Nothochodaeus Nikolajev, 2005: 219

Nothochodaeus Nikolajev, 2005: 219 View in CoL

[= Notochodaeus Nikolajev, 2005]

Nothochodaeus lycaon n. sp.

( Fig. 1-8)

ZooBank: https://zoobank.org/ 993B8E22-08EC-4806-9933-CFC2688B6A71

Holotype, ♂ ( CJBH), labeled:

a) rectangular, white paper, printed: “ PHILIPPINES / Palawan, Roxas / X. 2023 / Local collector” ;

b) rectangular, framed, white paper: “Coll. J.-B. Huchet”;

c) rectangular, red paper: “ TYPE ”;

d) red paper: “ Nothochodaeus / lycaon n. sp. / HOLOTYPE / J.-B. Huchet det. 2024”.

Genitalia stored in a small glycerol vial, pinned under the specimen. To ensure the perenniality of this material, the holotype, currently in the author’s collection, is intended to be deposited at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris .

Diagnosis. – Body medium-sized, robust, convex, densely pubescent, uniformly black-brown, the head with a procurved “U” shaped raised carina distinctly tuberculate at both ends. The underside and legs are black; the antennae with scape and club dark-brown, the pedicel and funicle orange-yellow with each of the antennomeres darkened distally. The stridulatory peg is present.

Description of the holotype ( Fig. 1- 8)

Length. – 10.7 mm (from the apex of the mandibles to the apical part of tergite VIII).

Width. – 5.6 mm (greatest elytral width).

Head. – Transverse, sub-hexagonal in outline, entirely black, with the exception of a median longitudinal band, orange, extending from the frontoclypeal suture to the vertex. – Frontoclypeal carina strongly raised, in inverted flattened U-shape, ended on both sides by a well individualized blunt tubercle ( Fig. 3-5); each tubercle flanked at its outer base by a distinct setiferous pore. – Clypeus trapezoidal in outline, strongly obliquely sloping forward, the anterior margin finely denticulated, the interval between these small denticles with an erect, medium-sized, brown-orange bristle. Posterior declivity of clypeusrelatively abrupt behind the carina, flanked on both sides by the frontoclypeal suture, barely perceptible, extending laterally up to the level of the anteromedial angle of the eye; frontal area distinctly concave between the eyes. Head shiny, the surface covered with coarse, tightly packed and partly contiguous setiferous granules. – Labrum transverse, dorsally convex, hyaline, long pubescent, strongly emarginate in the middle front, transversely split into two superimposed laminae in the middle front. – Eyes moderate in size, globose, strongly produced laterad; a series of long, distinctly distant bristles aligned at the inner edge of the eye. – Mandibles subequal, falciform, slightly concave dorsally; base of mandibles (in upper view) smooth and shiny on both sides of the clypeal membrane, the latter strongly sclerotized, subtrapezoidal, black, laterally with hyaline transparencies. – Mentum subquadrangular, weakly depressed in front, the disc with very fine, scaly punctation; a transverse median line of medium setiferous punctures; sides of the mentum smooth, shiny, lower than the disk andseparated from it bya concave line of long bristles ( Fig. 6). – Labium with 3-segmented palpi, 2 nd palpomere densely pubescent on ventral side; distal palpomere distinctly smaller, fusiform andglabrous. – Antenna 10-segmented, dark-brown, with the exception of the funicle, brown-orange; antennal club shiny, dark-brown except for narrow whitish apical part.

Pronotum. – Uniformlydark-brown, transverse, strongly convex, entirely margined, distinctly emarginate behindthe headwith athin hyaline membrane in front, the lateral edges and base fringed with setae; a distinct fovea in the middle of each side. – Anterior angles prominent, projecting forward, the posterior ones obtusely rounded. – Pronotal surface with a very dense punctation consisting of medium-sized setiferous rounded granules with orange-brown vertically erect setae; the punctuation slightly scaly on either side of the base. A short median longitudinal furrow at base reaching the middle of the disc and fading forward.

Elytra. – Transverse, dull, pubescent, of the same color as the pronotum. Striae well-marked, relatively shallow, consisting of aligned sunken medium-size points separated by about 1-1.5× their diameter. – Intervals almost flat, punctation strong and dense, consisting of medium setose granules, the minute setae erected, distinctly darkened; the setae longer on both sides of the elytra and along the base, in front of the humeral callus. – Juxta-sutural interstriae depressed, sloping towards the suture, over a portion extending from the apex of the scutellum to the level of the apical declivity. – Humeral callus well marked. – Scutellum elongate, triangular in outline, the disc with a median longitudinal impression consisting of medium-sized, unevenly defined points.

Abdomen. – Entirely black, strongly convex with six visible ventrites (III–VIII). – Surface smooth, shiny, ventrites with minute setigerous tubercles along their front margin separated by about 4-5× their diameter; the disc with medium setae roughly aligned; ventrites VI-VIII densely pubescent. Tergite VIII (pygidium) entirely margined, brownish-black, pubescent, the punctation strong, almost scaly, made up of small, tightly packed, slightly convex granules. Tergite VII (propygidium) entirely black, with trapezoidal interlocking mechanism, the disc microreticulate with sparse punctures. Stridulatory apparatus (sternite VI) present.

Legs. – Protibia quadridentate externally, the median tooth (third) hardly developed,almost obsolete, thebasal tooth spinose,pointed;inner apicalangle of protibia with a short, acute pollex directed anteriorly. – Femur without accessory teeth, their surface with two parallel rows of setose punctures.Hind leg with basal tarsomere (I) both longer than upper metatibial spur and than tarsomeres II-V combined;tarsomeres II-V orange-coloured, the basal one, chestnut-brown. – Onychium entirely orange.

Genitalia ( Fig.7 -8). – Parameres short,widelydivergent apically.Internal sac with a single large, kidney-shaped endophallite at base (with the endophallus not being everted), finely serrated on the convex lateral side. – Endophallus membrane with two separate large areas comprising groups of spinules arranged in rows ( Fig. 7). – Genital segment (urite IX) ( Fig. 8).

Sexual dimorphism . – Unknown.

Etymology. – FromAncientGreekΛυκάων (Lukáōn, “Lycaon”), the hyena-like African wild dog, in allusion to the similar longitudinal strip visible on the head and the large, round ears reminiscent of antennal clubs.

Distribution. – Only known from the type locality: Roxas, Palawan.

Faunitaxys, 12 ( 23), 2024: 1 – 4. 3

4 2 3

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2. Habitus, latero-dorsal view. 3. Head, frontal view. 4. Close-up of the clypeus in frontal view showing the raised U-shaped frontoclypeal carina and tubercles. 5. Head, dorsal view, inset illustrating the frontoclypeal carina and lateral tubercles. 6. Head, ventral view. 7. Aedeagus in lateral view, with the endophallus not everted, inset illustrating the large kidney-shaped endophallite. 8. Genital segment (urite IX) in dorsal view.

Remarks. – Interestingly, the three endemic Palawan Nothochodaeus are sympatric at Roxas, on the East coast of Palawan, North of Puerto Princesa.

Differential diagnosis. – Due to its cephalic structures and habitus coloration patterns, N. lycaon n. sp. cannot be confused with the two other congeneric species inhabiting Palawan, i.e. N. minotaurus Huchet, 2021 and N. huxleyi Huchet, 2021 . It is easily distinguished from N. minotaurus by its normal-sized eyes (very large, subspherical and strongly prominent in N. minotaurus ). In this regard, similar ocular hypertrophy can also be observed both in N. mindanaoensis Huchet, 2014 and N. maruyamai Ochi, Kon & Masumoto, 2013 respectively from Mindanao and the Malay peninsula which would appear to belong to the same species group.With the exception of the color patterns, which are very distinct between the two species, this new species is morphologically very close to N. huxleyi especially by the comparable cephalic ornamentation, including a short, U-shaped frontoclypeal carina. In N. huxleyi , the carina is however distinctly higher and the branches of the "U" more convex and closer together. Both male genitalia are also very distinct, the endophallus being unarmed in N. huxleyi , whereas N. lycaon n. sp. possesses a large endophallite ( Fig. 7).