles throughout each antennomeres; antennal club (IX–XI) with short, dense and brownish pilosity; pronotum and elytra with dense and irregularly intermingled yellow, light and black-brownish scales, forming circular and irregular spots; elytra (Fig. 9) with checkered pattern (alternating spots of mixed yellow and white scales, with black-brownish scales) at the basal and apical thirds, along the interstriae 1, 3, 5 and 7; and medial third of elytra with dense pilosity forming a semicircular black-brownish spot, extending interestriae 3-7; pygidium (Fig. 11) with black-brownish scales mixed with pale yellow. Ventral vestiture: black-brownish at middle; lateral of pro- and mesothorax, and legs with tiny light-yellow spots; ventrites blackish-brown, at sides yellowish forming thin stripe; tarsomere I with dense and yellowish scales; II brown with yellowish scales.

Head slightly microcorrugate. Rostrum (Fig. 3) microcorrugate, 1.4x longer than wide across base, punctatecorrugated at the anterior angles; carina longitudinal medial moderately elevate, extending from apex to frons; without lateral carinae; apical margin notched, with angulate emargination; distance between scrobe and eye (Fig. 4) about half of maximum width of eye; ventral region middle longitudinally elevated and impressed at sides, with fovea on each side next to scrobe. Mentum glabrous, punctate-corrugated surface, with distinct medial longitudinal elevation and apical margin subtruncate. Gula with sparse and fine punctures. Antennae exceeding median third of pronotum; scape thickened; pedicel cylindrical-elongated, approximately 2.5x shorter than antennomere III, wider at apex, III–XI dorsoventrally flattened and expanded to apex; III the longest; IV slightly shorter than III; V–VIII subequal in length; club distinct, formed by segments IX–XI, subequal in length; XI with convergent lateral margins and subrounded at apex.

Prothorax (Figs. 6–7) about 1.3x wider than long. Pronotum (Fig. 6) with broad and moderate shallow depression, more pronounced near the sub-basal carina, with medial transverse elevation; antebasal carina sinuous at sides; lateral carina (Fig. 7) elongate and sinuous, reaches the apical third of prothorax, slightly more protruding after middle. Prosternum projected and flattened at disc, corrugated; prosternal process not extend beyond the distal margin of cavity I. Mesosternal process depressed at the base; anterior margin concave with posterior-apical expansions; posterior margin subtruncate. Scutellum subrectangular with rounded apex. Elytra (Fig. 9) short, 1.2x longer than wide across humeri, with parallel sides; basal gibbosities almost null; without tubercles; elytral suture slightly punctate.

Abdomen (Fig. 10): ventrites I–IV impressed at disc; ventrite V about 2.5x longer than IV, discretely impressed at the sides, apical margin slightly subtruncate. Pygidium (Fig. 11) with length of apical portion 1.4x longer than basal half; apical margin truncate-rounded. Terminalia (Figs. 12–13): tergite VIII (Fig. 12) slightly longer than wide, with subparallel sides, convergent lobes, strongly sclerotized at sides and apex, apical margin with wide and rounded medial notch (notch width about twice as long as each lobe widths), moderate long and dense bristles, mainly at apex of lobes; sternite VIII membranous with defined lateroapical lobes, sclerotized and with short and sparse bristles, with evident apodeme, subequal to height of sternite VIII; sternite IX with apodeme 2.7x as long as arms. Tegmen (Fig. 13) with apodeme subequal to the length of sclerotized ring, 3.3x longer than the arms; this with basal pigmented margins; rod 3.3x longer than the arms; pre-apical margin slightly sinuous; parameres fused and elongated, subparallel at sides (dorsal view), distinctly winder in lateral view; apical margin slightly sinuous, with moderately long and dense bristles, rounded medial notch at apical margin. Penis (Fig. 14) elongate, somewhat curved, with body 2.2x the length of apodemes; bridge between apodemes more sclerotized at proximal margin; tectum membranous, elongate and pigmented, twice as long as broad, strongly sclerotized at sides, these converging to acuminate apex; pedon continuous with apodemes, these sclerotized gradually from the base to the apex; sides converging to the apex; this acuminate. Internal sac with same length of apodemes, about 2.2x shorter than body of penis, with proximal dorsal area spiculate.

Type material: Holotype male from Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro (Corcovado), III.1968, Alvarenga & Seabra leg., Stenocerus christus sp. nov. Holotype male, Lopes & Mermudes det. 2017 (MNRJ). Paratype male same data as holotype, XII.1961 (MNRJ)—dissected.

Remarks. Stenocerus christus sp. nov. (Figs. 1–2) is very similar to S. longulus Jekel, 1855 which differs by the following characters (S. longulus characters in parentheses): 1) integument black-brownish (reddish-brown); 2) elytra with checkered pattern at the basal and apical thirds, along the interstriae 1, 3, 5 and 7, (alternating spots of mixed yellow and white scales, with blackish-brown scales) and medial third with a semicircular dark-brown spot extended from interstriae 3–7 (interstriae 1, 3, 5 and 7, with yellowish spots more evident by scales denser; and the dark semicircular spot is more post-median); 3) elytral striae with punctures less evident (coarse, deep and evident punctures); 4) mesosternal process depressed at base; anterior margin concave, with distinct latero-apical expansions, and posterior margin subtruncate (deeply concave and depressed at apex, with lateral-apical expansions of anterior margin swollen); 5) abdomen vestiture blackish-brown, at sides yellowish forming thin stripe; (tiny light-yellow spots on entire extension, lacking stripe); and finally, the main differences were found on terminalia with tegmen and segment VIII, 6) tegmen: apical medial notch rounded at apical margin (truncate), preapical margin slightly sinuous (slightly notched), and tergite VIII elongate, with convergent lobes, strongly sclerotized at sides and apex, and apical margin with wide and round medial notch (moderately short parallel lobes, weak sclerotized at sides and apex, and apical margin with truncate medial notch).