Charaphloeus pilatei (Grouvelle, 1876), 2025

Charaphloeus pilatei (Grouvelle, 1876) comb. nov.

Figs 2 D – I View Figure 2 , 3 View Figure 3 , 4 View Figure 4

Laemophloeus pilatei Grouvelle, 1876: 496, plate 9: fig. 15 (original combination); Kessel 1923: 93 (checklist); 1926: 73, 91 (key, checklist); Hetschko 1930: 39 (checklist); Blackwelder 1945: 419 (checklist).

Type material.

Lectotype • male (here designated) deposited at MNHN, labelled: “ n. Fribo [ Nova Friburgo ] / Deyr ” (brown, handwritten) // “ Type ” (light brown, printed) // “ Pilati / A. Grouv. Ann Fr. / p. ” (light brown, handwritten) // “ Museum Paris / 1917 / coll. A. Grouvelle ” (white, printed) // “ SYNTYPE ” (red, printed) // “ SYNTYPE / Laemophloeus / pilatei Grouvelle, 1876 ” (white, printed) // “ MNHN, Paris / EC 51926 ” (white, printed with QR code) .

Additional material.

BRAZIL • Santa Catarina, Nova Teutônia , VIII. 1967, Fritz Plaumann (leg.) ( ♀, DZUP, # 325368 ) ; Brazil, Paraná, Ponta Grossa , 28. II. 2000, Ganho and Marinoni (legs.) ( ♂, DZUP, 325614 ) .

Diagnosis.

Elytra maculate, each with a broad, longitudinally elongate lateral pale macula expanded medially towards the sutural stria. Male posterior tarsi pentamerous. Male endophallus with a medially coiled, long apical sclerite.

Re-description of male.

(Figs 2 D – I View Figure 2 , 3 A – D View Figure 3 ) Body length 2.4 mm, width at mid-elytra 0.9 mm; pronotal width 0.8 mm (widest point), medial length 0.5 mm; elytral width 0.4 mm (mid-elytron), length 1.3 mm. Body elongate, subparallel sided. Colouration. Head, pronotum, mouthparts and antennae light to dark brown, with mandibular apices and apical antennomeres darker; elytral ground colour light to dark brown, with large longitudinal, somewhat P-shaped pale macula expanded medially towards the sutural stria; venter light to dark brown. Head (Fig. 3 A View Figure 3 ) large, 1.6 times wider than long, shorter and slightly narrower than pronotum; surface moderately punctate, with punctures as large as eye facets, each bearing a minute seta. Frontoclypeal suture well defined laterally, medially effaced. Frons broad, with interocular width 8.3 times wider than transverse eye diameter. Median longitudinal line absent. Sublateral lines carinate, slightly curved. Clypeus 3 - emarginate, with mandibular emargination broad. Labrum (Fig. 4 B View Figure 4 ) large, as wide as labral emargination of clypeus, with anterior margin parabolic; surface moderately setose, with setae as long as labrum length (Fig. 4 B View Figure 4 ). Mandibles (Fig. 4 C, D View Figure 4 ) robust, elongate, slightly smaller than head and distinctly exposed beyond labrum, with two large apical teeth; incisive margin with one obtuse subapical tooth and one small, rounded medial tooth at right mandible (large, acute at left mandible; Fig. 4 C, D View Figure 4 ); prostheca membranous and densely pilose; molar area divided into two parts: a small, strongly sclerotised, toothed area; and a large, poorly-sclerotised and microdenticulate area bearing about 10 rows of minute rounded denticles. Maxilla (Fig. 4 E View Figure 4 ) elongate, with stipes as long as cardo and nearly straight externally; lacinia slender, with apex curved inwards and bifid; galea wide and longer than lacinia, with apex densely covered with long, apically curved setae; palp 4 - segmented, palpomere 2 longer than 3, palpomere 4 elongate, longer than palpomeres 1–3 combined. Labium (Fig. 4 A View Figure 4 ) large, with prementum broadly rounded, moderately covered with hair-like setae varying in length and short, spine-like apical setae; mentum short, stripe-shaped, transverse; submentum large, with apical angles narrowly rounded; palp 3 - segmented, with palpomere 2 elongate, 3.7 times longer than palpomere 1, palpomere 3 slightly longer than palpomeres 1 and 2 combined. Genal processes absent. Antennae long, almost longer than half the body length; scape short, oblong-elongate, about 2.7 times longer than wide and distinctly shorter than antennomeres 2–3 combined; pedicel elongate, about 0.6 times the length of scape; flagellum gradually widened towards apex, with antennomeres slightly elongate and narrowest at base; club 3 - segmented comprised of antennomeres 9–11; antennomeres 4–6 subequal in length, elongate and slightly shorter than 3; antennomeres 7–8 subequal in length, subglobose; 9–11 (club antennomeres) globose, subequal in length, larger than preceding antennomeres. Pronotum (Fig. 3 A View Figure 3 ) subtrapezoidal, 1.4 times wider than long and 1.4 times wider anteriorly than posteriorly. Surface moderately punctate, not microreticulate; punctures similar in size to cephalic punctures. Lateral margins beaded, evenly curved anteriorly, constricted posteriorly. Anterior angles not produced, narrowly rounded; posterior angles acute, posterolaterally produced. Sublateral lines complete to anterior margin, carinate and deeply impressed. Anterior margin not beaded, with a row of bifid setae. Elytra (Fig. 3 A View Figure 3 ) maculate, 1.5 times longer than conjunctly wide. Inner stria of cell 1 (sutural stria) medially effaced; striae of cells 2–3 poorly defined to indistinct. Epipleuron gradually narrowed and incomplete to apex. Legs (Fig. 3 B View Figure 3 ) elongate, with tibiae slightly shorter than femurs. Femurs slender; metafemur larger than pro- and mesofemur, with medial width less than half the length. Pro-, meso- and metatarsus as long as respective tibiae, with inner surface moderately setose. Tarsal formula 5-5 - 5. Terminalia. Claspers with two transverse, rhomboidal lobes, with inner apical angles broadly rounded; apical margin with long setae (Fig. 3 D View Figure 3 ). Aedeagus (Fig. 3 C View Figure 3 ). Median lobe as wide as tegmen, with apex abruptly narrowed and acute. Parameres narrowly triangular, fused together at basal half, free at apical half, with apex acute. Endophallus with a barely sclerotised basal sclerite and a medially coiled, long apical sclerite.

Female. The female is very similar to the males and does not differ from them substantially. The internal and external genitalia are described as follows: Spermatheca globose, with a thumb-like projection; proximal gonocoxites longer than wide, weakly sclerotised; distal gonocoxites elongate, cylindrical, strongly sclerotised, as long as proximal gonocoxites, with long basal and apical setae; gonostyli club-shaped, as long as 1 / 3 of distal gonocoxites (Fig. 3 E View Figure 3 ).

Distribution.

BRAZIL. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Friburgo (Grouvelle 1876); Paraná: Ponta Grossa (new state record); Santa Catarina: Nova Teutônia (new state record).

Remarks.

This is the only described species of Charaphloeus with elytral maculation, while all the other known species in the genus have unicoloured elytral surface (Bremer 2024). According to Thomas (1984), male tarsal formula is 5-5 - 4 in all the genera belonging to the ‘ Laemophloeus genus group’ (an informal group including Charaphloeus Casey, 1916 , Laemophloeus (sens. str.) Dejean, 1835, Homalirhinus Chevrolat, 1833 , Metaxyphloeus Thomas, 1984 , Phloeipsius Casey and Rhinophloeus Sharp ), except Charaphloeus , in which “ both pentamerous and heteromerous male tarsi occur ” ( Thomas 1984). Males of C. pilatei also have pentamerous hind tarsi, although Bremer (2024) observed this is not a commonly found condition for the South American species, with only C. lenzbeckeri Bremer, 2024 males having 5-5 - 5 tarsal formula.

As no explicit evidence exists that Grouvelle (1876) based his description on a single specimen, the only labelled original specimen (Fig. 2 E View Figure 2 ) is accepted as part of the type series and is here designated as the lectotype of this species in order to ensure nomenclatural stability. Two additional specimens from Paraná and Santa Catarina represent new state records of C. pilatei .