Chimalfus brevis, (S´aiz, 1971), 2025

3.1.2. C. brevis ( S´aiz, 1971) , comb. nov

Fig. 1A and B View Fig , 3 View Fig and 6. View Fig

S´aiz (1971): 106 (as Loncovilius brevis , original description); Reyes-Hernandez´et al. (2024): 38 (as Sphingoquedius brevis , taxonomic notes).

Type material examined: Holotype: male, pinned, aedeagus glued to cardboard, with labels as follows: Chiloe, S-Chile, Ig. H. Franz /Holotype/ L. brevis S´aiz, F. S´aiz, 1970 [ MNNC]; paratype: female, Chiloe, SChile, Ig. H. Franz /Paratype/ L. brevis S´aiz, F. S´aiz, 1970 [ MNNC]. Other material examined: see Supplementary File 1.

3.1.3. Redescription

Measurements Ƌ [min–max(average); n = 5]: FBL = 2.05–3.61 (2.76); TL = 4.31–6.70 (5.51); HW = 0.79–0.84 (0.81); HL = 0.78–0.88 (0.82); HW/HL = 0.93–1.06 (0.98); PW = 1.00–1.04 (1.02); PL = 0.18–0.95 (0.76); PW/PL = 1.05–5.86 (2.07); EW = 1.09–1.24 (1.16); EL = 0.95–1.97 (1.18); PW/HW = 1.22–1.30 (1.26).

Measurements ♀ [min–max(average); n = 5]: FBL = 2.05–2.90 (2.66); TL = 5.80–7.01 (6.53); HW = 0.84–0.87 (0.85); HL = 0.88–0.91 (0.89); HW/HL = 0.92–0.97 (0.95); PW = 1.01–1.10 (1.05); PL = 0.18–0.94 (0.76); PW/PL = 1.12–5.86 (2.11); EW = 1.18–1.30 (1.24); EL = 0.94–1.06 (1.01); PW/HW = 1.16–1.31 (1.24).

Body coloration from light brown (nearly yellowish-brown) to dark brown, with yellowish margins of pronotum and apex of the abdomen; antennae light brown, occasionally dark brown; mandibles dark brown.

Head as wide as long; dorsally and ventrally glossy, with few micropunctures; frons with microsculpture consisting of transverse to concentric waves, sometimes with a mesh pattern present medially; nuchal ridge merged with infraorbital ridge; eyes large (EYL/HL = x = 0.75), filling more than 70 % of head length (in lateral view); distance between eyes approximately 0.66 times as long as eye length, in both sexes.

Antennal proportions as follows: a1 at least 1.75 times longer than a2; a2-10 subequal in length; a11 approximately 1.5 times as long as a10, in both sexes. All antenomeres longer than wide.

Pronotum slightly wider than long, convex, evenly curved; small, flexible postcoxal hypomeral extension (process), rounded.

Elytra only slightly longer than pronotum. Mesosternum with twelve macrosetae, may rarely have one more or less. Metathoracic wings reduced.

Protarsomeres 1–3 as long as wide to longer than wide; metatarsomere 1 about as long as metatarsomere 5; metatarsi shorter than metatibiae; metacoxae with four or less spines on posterior margin; apical tarsomere with empodial setae longer or subequal to tarsal claws; procoxa with internal ridge parallel to external ridge; metatrochanter apically sharply pointed.

Abdominal tergite II with distinct row of setiferous punctures along apical margin; tergite VII without white fringe along posterior edge. Male sternite VIII with broad and shallow U-shaped emargination.

Aedeagus ( Fig. 3B and C View Fig ), total length ~ 0.95 mm; median lobe tube shaped, internal sac with copulatory sclerites; paramere in parameral view wider than, and strongly produced over, apex of median lobe.

Comparison. This species is differentiated from others in the genus Chimalfus by the following combination of characters: the length of the eyes is about three-quarters of the length of the head (EYL/HL = x = 0.75), frons with microsculpture consisting of transverse to concentric waves, sometimes with a mesh pattern present in the center, metathoracic wings are reduced and tergite VII without white fringe along posterior edge.

This species exhibits a distinctive shape of the head and pronotum chaetotaxy, statistically more different from other Chimalfus species and Liracoxa nana both with and without accounting for size (allometric effects) ( Fig. 9 View Fig ; see section 3.2 for more details).

Distribution. C. brevis is distributed in southern Chile, from the Biobío Region to the Ays´en Region. The species inhabits both the Valdivian Temperate Forest and the Magellanic Subpolar Forest ecoregions.