Cryptocephalus waterbergi, Schöller & A, 2025

Cryptocephalus waterbergi nov.sp.

Holotype: J ( TSMA): // Waterberg / Dist. 1898-99 / v.Jutrzencka // Holotypus / Cryptocephalus waterbergi / des. M. Schöller [red] /.

Paratypes: 1♀ ( TSMA): // Waterberg / Dist. 1898-99 / v.Jutrzencka // ; 1♀ ( TSMA): // S. Afr.: Waterberg / Geelhoutbush farm // 3.10.1995:E-Y3141 / beating / Endrödy & Bellamy // ; 1♀ ( SANC): // SAARTJIESNEK / SE25 27 Db / 7-11.XI 1983 / CL Bellamy [black plastic label with transparent font] // NATIONAL COLL. / OF INSECTS / Pretoria, South Africa / Ex UPSA, May 2002 // ; 1J ( SANC): // SOUTH AFRICA, TVL / Roodeplaat dam, nr / Pretoria 24.41S / 28.18E 7.X.1986 / J.S.Donaldson // NATIONAL COLL. / OF INSECTS / Pretoria, S. Afr // GoogleMaps ; 1♀ ( SANC): // SOUTH AFRICA, TVL / Lapalala Nat.Res. / 23.51S / 28.17E / 15-16.xi.1986 / R. Oberprieler // NATIONAL COLL. / OF INSECTS / Pretoria, S. Afr // GoogleMaps ; 1♀ ( SANC): // SOUTH AFRICA, OFS / Glen nr Bloemfontein / 28.59S / 26.19E / 11.xii.1984 / R. Oberprieler // NATIONAL COLL. / OF INSECTS / Pretoria, S. Afr // 1♀ ( ZSM): // S.Afr., E. Transvaal / Barberton, 17 km NNW/ 25.36 S - 29.53 E // 10.11.1980 GoogleMaps ; E-Y:1727 / flowering Acacia / leg. Endrödy-Younga // Cryptocephalus / waterbergi / Lindemann / det. C. Lindemann 1972 // Zool. Staatsslg. / München [blue] // ; all paratypes with my label // Paratypus / Cryptocephalus waterbergi / des. M. Schöller [red] //.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Body truncate, elongate (about 1.7 times as long as wide). Body yellowish brown with reddish and blackish brown patterns. Pronotum predominantely reddish brown. Legs brown. Ventral side whitish yellow, reddish and blackish brown. Body length of male 4.8-6.0 mm, width 2.9-3.5 mm, body length of female 5.4-6.0 mm, width 3.2-3.5 mm. General view as in Figs 1-3 View Figs 1-9 , 10-12. View Figs 10-17

H e a d: Reddish brown with blurred yellowish markings around inner eye margin ( Figs 4, 5 View Figs 1-9 , 13 View Figs 10-17 ), puncturation fine and sparse, denser at middle, with thick white setae. Labrum with shallowly concave anterior margin and rounded anterior angles; transverse; its surface smooth with 12 setae along anterior margin. Clypeus triangle with concave anterior margin, its surface densely covered with short white setae, clypeus not distinctly separated from frons. Eyes large and distant, ratio eye length: distance between upper lobes as 1.00: 0.52. Canthus deep, triangular. Antenna filiform ( Figs 1 View Figs 1-9 , 10 View Figs 10-17 ), antennomeres I-IV mid brown, V-XI dark brown, V-XI moderately widened in both sexes, in male antennomeres with conspicuous long setae, especially on scape ( Fig. 7 View Figs 1-9 ), in male antenna half as long as body. Mandibles dark brown ( Fig. 5 View Figs 1-9 ). Maxillary and mandibular palps spindle-shaped.

T h o r a x: Pronotum moderately convex, narrowed from base to apex, transverse (about 1.88 times as wide as long) ( Figs 1 View Figs 1-9 , 10 View Figs 10-17 ). Pronotal surface shining, densely covered with large but very shallow punctures ( Fig. 12 View Figs 10-17 ). Anterior margin of pronotum narrowly bordered, reddish brown, a narrow line close to anterior margin yellow. Lateral margin of pronotum narrow, not visible simultaneously in dorsal view, brown, pronotum above lateral margin broadly yellow, enclosing a reddish brown spot each ( Figs 3 View Figs 1-9 , 12 View Figs 10-17 ); basal margin black, with relatively homogenous teeth that become slightly larger towards humerus. Scutellum trapeziform, reddish brown with blackish brown margins, basally only slightly notched and apically truncate, raised above elytral surface ( Figs 10, 12 View Figs 10-17 ). Prosternal process whitish yellow, rugosely punctured, with long white setae, apically simply rounded ( Figs 5 View Figs 1-9 , 11 View Figs 10-17 ), and basally with a pair of strong teeth. Elytra long (width 0.83 times its length), with a transverse depression behind scutellum, elytra slightly attenuate towards apex, shiny, yellowish brown with 5 (2, 2, 1) blurred reddish brown spots ( Figs 3 View Figs 1-9 , 12 View Figs 10-17 ), and reddish brown almost regular striae of punctures, distinct to apex ( Fig. 14 View Figs 10-17 ), punctures coarse, interstices matt due to fine wrinkles, increasingly vaulted towards lateral margins. Epipleurae vanishing before its middle, glabrous, yellow. Legs brown, all tibiae almost straight ( Figs 2 View Figs 1-9 , 11 View Figs 10-17 ), all tarsomeres simple except for male fore-tarsus, which is enlarged and tarsomeres I and II with a long tuft of setae ( Figs 8, 9 View Figs 1-9 ), claws simple.

A b d o m e n:whitish to blackish brown as in Figs 2 View Figs 1-9 and 11 View Figs 10-17 , with adherent white setae. Ventrite V in male with a broad, shiny pit with a longitudinal ridge at the middle ( Fig. 6 View Figs 1-9 ). Pygidium regularly rounded except for a short, blunt longitudinal carina at apex ( Fig. 14 View Figs 10-17 ). Aedeagus ( Figs 15-19 View Figs 10-17 View Figs 18-22 ) with frontal opening, the apex with a small denticle situated ventrally ( Figs 16, 17 View Figs 10-17 , 19 View Figs 18-22 ), aedeagal lobe extended into two large lateral lobes, and a narrow dorsal lobe at apex in dorsal view ( Figs 18, 19 View Figs 18-22 ). In dorsal view a pair of sharkteeth-shaped endosclerites visible ( Figs 15 View Figs 10-17 , 18 View Figs 18-22 ). In lateral view aedeagus massive, not curved ( Figs 17 View Figs 10-17 , 19 View Figs 18-22 ). Underside of aedeagus regularly vaulted ( Fig. 16 View Figs 10-17 ), a group of setae present close to apex ( Figs 17 View Figs 10-17 , 19 View Figs 18-22 ). Length of aedeagus about 2.9 mm, width 0.85 mm.

F e m a l e: Similar to male but on average larger. Ventrite V large, with deep, lonitudinal oval egg-hollow. Spermatheca medium brown, narrow, large, 0.45 x 0.40 mm, hookshaped, tip bent downwards, apical part as long as basal part of reservoir ( Fig. 22 View Figs 18-22 ). Spermathecal duct as brown as spermatheca, fine and densely coiled close to spermatheca, more broadly coiled but still dense apically, ending in a darker pigmented hook-like structure apically ( Fig. 22 View Figs 18-22 ). Kotpresse with dorsal sclerites spatuliform, bend straight towards dorsal fold, ventrally bent part of dorsal sclerite present ( Fig. 20 View Figs 18-22 ), ventral sclerites fused at the middle, apodemes slender, wider than rectum, a chitin polster, but no ventral sclerotised area present, ventral sclerotisations of lateral fold present ( Fig. 21 View Figs 18-22 ).

V a r i a b i l i t y: The yellowish markings on the pronotum are of variable size ( Figs 1 View Figs 1-9 , 10 View Figs 10-17 ).

D i f f e r e n t i a l d i a g n o s i s: The only other Southern African species with a colouration similar to C. waterbergi nov.sp. is C. crenatostriatus WEISE, 1892 described from Angola. The latter is much larger ( 8-9 mm), the males have none of the sexual dimorphic characters described for C. waterbergi nov.sp. and the aedeagus is a simple tube. However, the shape of the male abdomen and the general aedeagus morphology of C. waterbergi nov.sp. have similarities to the species in the C. oblongosignatus species group ( C. bottegoi GESTRO, 1895; C. clavareaui REINECK, 1915; C. cylindriformis BRYANT, 1944; C. inclusus JACOBY, 1895; C. menelik REINECK, 1915; C. methneri REINECK, 1915; C. oblongosignatus WEISE, 1892; C. semicinctus WEISE, 1919 and C. sudanensis REINECK, 1915). The aedeagi show a frontal opening and similar externally visible endosclerites as in C. waterbergi , however, in the above mentioned species there are additional hyaline parts bearing setae which are missing in C. waterbergi . More male specimens of C. waterbergi would be necessary to study the aedeagal endosclerites in detail. All these species have a different, presumably aposematic body colour. In female C. oblongosignatus, there is a ventral sclerotised area present close to ventral sclerite of kotpresse, and pit-shaped depressions on the pygidium (missing in C. waterbergi ).

E t y m o l o g y The name waterbergi of the new species refers to the Waterberg mountains in the South African Waterberg district, Limpopo province, where some of the type specimens were collected. Christa Lindemann (1918-1996) already found this species to be new to science, but it remained undescribed.

B i o l o g y: One specimen was collected from flowering Acacia, adults may be petalophagous.

D i s t r i b u t i o n: South Africa ( Free State, Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga).