Sympleurotis cordiformis, Bezark & Santos-Silva, 2022

Sympleurotis Bates, 1881 View in CoL

Sympleurotis cordiformis sp. nov.

( Fig. 13-19)

ZooBank:http://zoobank.org/ 91AC2F02-95E6-4167-9746-89F6A5F78DBD

Holotype, ♂, GUATEMALA, Baja Verapaz: Rt-CA 14, Purulha, Hotel Ranchito del Quetzal , 1600 m, 15º12.929’N 90º13.149’W, mv/ bl light traps, 13.VII.2009, R. S. Zack leg. ( CAS). GoogleMaps

Paratype ♀, GUATEMALA, Baja Verapaz: 3 km S Purulha , 1650-1800 m, beating montane forest, 15º12.965’N 90º13.142’W, 27-30. VI GoogleMaps .2012, E. Fuller leg. ( WHTC) .

Description of the holotype ( Fig. 13- 16)

Coloration. – Head capsule black; ventral mouthparts dark brown, except dark yellowish-brown apex of palpomeres; base of anteclypeus and apex of labrum dark yellowish brown; scape brown;pedicel brown, slightly lighter on posterior region; antennomere III dark reddish brown basally, gradually blackish toward apex; antennomere IV brown on basal quarter, gradually blackish toward apex; antennomere V dark brown, except blackish apex; antennomeres V–XI dark brown. Prothorax dark brown, except large, cordiform reddish-brown macula on center of pronotum. Ventral surface of meso- and metathorax dark brown, except dark reddish-brown posterocentral region of metaventrite. Scutellum dark brown. Elytra blackish on anterior 2/3, dark brown on posterior third. Femora reddish brown on most of surface of peduncle and basal half of dorsal surface of femoral club, dark reddish brown on posterior half of dorsal surface of femoral club, dark brown on remaining surface. Tibiae dark brown, except blackish apex. Tarsi mostly blackish. Ventrite 1 dark brown on anterior half, dark reddish brown on posterior half, except dark brown apex; ventrites 2–3 dark brown basally, reddish brown centrally, dark brown on apex; ventrite 4 mostly dark brown on sides of basal 2/3, reddish brown on remaining surface, except apex narrowly dark brown; ventrite 5 mostly reddish brown, with some areas more darkened.

Head. – Frons densely, minutely punctate; with dense grayish-white pubescence almost obscuring the entire surface, pubescence slightly more yellowish-white on some areas;with a few long, erect dark setae close to eyes. Area between antennal tubercles slightly depressed centrally; with dense pale yellow pubescence, except glabrous central area, glabrous area widened toward posterior region; area between antennal tubercles and upper eye lobes somewhat abruptly depressed; with dense pale yellow pubescence close to eyes, this pubescence following toward middle of area behind upper eye lobes, with yellowish-white pubescent band on each side of middle, from pale-yellow pubescent band to prothorax, glabrous centrally, laterally, and behind superior half of upper eye lobes; with a few long, erect dark setae close to eyes. Remaining surface behind upper eye lobes with pale-yellow pubescence close to eye, glabrous close to prothorax, pubescent area widened

13 -16. Holotype ♂. 13. Dorsal habitus. 14. Ventral habitus. 15. Lateral habitus. 16. Head and pronotum.

17 -19. Paratype ♀. 17. Dorsal habitus. 18. Ventral habitus. 19. Apex of ventrite 5.

toward lower eye lobes. Area behind lower eye lobes glabrous close to superior half and area close to prothorax, with dense yellowish-white pubescence on remaining surface, this pubescence projected centrally toward superior region. Genae 1.4 times longer than frontal area of lower eye lobe; with dense grayish-white pubescence, whiter depending on light intensity, more yellowish-white on some areas, except glabrous apex and area close to frons, glabrous area close to frons slender anteriorly, widened posteriorly;with a few long, erect dark setae interspersed toward ventral surface. Wide central area of postclypeus with dense grayish-white pubescence, whiter depending on light intensity, and dense fringe of pale-yellow pubescence apically;with a few long, erect dark setae interspersed, and one long, erect yellowish-brown seta on each side. Sides of postclypeus glabrous. Labrum with dense pubescence posteriorly, pubescence grayish-white basally, mostly pale yellow apically, glabrous centrally, and with abundant, short, somewhat thick yellowish-brown setae on anterior quarter; with a few long, erect dark setae interspersed posteriorly. Gulamentum smooth, glabrous, except intermaxillary process and area close to it minutely punctate, and with somewhat abundant grayish-white pubescence not obscuring integument. Distance between upper eye lobes 0.17 times distance between outer margins of eyes; in frontal view, distance between lower eye lobes 0.44 times distance between outer margins of eyes. Antennae 2.0 times elytral length, reaching elytra apex at base of antennomere VII. Scape with abundant grayish-white pubescence not obscuring integument dorsally and laterally, obscuring ventrally. Pedicel with abundant yellowish pubescence basally and apically, grayish-white on remaining surface. Antennomeres III–IV with abundant grayish-white pubescence on basal quarter, shorter, less conspicuous on remaining surface, except yellowish-brown pubescence on apex; with a few short dark setae apically; III with a few short, erect dark setae ventrally. Antennomeres V–XI with abundant, short grayish-white pubescence; V–X with a few short dark setae apically.

Antennal formula based on length of antennomere III:

– Scape = 0.88. – Pedicel = 0.10. – IV = 0.83. – V = 0.63. – VI = 0.56. – VII = 0.47. – VIII = 0.41. – IX = 0.37. – X = 0.31. – XI = 0.29.

Thorax. – Prothorax wider than long; sides slightly rounded basally, subparallel-sided toward posterior fifth, then slightly widened toward posterolateral angles. Pronotum widely tumid centrally from anterior sixth to posterior fifth; tumid area with four tubercles, one elevated, slightly oblique, located on each side of anterior region, with their inner margin near to each other, another smaller on each side of posterior region, with their inner margins far from each other; posterior 2/3 of tumid area longitudinally, finely carinate centrally;remainingsurface of tumidarea transverselystriate;withirregular row of coarse punctures near anterior margin, and row of coarse punctures near posterior margin, punctures on posterior region distinctly coarser than on anterior region; sides with a few coarse punctures; with dense grayish-white pubescence laterally and posteriorly, yellowish-white on center of anterior region; reddish-browncordiform regionwithsomewhat sparse yellowish-brown pubescence, slightly denser toward posterior region, with short, decumbent grayish-white setae interspersed, and dense, oblique yellowish pubescent band oneachside of posterior margin.Sides of prothorax sparsely, coarsely punctate; withdense grayish-whitepubescence, more yellowish-whitedependingonlight intensity. Ventral surface of thorax with dense grayish-white pubescence, whiter depending on light intensity, except one subcircular glabrous area on each side of center of mesoventrite, yellowish pubescence on outer sides of glabrous area of mesoventrite, and short yellowish setae interspersedon mesoventral process and center of metaventrite; narrowest area of prosternal process 0.42 times procoxal width; apex of mesoventral process as wide as mesocoxal width. Scutellum with dense grayish-white pubescence centrally, and narrow yellowish-brown pubescent band laterally.

Elytra. – Not entirely covering abdomen; humeral carina well-marked only on basal third; abundantly, coarsely punctate on basal half, punctures gradually finer and sparser on posterior half; punctures on basal fifth tuberculate anteriorly; centrobasal crestelevated, roundeddorsally;withdense grayish-white pubescence not obscuring punctures, except transverse dark yellowish-brown pubescent band from posterior region of centrobasal crest to near suture, dark yellowish-brown pubescent macula on apex of anterior third, between humeral carina and epipleural margin, dark yellowish-brown pubescence surrounding some punctures from anterior third, wide, transverse, strongly sinuous dark yellowish-brown pubescent band on apex of central third, reaching epipleural margin, not reaching suture, and somewhat abundant, both small and large pale yellowish-brown maculae on posterior third; with long, erect dark setae interspersed throughout; apex transverse, with outer angle spiniform and sutural angle rounded, slightly projected.

Legs. – Femora with dense grayish-white pubescence, slightly more yellowish-white depending on light intensity, except slightly sparser and yellowish pubescence on dorsal surface of base and middle of femoral club, pubescence more yellowish brown ondorsal surface of profemora.Protibiae with dense grayish-white pubescence on basal 2/3, partially grayish-white on outer side of posterior third, sparser, mostly dark yellowish-brown on remaining posterior third, except bristly and denser pubescence on ventral surface. Mesotibiae with dense grayish-white pubescence on anterior 2/3, except sparser yellowish-brown pubescentmacula dorsally on anterior third; with dense, bristly, mostly dark-brown pubescence on posterior third; dorsal surface with abundant, short, erect blackish setae. Pubescence on metatibiae as on mesotibiae; posterior third with sparse grayish-white pubescence dorsally, denser, bristly, mostly dark yellowish-brown on remaining surface; with short, erect blackish setae interspersed, erect setae distinctly more abundant on posterior third of dorsal surface. Base of dorsal surface of tarsomeres I–II with dense grayish-white pubescence, more yellowish-white on metatarsi; remaining surface of I–II and on III–V mostly with sparser and dark pubescence; metatarsomere I about as long as II–III together.

Abdomen. – Ventrites with dense yellowish-white pubescence, except glabrous central apex of 1–4, glabrous area wider toward ventrite 4; ventrite 5 slightly longer than 3–4 together, with apex distinctly concave. Last tergite strongly concave, making outer angles spiniform.

Female ( Fig. 17-19). General appearance similar to males. Differs by the antennae slightly shorter, 1.8 times elytral length, reaching elytral apex slightly after basal third of antennomere VII, humeral carina well-marked on basal half, and by the last tergite noticeably long, with acute apex, and ventrite 5 noticeably long, 0.75 times elytral length, with apex strongly V-shaped notched, with its apices rounded.

Dimensions (mm) (holotype ♂ / paratype ♀).

– Total length, 12.70/22.05;

– Prothoracic length, 2.25/2.35;

– Anterior prothoracic width, 2.40/2.80;

– Posterior and maximum prothoracic width, 2.90/3.40;

– Humeral width, 4.70/5.80;

– Elytral length, 8.65/10.55.

Etymology. – The specific epithet “ cordiformis ” (from Latin “cordatus,” meaning “heart-shaped”) refers to the shape of the reddish-brown macula on the center of the pronotum.

Remarks. – Sympleurotis cordiformis sp. nov. is similar to S. amixtlani Noguera, Gutiérrez & Monné, 2018 (see photographs on Bezark 2022a and original description), but differs as follows (females): body proportionally wider, elytra shorter than twice humeral width (body proportionally slender, elytra slightly longer than twice humeral width in S. amixtlani ); pronotum and elytra without golden pubescence interspersed (with abundant golden pubescence interspersed in S. amixtlani ); lower eye lobes shorter than genae (1.3 times longer than gena in S. amixtlani ); pronotum rugose,not punctate on large central area (pronotum coarsely punctate centrally in S. amixtlani ). Although the female paratype is a teneral specimen, and the pubescence has not been well preserved, it agrees very well with the male holotype. Therefore, there is no doubt that the general pubescence in both specimens would be quite similar, allowing the new species to be easily separated from S. amixtlani . It differs from S. wappesi Julio & Monné, 2005 (see photographs on Bezark 2022a and original description and only female known), by the body stouter (slender in S. wappesi ), elytra proportionally shorter, 4.5 times prothoracic length (proportionally longer, 5.0 times prothoracic length in S. wappesi ), emargination of ventrite 5 distinctly V-shaped (with short U-shaped emargination in S. wappesi ).

To include the new species in the key from Noguera et al. (2018) it would be necessary to modify the key from the alternative of couplet “1.” However, as we do not have all species at our disposal to verify details, we prefer not to include the new species in this key or that from Julio & Monné (2005).

20 -23. Eulachnesia penrosei sp. nov., holotype ♂. 20. Dorsal habitus. 21. Ventral habitus. 22. Lateral habitus. 23. Head and pronotum.

24. Eulachnesia cobaltina Bates, 1881 , syntype ♂, oblique view, by Jesus Santiago Moure.