Lepicerus pichilingue Flowers, Shepard and Troya, new species

Lepicerus pichilingue Flowers, Shepard and Troya, new species

(Figs 1–5)

Description. Morphology (Figs 1–2) externally similar to L. inaequalis. Total length 1.6 mm; maximal width 1.0 mm. Body color yellowish; legs, labrum, clypeus, and middle of elytra black. Much of surface with round tubercles. Head between eyes with two longitudinal ridges with tubercles; supra-antennal ridges not pronounced; posterior of head with raised rim that meets anterior margin of prothorax. Clypeus triangular, strongly raised. Submentum and labrum completely covering mandibles and maxillae. Pronotal sides microdentate, slightly curved; posterior angles with a strong tooth projecting laterally; anterolateral corners excavate to receive antennal club. Scutellum small, triangular. Elytra with costae on intervals 3, 6, 8 (short), and 9, extending to apex where 6 and 8 join 9; intervals between costae with row of tubercles parallel to costae; transverse carinae absent; umbo projecting above actual anterolateral angle; strial punctures separated by own width. Epipleura extremely sinuate for reception of metathoracic legs, but not projecting strongly laterally. Wings fully developed; margin with numerous setae. Prosternum short, prosternal spine raised; prosternal carinae raised, parallel through most of length, strongly converging apically; extending only halfway through procoxae. Mesosternum with narrow anterior spine extending between procoxae. Metasternum long; anterior with deep fossa between mesocoxae; longitudinal medial suture; transverse suture just anterior to metacoxae. Legs retractable into grooves in sterna and epipleura. Meso- and metacoxae with flange covering base of trochanter when leg is fully retracted. Protrochanter triangular; meso- and metatrochanters elongately conical; widest at apex. Tibiae with two apical stout setae. Tarsi with two rows of stout setae ventrally. Aedeagus (Figs 3–5) long, narrow, flat; constricted in basal 1/4; strongly constricted in apical 1/3, then expanded slightly; apex minutely bifid; parameres fused to basal piece; fibula long, slightly sinuate. Female externally identical to male. Egg ovoid; 0.42–0.46 mm long, 0.22 mm wide.

Diagnosis. This new species has elytral carinae much less coarse than in L. bufo, but is so similar to L. inaequalis as to require genitalic dissection for conclusive species determination. The elytral carinae of L. pichilingue are somewhat more widely spaced than those of L. inaequalis and there is a row of tiny tubercles between carinae 2 and 3 in L pichilingue. However, these differences are apparent only in a side-by-side comparison of the two species. On the other hand, the differences in the aedeagi (Figs. 3–8) are easily seen. Characters useful in separating the three species are in the key below.

Etymology. pichilingue, Spanish, noun in apposition. Named for the Estación Experimental Tropical Pichilingue, where the specimens were collected.

Distribution. Known only from the type locality in Ecuador.

Specimens Examined: (1ɗ, 1Ψ point mounted and dissected, 2 intact). Male HOLOTYPE labeled: ECUADOR, Los Ríos, Estación Experimental Tropical Pichilingue, 5.5 km SW Quevedo, El Empalme Hwy, Lote “La Teca”, S01.08382°; W79.48425°, 128m; 25-IV-2008, leaf litter R. Troya, leg. (PUCE). Female ALLOTYPE (same data as Holotype) (FSCA). PARATYPES: (2 in alcohol), same data as Holotype (1 PUCE, 1 FSCA).

Habitat. This site (Fig. 9) was a pasture for many years before becoming a plantain plantation until nematodes made monoculture plantain uneconomic. It next became a plantain/cacao plantation (D. Vera, pers. comm.). All specimens were from leaf litter, extracted with Winkler funnels. There is a stream approximately 200 m away, down a steep slope. Associated Coleoptera in the soil samples included Staphylinidae, Hydrophilidae, and Corylophidae.

Biology. The female had four eggs in the abdomen, so the reproductive period includes April.