Nesozineus triangulus, Bezark & Santos-Silva, 2022

Nesozineus triangulus View in CoL sp. nov.

( Fig. 6-11)

ZooBank:http://zoobank.org/ C2ED140E-DE49-4565-8DDF-D263298B47AC

Holotype, ♀, ECUADOR, Manabí: 5 km S Montecristi , 10.III.2006, F. T. Hovore & I. Swift leg. ( CAS).

Paratype ♀, same data as holotype ( LGBC) .

Description of the holotype ( Fig. 6- 10)

Coloration. – Integument mostly black; palpomeres reddish brown; gulamentum gradually dark reddish brown toward prothorax; scape dark brown; pedicel brown; antennomeres III–VI dark orangish brown, with apex slightly darker; antennomeres VII–XI orangish brown basally, this area longer on X–XI, brown on remaining surface; anteclypeus fulvous; labrum dark brown posteriorly, brownish anteriorly; center of prosternal process, center of mesoventral process, part of trochanters, and base of femora dark reddish brown; remaining surface of femora, tibiae, and tarsi dark brown; central apex of ventrite 4 dark yellowish brown.

Head. – Frons densely, minutely punctate; with abundant, short, decumbent, somewhat thick yellowish-white setae on wide central area, slightly longer, slender, yellowish close to eyes; with one long, erect yellowish-brown seta on each side close to clypeus. Area between antennal tubercles and upper eye lobes slightly depressed; abundantly, minutely punctate, with a few fine punctures interspersed between antennal tubercles; densely, minutely punctate laterally close to upper eye lobes, with a few fine punctures close to eye, smooth centrally, smooth area gradually narrowed toward posterior region; with sparse, short, decumbent, somewhat thick yellowish setae between antennal tubercles and close to upper eye lobes, glabrous on smooth area. Remaining surface of vertex and area behind upper eye lobes with dense pale-yellow pubescence, except almost glabrous central area of vertex close to prothorax. Area behind lower eye lobes densely, minutely punctate close to eye, subsmooth close to prothorax; with abundant, minute yellowish-brown pubescence close to eye, glabrous on remaining surface. Genae abundantly, minutely punctate, slightly transversely striate on frontocentral region, except smooth apex;with pale-yellow pubescence close to eye, somewhat abundant, short, decumbent, thick yellowish-brown setae on remaining surface toward ventral surface, sparser toward clypeus, except glabrous smooth area.Antennal tubercles with sculpturing and pubescence as on central area of frons, except apex with slightly longer pale-yellow pubescence. Wide central area of postclypeus with abundant, long yellowish-white setae directed forward, setae sparser centrally, shorter, whiter laterally, and one long, erect yellowish-brown seta on each side. Sides of postclypeus glabrous. Labrum coplanar with anteclypeus at posterior half, inclined at anterior half; with transverse row of fine punctures close to inclined area; with somewhat sparse whitish pubescence close to inclined area, glabrous on remaining surface; with row of long, erect dark setae on punctate region, and abundant, long yellowish-white setae directed forward centrally; anterior margin with fringe of short yellowish-brown setae. Distance between upper eye lobes 0.17 times distance between outer margins of eyes; in frontal view, distance between lower eye lobes 0.47 times distance between outer margins of eyes. Antennae 2.5 times elytral length, reaching elytra apex at posterior third of antennomere VI. Scape withabundantyellowish-white pubescence on base of dorsal surface, pubescence gradually dark yellowish-brown toward apex of dorsal surface; sides with somewhat sparse, minute yellowish-white setae, whiter depending on light intensity; ventral surface with abundant whitish pubescence not obscuring integument. Pedicel with abundant yellowish-white pubescence dorsally, and abundant white pubescence on remaining surface. Antennomeres III–VI with abundant white pubescence partially obscuring integument. Antennomeres VII–XI with dense white pubescence basally, slightly sparser on remaining surface.

Antennal formula based on length of antennomere III:

– Scape = 0.86. – Pedicel = 0.20. – IV = 1.22. – V = 1.00. – VI = 0.89. – VII = 0.81. – VIII = 0.79. – IX = 0.72. – X = 0.65. – XI = 0.69.

Thorax. –Prothorax widerthanlong;lateraltubercleslocated slightlyafter middle, conical, large, with acute apex directed backward. Pronotum with slightly elevated gibbosity on each side of anterior half; abundantly, coarsely punctate; sides with dense yellowish-white pubescence not obscuring punctures, except yellower macula on center of anterior half; central region

6-10. Nesozineus triangulus sp. nov., holotype ♀. 6. Dorsal habitus. 7. Ventral habitus. 8. Lateral habitus.

9. Head and pronotum. 10. Prosternal and mesoventral processes.

11. Nesozineus triangulus sp. nov., paratype ♀, dorsal habitus.

12. Nesozineus bucki (Breuning, 1954) , ♀ from Argentina (Entre Rios), dorsal habitus .

with somewhat abundant, minute, thick, decumbent yellowish setae, becoming gradually whiter on posterior third; with irregular whitish pubescent macula on anterior third, between center and lateral margin (absent on right side, because the specimen is rubbed); with a few long, erect dark setae on sidesof posterior quarter. Sidesof prothorax with sculpturingasonpronotum; with sparse yellowish-brown pubescence. Prosternum with sparse, minute yellowish-white setae, setae distinctly sparser toward central and anterior regions. Prosternal process narrowed centrally, strongly widened apically; with abundant whitish pubescence not obscuring integument, except apex with fringe of yellowish setae; narrowest area 0.4 times procoxal width. Ventral surface of meso- and metathorax with sparse, minute whitish setae on wide central area, slightly denser and longer on center of mesoventrite, somewhat sparse, yellowish on sides of mesothorax, dense, yellowish-brown on metanepisternum close to elytra. Mesoventral process with sides distinctly convergent from base to near apex, strongly widened and projected under mesocoxae apically. Scutellum with dense yellowish-white pubescent macula on each side of base, with sparse, minute yellowish-white setae on remaining surface, except glabrous anterocentral region.

Elytra. –Somewhat abundantly, coarsely punctate on basal half, punctures finer than on pronotum and gradually finer and sparser toward apex; base with somewhat abundant whitish pubescence close to scutellum, gradually yellowish toward humerus; anterior fifth with wide, oblique dark brown pubescent band, from about middle to near suture, superiorly and inferiorly surrounded with dense yellowish-brown pubescence; with another oblique, slightly distinct brownish pubescent band on anterior third; with very wide, oblique white pubescent band, from anterior sixth to about middle, then wide, parallel-sided to the suture toward about posterior quarter; posterior quarter with dense white pubescence, except triangular blackish pubescent macula close to suture, on posterior sixth; remaining surface with dense yellowish-brown pubescence, with small, circular dark brown pubescent spots interspersed.

Legs. – Femora with abundant yellowish-white pubescence, absent on some irregular areas. Protibiae with dense white pubescence partially obscuring integument, except dense, bristly dark brown pubescence on posterior half of ventral surface. Mesotibiae with abundant yellowish-white pubescence dorsally and on inner surface, except abundant, short, erect, thick dark brown setae on dorsal sulcus, somewhat abundant yellowish-brown pubescence on inner surface, and abundant, erect, short dark yellowish-brown setae ventrally. Metatibiae with somewhat abundant brownish pubescence, except yellowish-white pubescence on base, and abundant, erect, short dark yellowish-brown setae ventrally. Metatarsomere I distinctly shorter than II–III together; dorsal surface of protarsomeres I–III with abundant white pubescence not obscuring integument, pubescence sparser on apex of lobes of III; dorsal surface of protarsomere IV with sparse yellowish-white pubescence; dorsal and lateral surfaces of protarsomere V with abundant light yellowish-brown pubescence not obscuring integument; dorsal surface of mesotarsomeres I–III with brownish pubescence not obscuring integument, pubescence white laterally; mesotarsomeres IV–V mostly with brownish pubescence not obscuring integument; metatarsomeres mostly with abundant brownish pubescence not obscuring integument.

Abdomen. – Ventrites with somewhat sparse, decumbent, minute whitish setae, setae gradually more abundant toward ventrite 5, except glabrous central apex of ventrites 1–4; posterior region of ventrite 5 with sparse whitish setae interspersed; apex of ventrite 5 subtruncate.

Variation in the paratype. – Setae and pubescence on vertex yellowish-brown; apex of lateral tubercles of prothorax not directed backward; minute setae on central area of pronotum yellowish-brown, with longer and denser yellowish-brown setae on middle; second oblique brownish pubescent band on anterior elytral third, wide and distinct.

Dimensions (mm) (Holotype ♀ / paratype ♀).

– Total length, 6.30/5.80; prothoracic length, 1.05/1.00; – Anterior prothoracic width, 1.40/1.35;

– Posterior prothoracic width, 1.60/1.50;

– Maximum prothoracic width, 2.00/1.90;

– Humeral width, 2.35/2.25;

– Elytral length, 4.50/4.35.

Etymology. – The species name “ triangulus ” (Latin, meaning “triangular”) refers to the dark triangular pubescent macula on the posterior area of the elytra.

Remarks. – Nesozineus triangulus sp. nov. is similar to N. bucki (Breuning, 1954) ( Fig. 12), but differs as follows: elytra partially with yellowish-brown pubescence on basal quarter of dorsal surface (absent in N. bucki ); elytra with triangular blackish pubescent macula on posterior sixth (absent in N. bucki ). It is also similar to N. galapagoensis williamsi (Van Dyke, 1953) (see photographs on Bezark 2022a), but differs by the anterior region of the elytra with distinct and somewhat large yellowish-brown pubescent areas (absent in N. galapagoensis williamsi ), the dark triangular pubescent macula on posterior area of the elytra reaching the apex (not reaching, or reaching as a longitudinal dark sutural band in N. galapagoensis williamsi ), and by the ventral surface without dense pubescence (present in N. galapagoensis williamsi ).

It is not possible to accurately include the new species in key from Galileo & Martins (1996), due to some dubious features such as, for example, the dorsal region of the head with or without sensillae.