Coleoxestia chicoi, Carli & Monné & Santos-Silva & Rafael, 2025

Coleoxestia chicoi sp. nov.

( Figs 1–5 View FIGURES 1–6 )

Description. Holotype female. Integument mostly blackish; ventral mouthparts dark brown except palpomeres brownish orange with yellowish apex; sides of anteclypeus and labrum dark yellowish brown; antennomere III blackish on basal third, then gradually reddish brown toward dark-brown apex; antennomeres IV–V dark reddish brown basally, reddish brown on remaining surface, except dark-brown apex; antennomeres VI–X brownish orange except brown apex; antennomere XI brownish orange. Trochanters mostly dark reddish brown; femora dark reddish brown basally, blackish on apical fifth, reddish brown on remaining surface; tibiae dark brown basally, dark reddish brown on remaining basal third, reddish brown on apical 2/3; tarsi reddish brown, except dark-brown tarsal claws. Apex of abdominal ventrites 1–4 reddish brown.

Head. Frontal plate somewhat well marked on superior margin, abundantly, coarsely punctate on sides of central area, sparse and finely punctate laterally and anteriorly, with a few punctures posteriorly, these punctures distinctly coarser than centrally; with a few minute whitish setae. Frons abundantly, very coarsely punctate, punctures mostly anastomosed; with a few minute whitish setae; frontolateral depression moderately well marked; area between antennal socket and lower eye lobes sparsely, finely punctate, except coarser and confluent punctures close to eye and frons and smooth area close to antennal socket toward upper eye lobe; with a few minute whitish setae. Area between antennal tubercles longitudinally depressed centrally, inclined toward antennal tubercles laterally; sparsely, finely punctate centrally, somewhat finely rugose-punctate; with a few long, erect yellowish setae anteriorly close to antennal tubercle. Area between antennal tubercles and anterior region of upper eye lobes longitudinally depressed laterally; somewhat coarsely rugose-punctate, with a few minute whitish setae and long, erect yellowish setae; center smooth and glabrous; area between depression and smooth central area, somewhat coarsely rugose-punctate, with a few minute whitish setae. Remaining surface between upper eye lobes slightly rugose-punctate; with a few minute whitish setae and long, erect yellowish setae interspersed, except smooth and glabrous central region. Remaining surface of vertex abundantly, coarsely punctate, punctures transverse and partially confluent; glabrous. Area behind upper eye lobes densely, coarsely punctate; with a few minute, both whitish and yellowish setae. Area behind lower eye lobes tumid, mostly smooth and glabrous close to eye, transversely striate, glabrous on remaining surface, except central area close to ventral surface abundantly, finely punctate; with a few short whitish setae and long, erect yellowish setae interspersed. Antennal tubercles sparsely, coarsely punctate, punctures with minute whitish seta. Genae moderately abundant and finely punctate, except smooth frontal area close to mandible; with short, decumbent whitish setae, except glabrous smooth area. Gulamentum smooth, glabrous on posterior half, anterior half abundantly, coarsely punctate, punctures partially anastomosed; with sparse, erect, both short and long yellowish-brown setae. Wide central area of postclypeus abundantly, coarsely punctate on superior region, transversely carinate centrally, with a few coarse, shallow punctures on inferior region, except finely punctate area close to anteclypeus; superior half with a few minute whitish setae and one long, erect yellowish-brown seta on each side; inferior half glabrous, except area close to anteclypeus with minute yellowish setae. Labrum abundantly, finely punctate on center of posterior 2/3, smooth laterally and anteriorly, and with a few coarse, shallow punctures laterally on posterior 2/3 close to smooth area; center of posterior 2/3 with sparse, minute whitish setae with erect, both short and long yellowish setae interspersed; area close to lateral smooth region with long, erect yellowish-brown setae. Basal 3/4 of outer surface of mandibles coarsely, rugose-punctate; with sparse, short whitish setae and long, erect yellowish-brow setae interspersed; apical quarter smooth, glabrous. Distance between upper eye lobes 0.19 times distance between outer margins of eyes; in frontal view, distance between lower eye lobes 0.3 times distance between outer margins of eyes. Antennae 1.15 times elytral length, almost reaching posterior quarter of elytra. Scape abundantly, coarsely rugose-punctate on basal 2/3, somewhat sparsely, finely punctate on apical third, except smooth apex of dorsal surface; with very sparse, minute white setae, a few short, decumbent yellowish setae interspersed ventrally, one long, erect yellowish seta dorsally, and sparse, long, erect yellowish setae interspersed on posterior half of ventral surface. Pedicel with minute white setae and long, erect yellowish setae interspersed throughout, except glabrous apex.Antennomeres III–IV with abundant, decumbent whitish pubescence not obscuring integument and long, erect yellowish-brown setae ventrally and near apex, and a few long, erect yellowish-brown setae on outer surface, except glabrous dorsal apex; outer apex nodose. Antennomeres V–XI with dense yellowish pubescence partially obscuring integument, except glabrous apex of V–X; apex of V–X with long, erect yellowish-brown setae, dorsally close to smooth area, and XI with long, erect yellowish-brown setae interspersed close to posterior constriction; posterior third of XI with short, erect yellowish-white setae interspersed. Antennal formula (ratio) based on antennomere III: scape = 0.54; pedicel = 0.13; IV = 0.43; V = 0.49; VI = 0.49; VII = 0.44; VIII = 0.4; IX = 0.39; X = 0.36; XI = 0.54.

Thorax. Prothorax wider than long; anterior constriction well marked; sides slightly rounded, sinuous between anterior constriction and posterior eighth, then subparallel-sided toward posterolateral angles; peripheral ridge well marked; peripheral sulcus well marked except on central region of pronotum. Pronotum coarsely striate-punctate between anterior constriction and posterior eighth, except sides densely, coarsely rugose-punctate; peripheral ridge very sparsely, minutely punctate; peripheral sulcus slightly rugose laterally; posterior eighth with well-marked transverse sulcus, sulcus inclined forward laterally; with very sparse, minute whitish setae except glabrous wide central area; sides of posterior 3/4 with sparse, long, erect yellowish-brown setae. Sides of prothorax abundantly, coarsely rugose-punctate except minutely punctate peripheral ridge and slightly rugose-punctate peripheral sulcus; with a few long, erect yellowish-brown setae. Prosternum with transverse sulcus centrally; posterior half depressed centrally close to transverse sulcus, sparsely, finely punctate; with minute white setae, very sparse centrally, more abundant close to procoxal cavities, and a few long, erect yellowish setae interspersed; peripheral ridge transversely striate; anterior area close to peripheral ridge finely, somewhat rugose-punctate, almost glabrous; remaining surface of anterior half sparsely, finely punctate with sparse, both short yellowish and minute white setae. Prosternal process smooth, glabrous centrally, sparsely, finely punctate; with sparse, short, decumbent white setae laterally; narrowest area 0.25 times procoxal width. Central area of mesoventrite with moderately sparse yellowish-white pubescence and sides with abundant yellowish-white pubescence partially obscuring integument. Mesenepisterna and mesepimera with abundant yellowish-white pubescence not obscuring integument. Mesoventral process distinctly notched on center of apical margin; with abundant yellowish-white pubescence not obscuring integument, except glabrous apical sides, and a few long, erect yellowish-white setae interspersed; narrowest area 0.38 times mesocoxal width. Metanepisterna with abundant yellowish pubescence partially obscuring integument. Metaventrite with moderately sparse yellowish-white pubescence close to mesocoxal cavities and metanepisterna, except dense yellowish-white pubescence posteriorly close to mesanepisterna and metacoxal cavities, and with central area with sparse, short, decumbent white setae, absent close to metathoracic discrimen, and a few long, erect yellowish-brown setae interspersed. Scutellum triangular, sparsely, minutely punctate, punctures with minute white setae. Elytra. Shiny, abundantly, punctate on anterior 2/3, punctures gradually finer, sparser toward apex on posterior third; most punctures with minute white seta; with a few long, erect yellowish-brown setae close to apex; apex bispinose.

Legs. Femora with triangular projection on inner apex, projection gradually longer from pro- to metafemur; outer apex with rounded projection; sparsely, finely punctate, punctures slightly more abundant and coarser apically; with sparse, short, decumbent yellowish setae, setae more abundant and whiter close to dorsal apex, and a few long, erect light yellowish-brown setae apically and inner surface of meso- and profemora; dorsobasal area of metafemoral club with dense, bristly, moderately short yellowish-brown setae. Basal fifth, entire dorsal surface, and basal half of outer surfaces of protibiae with sparse, short, decumbent white setae with long, erect light yellowish-brown setae interspersed; ventral surface and apical half of outer surface with dense, bristly light yellowish-brown pubescence. Meso- and metatibiae with sparse, short, decumbent white setae with long, erect yellowish-brown setae interspersed, except apical 3/4 of ventral surface with abundant, bristly yellowish-brown pubescence, and apical quarter of inner surface with abundant, long, erect yellowish-brown setae. Dorsal surface of tarsomeres with abundant, both whitish and yellowish pubescence not obscuring integument, with moderately long, suberect yellowish-brown setae interspersed.

Abdomen. Ventrites with sparse, minute whitish setae, slightly more abundant on ventrite 5, and a few long, erect yellowish-brown setae interspersed, except glabrous apex of ventrites 1–4; apex of ventrite 5 rounded.

Dimensions in mm. Total length, 25.4; prothoracic length, 4.5; anterior prothoracic width, 3.5; posterior prothoracic width, 3.9; maximum prothoracic width, 4.6; humeral width, 5.85; elytral length, 17.9.

Type material. Holotype female ( INPA-COL 002849 ) from BRAZIL, Amazonas : Manaus, ZF-2 , km 14 , 2°35’21”S 60°06’55”W, “ Malaise Grande, lado nascente,” 24 m, 19.IX–3.X.2017, J.A. Rafael leg. ( INPA) GoogleMaps . Paratypes: 1 female ( INPA-COL 002850 ), same data as holotype, except 13–16.VIII.2004, “ lençol: luz mista e BLB ” ( INPA) GoogleMaps ; 1 female ( INPA-COL 002851 ), BRAZIL: Amazonas, Manaus, “ Campus Universitário ,” 1.VIII.1988, Marcia Castilho & J. Elias Binda leg., “exp: da AGRO.”

Etymology. The species is named in tribute to an amazing collector of the Amazon region, Francisco Felipe Xavier Filho (INPA), known as “Chico,” to his friendship.

Remarks. Coleoxestia chicoi sp. nov. is similar to Coleoxestia eyai Santos-Silva & Wappes, 2017 ( Figs 6–8 View FIGURES 1–6 View FIGURES 7–9 ; see also photographs on Bezark (2025) and in Santos-Silva & Wappes (2017)), but differs as follows: distance between lower eye lobes shorter, 0.3 times width of outer margins of eyes ( Fig. 4 View FIGURES 1–6 ); frontal plate distinctly narrower than twice its length; pronotum without smooth areas centrally; femora pedunculate-clavate ( Fig. 5 View FIGURES 1–6 ); and tibiae are mostly light. In C. eyai , the distance between the lower eye lobes is wider, 0.4 times width of outer margins of eyes ( Fig. 7 View FIGURES 7–9 ), the frontal plate is distinctly wider than three times its length, the pronotum has smooth areas centrally, the femora are not pedunculate-clavate ( Fig. 6 View FIGURES 1–6 ), and the tibiae are dark. Although the holotype of C. eyai , the only known specimen of this species, is a male, none of these differences are not associated to sexual dimorphism. The new species is also slightly similar to Coleoxestia anthracina Martins & Monné, 2005 ( Fig. 9 View FIGURES 7–9 ), but differs by prothorax distinctly shorter when compared with elytra (longer in C. anthracina ), the upper eye lobes are distinctly narrowed toward its inner region (not distinctly narrowed in C. anthracina ), and the scutellum is triangular (rounded apically in C. anthracina ).

Coleoxestia chicoi sp. nov. can be included in the alternative of couplet “8” from Martins & Monné (2005) (translated, modified):

8(7). Antennomere IV distinctly angulate on outer apex (from slightly to distinctly ortho-angulate). French Guiana, Brazil (Mato Grosso)..................................................................... C. spinifemorata Fragoso, 1993

– Antennomere IV nodose on outer apex....................................................................8’

8’(8). Elytra not distinctly punctate. Brazil (Pará, Goiás, Mato Grosso, and Mato Grosso do Sul)...... C. armata (Gounelle, 1909)

– Elytra distinctly punctate. Brazil (Amazonas).................................................. C. chicoi sp. nov.

Coleoxestia chicoi can be included in the alternative of couplet “10” from Eya & Chemsak (2005) (modified):

10(9). Vertex with ridge along sagittal plane and between eyes...................................................... 11

– Vertex with ridge either obtuse or lacking along sagittal plane and between eyes..................................10’

10’(10) Antennomere IV with scarring on apical half; elytra vaguely vermiculate and densely punctate with integument surrounding each puncture impressed. Panama.............................................. C. thomasi Eya & Chemsak, 2005

– Antennomere IV without scarring on apical half; elytra abundantly, coarsely punctate, not vermiculate. Brazil (Amazonas)........................................................................................ C. chicoi sp. nov.