Colobothea darienita, Lanuza-Garay & Taboada-Verona, 2025

Colobothea darienita sp. nov.

( Figs. 1–5 View FIGURES 1–7 ; 20 View FIGURE 20 )

Type material. Holotype. Female. PANAMA. Darién, Estación Cruce del Mono , 6. ii.–4. iii. 1993. Malaise Traps, R. Cambra & J. Coronado leg. ( MIUP).

Description. Holotype female. Integument mostly reddish brown. Clypeus yellowish brown; apical third of genae dark brown; apex of maxillary and labial palpi orangish brown. Basal half of antennomere IV reddish brown, remaining surface dark brown; remaining antennomeres dark brown (missing antennomeres V–XI of left antenna and IX–XI of right antenna). Pronotum, sides of prothorax, and ventral surface of pro- and mesothorax light reddish brown, posterior half of mesanepisternum dark brown. Metaventrite dark brown. Abdominal ventrites brownish. Pro-and mesocoxae brownish; metacoxae light reddish brown.

Head. Frons densely, minutely punctate; with longitudinal yellowish pubescent band close to eyes partially obscuring integument; with pale-yellow pubescent band on each side of median groove, starting on frons close to postclypeus, following toward vertex and ending close to prothorax in two divergent longitudinal bands; dorsal vittae on vertex with a few pale-yellow pubescence; remaining surface with yellowish-brown pubescence partially obscuring integument. Area behind upper eye lobes with brownish pubescence not obscuring integument; area behind and below lower eye lobes with dense whitish pubescence partially obscuring integument, pubescence sparser near genae. Genae 1.4 times longer than lower eye lobe; with sparse pale-yellow pubescence. Gulamentum smooth and glabrous. Central area of postclypeus with a pair of short, erect black setae, and one long, erect black seta on each side; with abundant, bristly pale-yellow pubescence laterally. Labrum with abundant pale-yellow pubescence, sparser on central area. Distance between upper eye lobes 0.12 times distance between outer margins of eyes; in frontal view, distance between lower eye lobes 0.58 times distance between outer margins of eyes. Antennal tubercles abundantly, finely punctate; with dense yellowish-brown pubescence. Scape densely, minutely punctate, with pale-yellow pubescence not obscuring integument dorsally, and sparse whitish pubescence ventrally; with long black setae ventrally on apical two-thirds. Pedicel with short pale-yellow pubescence and moderately long, erect, black setae ventrally. Antennomeres decreasing in size from antennomere VII to VIII; antennomeres III–VI with erect, thick black setae, shorter dorsally; with dense white pubescence basally, this area wider toward VIII, and brownish pubescence not obscuring integument on remaining surface. Antennal formula, based on length of antennomere III: scape = 0.98; pedicel = 0.07; IV = 0.87; V = 0.75; VI = 0.63; VII = 0.58; VIII = 0.37.

Thorax. Prothorax 1.51 times wider than long; sides slightly divergent from anterolateral angles to posterolateral angles, nearly straight. Pronotum with yellowish-brown pubescence obscuring integument; with arched row of coarse, deep punctures posteriorly, and three coarse, shallow punctures just above row of deep punctures; with small, rounded whitish pubescent spot on middle; four longitudinal, dashed whitish pubescent bands, from anterior margin to row of deep punctures; and a few long, erect dark setae close to posterolateral angles. Sides of prothorax with longitudinal, wide whitish pubescent band, from anterior to posterior margin. Prosternum with moderately abundant pale-yellow pubescence not obscuring integument (whiter depending on light intensity). Narrowest area of prosternal process 0.44 times procoxal width. Mesoventrite with moderately abundant pale-yellow pubescence laterally; borders of mesanepisternum with dense whitish pubescence. Mesepimeron with dense whitish pubescence. Narrowest area of mesoventral process 1.29 times mesocoxal width. Metanepisternum with abundant whitish pubescence. Sides of metaventrite with dense yellow pubescence close to mesocoxal cavities and posteriorly; central area of metaventrite with abundant pale-yellow pubescence partially obscuring integument, except glabrous metathoracic discrimen. Scutellum with yellowish-brown pubescence not obscuring integument.

Elytra. Twice as long as width across humeri; sides vertical; sparsely, coarsely punctate on anterior half, except smooth humeral area, punctures gradually finer, sparser on posterior half. Humerus rounded slightly projected; Humeral carinae well developed, reaching preapical third. With dense light brown pubescence partially obscuring integument throughout; basally with two pubescent spots on each elytron, one near scutellum, another near humerus. Sutural margin with a longitudinal dashed line of whitish pubescence; anterior third with a convex line forming by eight subcircular whitish pubescent maculae, from humerus toward medial area; postmedial quarter with irregular whitish pubescent maculae; posterior quarter with three whitish pubescent maculae, one rounded near postmedial maculae and two irregular maculae near apex. Epipleura with nine small, whitish pubescent maculae distributed as folllow: one irregular line basally under humerus, one short, longitudinal line close to humeral carina basally, an antemedial rounded macula near epipleural margin, a postmedial transverse line between humeral carina and epipleural margin, four anteapical irregular maculae between humeral carina and epipleural margin and one transverse band near apex. Elytral surface with sparse, somewhat long, erect, thick black setae interspersed throughout. Elytral apex with outer angle spiniform and sutural angle rounded.

Legs. Procoxae with abundant yellowish-brown pubescence on outer side, remaining surface with sparser yellowish-brown pubescence. Meso-and metacoxae with abundant yellow pubescence not obscuring integument. Profemora with abundant yellowish-brown pubescence not obscuring integument, except brownish pubescent band on dorsal surface of metafemoral club; meso- and metafemora with somewhat abundant pale-yellow pubescence not obscuring integument (whiter depending on light intensity). Protibiae slightly curved; with premedial rounded tubercle; with yellowish-brown pubescence not obscuring integument; with short, thin, erect, dark-brown setae ventrally. Medial third of meso- and metatibiae with whitish pubescent ring partially obscuring integument; apical third of dorsal surface of mesotibiae with short, thick, erect dark setae; ventral surface of metatibiae with short, erect, dark-brown setae from basal quarter, longer toward apex. Tarsomeres I and II with whitish pubescence; protarsomere I subequal in length to II and III together; meso- and metatarsomere I 1.2 times longer than II–III together.

Abdomen. Sides of ventrites 1–4 with dense pale-yellowish pubescence, sparser toward middle; ventrite 5 longer than 3–4 together, sides slightly convergent, with abundant pale-yellow pubescence basally and pale-yellow pubescent maculae laterally close to apex. Apex of ventrite 5 slightly concave, middle not very fringed, outer angles spiniform, covered with large setae.

Measurements (mm) (Holotype female):

—Total length, 12.0;

—Prothoracic length, 2.0;

—Anterior Prothoracic width, 3.4;

—Posterior and maximum prothoracic width, 4.7;

—Elytral length, 8.7;

—Humeral width, 5.0.

Etymology. Named after the province (Darién, Panama) where the holotype was collected.

Remarks. Colobothea darienita sp. nov. looks similar to two other Central American species: Colobothea aleata Bates, 1885 ( Fig. 6 View FIGURES 1–7 ) and Colobothea parcens Bates, 1881 ( Fig. 7 View FIGURES 1–7 ) ( Giesbert 1979; Figs. 10 View FIGURES 8–13 and 15 View FIGURES 14–19 , dorsal habitus). However, the prothoracic and elytral shapes are very different between them. In C. aleata , pronotum is slightly rounded, slightly wider at base, elytra more than twice as long as width across humeri, sides vertical, nearly straight, defined above by distinct carinae, elytral apices with outer angles stoutly spined, inner angle feebly rounded. In C. parcens , pronotum is nearly rounded, widest behind middle, elytra twice as long as width across humeri, sides vertical not straight, humeral carinae obtuse, nearly straight, tapering feebly to elytral apex. Another important difference is the pattern and thickness of the maculae on the pronotum and elytra. In C. darienita , the pronotum have a central whitish pubescent spot, and two linear series of four whitish pubescent spots on either side of the middle. In C. aleata , pronotum has a long, moderately wide antemedial pubescent vittae with a linear series of four whitish pubescent spots on either side of middle and two whitish pubescent bands on the posterior half, while in C. parcens , the pronotum has a pair of nearly parallel white vittae which are transversely connected at base, and a slender white vitta at lateral margin of disc on each side, not reaching base or apex. The elytral pubescent pattern in C. darienita is similar to that of C. parcens ; however, the elytral pubescent maculae in C. darienita are narrower.