Phanaeus lempira Kohlmann, Solís & Rivera, 2025

Phanaeus lempira Kohlmann, Solís & Rivera sp. nov.

Figs 6 View Figure 6 , 7 View Figure 7

Note.

(CS, EZ); Honduras, Mexico.

Type material.

Holotype: male. Honduras. • Departamento de Lempira. Municipio de Gracias. Parque Nacional de Montaña Celaque. Bosque de Pino-Encino . 14,485 7°N, -88,670 1°W. JD Rivera, RP Salomão, Michel M leg. 17. VI. 23, 2060 m GoogleMaps . Allotype: female. Honduras. • Departamento de Lempira. Municipio de Gracias. Parque Nacional de Montaña Celaque. Bosque de Pino-Encino . 14,484 1°N, -88,668 8°W. JD Rivera and RP Salomão leg. 17. VI. 23, 2010 m GoogleMaps . Paratypes: Honduras. • Departamento de Lempira. Municipio de Gracias. Parque Nacional de Montaña Celaque. Bosque de Pino-Encino . JD Rivera and RP Salomão, Michel M leg. 14,565 1°N, -88,632 9°W. 17. VI. 23, 1728 m ( 1 male); GoogleMaps • 14,492 8°N, -88,656 1°W. 17. VI. 23 1721 m ( 1 male); GoogleMaps • 14,491 1°N, -88,656 9°W. 17. VI. 23 1696 m ( 2 males); GoogleMaps • 14,491 8°N, -88,656 6°W. 17. VI. 23 1705 m ( 1 male); GoogleMaps • 14,492 2°N, -88,656 4°W. 17. VI. 23 1704 m ( 1 male); GoogleMaps • 14,484 6°N, -88,669 4°W. 17. VI. 23, 2023 m ( 2 males); GoogleMaps • 14,484 9°N, -88,669 9°W. 17. VI. 23 2037 m ( 1 male); GoogleMaps • 14,565 1°N, -88,632 3°W. 16. VI. 23 1258 m ( 1 male); GoogleMaps • 14,484 1°N, -88,668 9°W. 17. VI. 23 2010 m ( 2 females). GoogleMaps • Departamento de Francisco Morazán. Municipio de Tatumbla. El Aguacate , 13 ° 59 ' N, 87 ° 06 ' W, 19 / 7 / 1991, leg L. Vásquez. EAPZ 007.359 , ( 1 male). GoogleMaps • Departamento de Copán. Municipio de San Pedro. Capucas , 25. 11. 2018. Leg. D. Díaz, J. Orozco, R. Ortega, ( 1 male, 1 female) .

Holotype, allotype, and two male and one female paratypes from Departamento Francisco Morazán and Copán deposited in: Insect Collection, Escuela Agrícola Panamericana El Zamorano, Honduras. One male and one female paratypes from Departamento de Lempira ( 17 - VI- 2023, 2024 and 2010 m a. s. l.) are deposited in the National Museum of Costa Rica, San Jose, Costa Rica. Nine male and one female paratypes from Departamento de Lempira were deposited in the Insect Collection of the Hydrobiology Laboratory, School of Biology, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras.

Diagnosis.

Large species, dull with dark blue pronotum. Male pronotum covered with vermiculate sculpturing on disk. Male with pronotal anterior carina an inverted V, very strongly developed and raised in the middle. Male with base of pronotal disk with a raised, smooth transverse carina, slightly triangularly arched at the middle, with a well-developed tooth and a mid-sulcus at its base (Fig. 6 View Figure 6 ). Basal fossae clearly impressed. Elytral striae fine, well-defined; interstriae slightly convex and shiny, with coppery-red reflections. Female with metabasitarsus widened apically; outer ridge of ventral surface distinctly more sinuous than inner ridge (Fig. 12 View Figure 12 ).

Description of holotype

(male, Fig. 6 View Figure 6 ). Length 22.1 mm. Width 14.9 mm. Dorsum somber, pronotum and pygidium dark blue, elytra appearing black with interstriae having a red-coppery reflection, underside black. Head horn distinctly swollen basally. Pronotum appearing varnished; covered with black-blue vermiculate sculpturing on the disk; anterior carina an inverted V, very strongly developed and raised in the middle; basal medial portion smooth and raised, forming an extended soft triangular arch, acutely denticulate in its anterior center with a clear medial sulcus at its base, basal fossae present. Elytra with fine striae, with obsolete punctures; interstriae finely convex, appearing almost flat, alutaceous, shiny with coppery-red reflections. Profemora coarsely punctate, mesofemora coarsely punctate at apex, metafemora with a few coarse punctures at apex. Pygidium convex, with many coarse punctures and a faint midline.

Allotype.

Female. Fig. 7 View Figure 7 . Length 22.1 mm. Width 14.1 mm. Dorsum somber, pronotum with coppery-red reflections on disk and turquoise blue on borders, interstriae with coppery-red reflections and pygidium turquoise blue. Head with very rugose surface; tri-tuberculate cephalic carina with nearly aligned, similar-sized, conical tubercles. Pronotal surface rugose, matte; transverse carina forming an open arch with three conical lobes closely set with a posterior concavity; median lobe higher and more projected than laterals, a small midline carina runs from the median lobe base to the concavity; with two basal impressions. Metabasitarsus widened apically; outer ridge of ventral surface distinctly more sinuous than inner ridge (Fig. 12 View Figure 12 ).

Variation.

Males. Length 20.2–23.6 mm. Width 11.9–14.9 mm. Females. Length 20.6–22.1 mm. Width 12.4–14.1 mm.

Etymology.

The name is dedicated in honor of the Honduran national hero and symbol of liberty and cultural resistance, who was a captain of the Lenca tribes that fought the Spanish invasion and conquest.

Habitat.

This species is distributed between 1528 and 2060 m a. s. l. Pine and pine-oak association are distributed in this park between 1000 and 1500 m a. s. l. on the Atlantic slope, and between 1800 and 2300 m a. s. l. on the Pacific slope ( Mejía Ordóñez and House 2002). Six of the seven pine species of the country occur here, Pinus oocarpa Schiede ex Schltdl., 1838 being the most common one. Mixed forest (pine, Liquidambar styraciflua L., 1753, Clethra sp. , Nectandra sp. ) is recorded higher than 1500 m a. s. l. and between 1800 and 2000 m a. s. l. the cloud forest begins on the Atlantic slope of the park, while on the Pacific slope it starts at ca 2300 m a. s. l. The cloud forest is characterized by a significant plant species richness ( Abies guatemalensis Rehder, 1939 , Alnus sp. , Pinus pseudostrobus Lindl., 1839 , Prunus sp. , Quercus lancifolia Schltdl. & Cham, 1830 , Taxus globosa Schltdl., 1838 ), where tree ferns are very common. It is the highest mountain range in Honduras. This park is home to several endemic species of plants, amphibians, shrews, a scarab gold beetle ( Chrysina pastori Curoe, 1994 ), and a scarab flower beetle ( Archedinus antoshkai Seidel and Arriaga-Varela, 2018 ).

Distribution.

Phanaeus lempira is closely related to the Mexican endemic Ph. melampus Harold, 1863 . Edmonds (1994) recorded the latter from three localities in Veracruz and two in Chiapas, and another Chiapas locality was added by Navarrete-Gutiérrez and Edmonds (2006). The nine Navarrete-Gutiérrez and Edmonds specimens were collected at 145 m a. s. l. during February, August, and October in traps baited with human feces in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve in tall and medium evergreen tropical forests. Upon request, Navarrete-Gutiérrez provided us with photos of these specimens. Upon close examination, these individuals showed all the characteristics of the new Phanaeus species described in this paper. Even though we did not see Edmonds’s (1994) Chiapas specimens, they also come from places covered in wet tropical evergreen forest, El Bosque and Tenejapa, at 1460 m a. s. l., indicating they also most probably belong to this new species. Finally, among the material photographed by Mario Cupello from the Texas A & M University collection, there is one specimen with the characteristics of Ph. lempira that bears a label saying only “ Tabasco, Messico ”. This specimen might have been collected around Teapa, where Tabasco reaches the piedmont of the Chiapas mountains. All this suggests that Ph. lempira is distributed from Chiapas to Honduras (Fig. 13 View Figure 13 ), whereas Ph. melampus is distributed yonder the Isthmus of Tehuantepec divide – currently known exclusively from Veracruz – and not south of it.

Lizardo et al. (2022: suppl. fig. 1), on predicted and recorded distributions of Phanaeus presents a map of the expected distribution of the Phanaeus amethystinus species group of which this species is a member. These climatically predicted distributions are somewhat at odds with the actual recorded distributions. For example, their model predicts a possible distribution of Ph. melampus (probable sister species of Ph. lempira ) in the marshy tropical savannah of northeastern Honduras, where no species of Phanaeus has been registered at present and where the majority of the collected species belong to the roller guild and some Onthophagus taxa as well. These climatic models usually make distribution predictions that are way off the mark in tropical mountainous areas. As Kohlmann et al. (2007) have already discussed, finer-scale systems, like the Life Zones of Holdridge (1967), are better suited for these tropical areas.

Phenology.

This species was collected in June, July, and November using traps baited with human feces.

Taxonomic remarks.

This species is closely related to Ph. melampus , reported from a mountain wet tropical evergreen forest from Veracruz in Mexico collected at 1500 m a. s. l., and to Ph. guatemalensis Harold, 1871 , reported from forests and adjacent open habitats in the Guatemalan Highlands, distributed from 1500 to 2400 m ( Edmonds 1994). The nearest recorded species group specimen to the type locality of this new species is Ph. guatemalensis , 230 km away, suggesting a great geographical separation.

The new species Ph. lempira can be distinguished from Ph. melampus by the shape of the smooth, transverse basal area of the male pronotum, which features a sulcus at the mid-base of the pronotum. In Ph. lempira , this area is slightly triangularly arched (Fig. 6 View Figure 6 ), resembling the shape observed in Ph. amethystinus . In contrast, Ph. melampus exhibits a strongly triangular, punctate area that lacks the sulcus at the base of the medial tooth (Fig. 14 A View Figure 14 ). Additionally, the interstriae of Ph. melampus are dull and rarely show a bluish cast, whereas Ph. lempira has shiny interstriae with coppery-red reflections. Female specimens of Ph. melampus have a semicircular pronotal transverse carina, while Ph. lempira features a more open transverse carina (Figs 7 View Figure 7 , 14 B View Figure 14 ). The female of Ph. lempira has a metabasitarsus widened apically, and the outer ridge of the ventral surface is distinctly more sinuous than the inner ridge, similar to Ph. amethystinus (Fig. 12 B View Figure 12 ). Conversely, the female of Ph. melampus has a narrower metabasitarsus with both ventral ridges running more or less straight (Fig. 12 A View Figure 12 ).

Phanaeus lempira can be separated from Ph. guatemalensis by the interstriae, flat or weakly convex in Ph. lempira , raised mid-longitudinally, appearing costate in Ph. guatemalensis . The pronotoum of Ph. lempira females have asperate punctures posteromedially, whereas in Ph. guatemalensis the area is coarsely punctate to rugo-punctate, appearing roughened.

With this new species, the number of taxa in the amethystinus species group ( amethystinus , blackalleri , guatemalensis , melampus ) increases to five. In the work of Lizardo et al. (2022) Phanaeus genieri , a member of the amethystinus species group, is considered in their distribution prediction analysis, although this species has not yet been reinstated as a valid species. Gillett and Toussaint (2020), based on molecular genetic analysis, considered that this species group appeared during the Miocene around 17 Ma. However, modern species formation seems to have been relatively recent during the Pleistocene, ~ 1 Ma.