Eburia pirkli, Lingafelter & Touroult & Hodecek & ., 2024

Eburia pirkli View in CoL sp. nov.

( Fig. 1-3 View Fig View Fig View Fig )

ZooBank:https://zoobank.org/ 9DFB3B6E-6AAE-4CDB-A451-C2A713529CA1

Holotype, ♂, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Pedernales Province, Parque Nacional Jaragua, Oviedo , 17.7917°N, 71.4608°W, 14 June 2023, Jiri Pirkl & Jiri Hodecek leg. ( MCSN-VD). GoogleMaps

Paratype s (85 ex.) (all DOMINICAN REPUBLIC)

- Pedernales Province, 13.5 km N. Cabo Rojo, 18°05'N; 71°39'W, 380 m, MV GoogleMaps lights, 11 May 2010, Kelvin Guerrero leg. (2 ♂, SWLC; 2 ♂, USNM) ;

- PedernalesProvince,ParqueNacionalJaragua, Oviedo, 17.7917°N, 71.4608°W, 14 June 2023, Jiri Pirkl & Jiri Hodecek leg. (4 ♂, 13 ♀, MCSN-VD; 1 ♂, 4 ♀, MNHNSD; 2 ♂, 5 ♀, JPPC) GoogleMaps ;

- Pedernales Province, Pedernales, Playa Pedernales, 18.027°N, 71.738°W, 5 m, LEPILED light trap, 13 to 18 June 2023, Julien Touroult & Eddy Poirier leg. (5 ♂, 5 ♀, MNHN; 19 ♂, 21 ♀, JTPC) GoogleMaps ;

- Pedernales Province, Pedernales, Tunel de arbol, 18.032°N, 71.720°W, 10 m, 17 June 2023, Julien Touroult & Eddy Poirier leg. (1 ♂, 1 ♀, JTPC) GoogleMaps .

Diagnosis. – Among known Hispaniola species, Eburiapirkli sp. nov. is distinguished by the paired eburneous ridges at the middle of the elytra that are of subequal size or with one just slightly longer or shorter than the other, by the relatively short apical spines on the meso- and metafemora (shorter than the 2 nd antennomere in most cases), and by the dimorphism with regard to the pronotum (large, broadly rounded at sides with inconspicuous lateral spines in males; much narrower with moderately produced lateral spines in females). This sexual dimorphism of the pronotum is very similar to that of Eburia didyma (Olivier, 1800) , but that species is easily distinguished by short, round or oval eburneous maculae on the elytra and the pronounced meso- and metafemoral spines.

Eburia pirkli sp. nov. is most similar to two species that are not recorded for Hispaniola: Eburia quadrimaculata , known from Cuba, Puerto Rico, U. S. Virgin Islands, and with dubious records from the Lesser Antilles, and Eburia thoracica , known from Suriname, Curaçao, and U. S. Virgin Islands ( Monné, 2023; Bezark, 2023a, b). Males and females of E. thoracica have a bold, black, slightly elevated spot on either side of middle of disk of the pronotum. These pronotal calli are similar to the pronotal ground color in most male E. pirkli sp. nov. (including the holotype) and black in most female specimens. Males of E. thoracica have a longitudinal pubescent fascia on either side of the pronotal disk between black dorsal macula at center of disk and lateral margin. Males of E. pirkli sp. nov. have uniform pronotal pubescence and lack a pubescent fascia on either side of the pronotal disk. Males and females of E. quadrimaculata have pronounced apicomesal spines on the meso- and metafemora that are longer than the 2 nd antennomere. These spines are much reduced in E. pirkli sp. nov. and are shorter than the 2 nd antennomere in most specimens. Although males of E. quadrimaculata also have similar pubescent fasciae on the pronotum as in E. thoracica , there is no pronounced sexual dimorphism in the pronotal proportions in E. quadrimaculata : the pronotum is not broadly rounded laterally and has pronounced lateral tubercles in both sexes.

Description of the holotype male

Coloration. – Integument of head, pronotum, elytra, legs, antennae, and venter mostly light reddish-brown except for two paired yellow calli on each elytron with a piceous margin.

Head. – With flat interantennal tubercle region; tubercles barely elevated. Punctation shallow throughout, becoming denser and deeper on occiput posterior to upper eye lobes. Pubescence tawny and sparse except around eye margins where it is very dense. Lower eye lobes very large, occupying most of head from lateral view; upper eye lobes relatively narrow, 6 ommatidia wide over most of their length; upper eye lobes separated by almost 1.5 times the basal width of scape. Antenna without spines; covered dorsally and along outer margin with sparse, short, appressed golden translucent setae; setae denser and longer at apex of mesal margin of the scape and antennomeres 3-4. Antennae extending beyond elytral apices by almost 2 antennomeres. Antennomere 3 longest, about 1.5 times length of scape, antennomeres 4-8 each about 0.75 times as long as scape and subequal to each other in length; antennomeres 9-10 slightly shorter; antennomere 11 about 1.3 times as long as penultimate.

Thorax. – Pronotum covered in vestiture of short, appressed, golden-translucent pubescence; inflated, broadly rounded at sides, slightly broader than long (8 mm long, 9.5 mm wide); with two vague calli on disk, just before middle; lateral pronotal tubercles absent. Pronotum covered with dense, small, irregularly-sized, mostly contiguous punctures except on calli and vague longitudinal ridge extending from near anterior margin to posterior margin at middle. Margins of most punctures coated with short, appressed, golden-translucent setae, with occasional seta emerging from puncture. Prosternal process wide between procoxae, about one-half width of procoxa, acutely declivous and rounded apically. Scutellum rounded, covered in dense, short, appressed white setae.

Elytra . –With small, shallow puncturesatbase, becoming moreshallow and disappearing toward apex; mostly concealed by vestiture of same short appressedgolden-translucent pubescence as on pronotum. Each elytron with two paired raised, elongate, contiguous, bold-yellow eburneous calli on base and middle. Outer basal eburneous callus slightly shorter than inner callus; outer posterior callus slightly longer than inner callus. Middle paired calli about 0.3 times longer than basal paired calli. Eburneous calli glabrous. Elytral apices subtruncate, weakly bispinose with outer spine distinctly longer than sutural spine.

Legs. – Femora cylindrical, barely expanded subapically. Metafemora attaining elytral apices. Profemoral apices rounded; mesofemora with with broad, short triangular projection apicolaterally and longer, narrower spine apicomesally; metafemoral apices with slightly longer spines, subequal in length apicomesally and apicolaterally. Mesosternal process broad, almost equal to the width of the mesocoxa.

Abdomen. – Abdominal venter mostly impunctate and coated with dense, appressed, mostly white pubescence, somewhat less dense on middle.Apex of last ventrite broadly rounded.

Dimensions (mm)(Holotype)

– Total length, 17.1;

– Humeral width, 4.1.

Etymology. – This species is named after Jiri Pirkl who collected and photographed the holotype and many paratypes.

Variation. – Sexual dimorphism is most evident in the pronotal and antennomere proportions and antennal length. Females have the prothorax narrower and not broadly rounded laterally, but expanded abruptly at middle into small lateral tubercles ( Fig. 2b View Fig , 3b, c View Fig ). These lateral tubercles are also present in some males ( Fig.3a View Fig ),but not others ( Fig. 2a View Fig ).Additionally, females have two distinct, circular, shiny black calli on the pronotal disk, one on either side, just before the middle. In males these calli are usually less pronounced and most often reddish-brown, and not contrasting in color from adjacent pronotum, however this is variable (as is evident in Fig. 1 View Fig ).Antennomeres 4 - 11 are each much shorter in females and the antennae do not attain the elytral apex. There is variation in the degree of black margins around the yellow elytral calli ( Fig. 2 View Fig , 3 View Fig ). In some individuals ( Fig. 2a View Fig , 3a View Fig ), barely any black margin exists, while in a few specimens ( Fig.2b View Fig ), the black margin is nearly as wide as the calli themselves. Males range in size from 14-19 mm long (mean: 17 mm) and 3.7-4.8 mmwide at the humeri; females range in size from 14.5-21.0 mm long (mean: 18 mm) and 3.7- 4.9 mm wide at the humeri.

Remarks. – This species is known only from the Barahona Peninsula in southwestern Dominican Republic (Pedernales Province) ( Fig. 5 View Fig ). Nothing is known of the habits or host plants. All specimens were collected at ultraviolet lights in May and June in dry subtropical forest habitat ( Fig. 4 View Fig ).

It is sometimes difficult to associate genders of a strongly sexual dimorphic species if not observed in copula. Although there is no documentation of mating in this species, both sexes of this species were collected at the same locations on the same dates, reinforcing our opinion that they belong to the same species.