Eleothinus centralis, Bezark, 2025

Eleothinus centralis sp. nov.

( Fig. 5-8)

ZooBank:https://zoobank.org/ 8B0DD230-8ACC-477F-B98D-76161B61DA11

Holotype, ♀, Belize, Stann Creek: 37 km W Dangriga , TREES ( Toucan Ridge Ecology & Education Society), 17°03.1'N, 88°33.9'W, 25-29 June, 2019, 186 m, L. G. Bezark collector ( CASC). GoogleMaps

Paratype s

- 3 ♂, 2 ♀, Stann Creek: 16 km W Dangriga, Bocawina , 16°927'N, 88°397'W, 13-20August, 2017,on dead tree at night, L.G.Bezark collector ( LGBC, MZSP) ; - 3 ♂, 1 ♀, StannCreek: 16 km W Dangriga, Bocawina , 16°927'N, 88°397'W, 4-13 July, 2019, on dead tree at night, L. G. Bezark collector ( LGBC) ;

- 1 ♀, 37 km W Dangriga , TREES ( ToucanRidge Ecology & Education Society), 17°03.1'N, 88°33.9'W, 25-29 June, 2019, 186 m, L. G. Bezark collector GoogleMaps ;

1. Dorsal habitus. 2. Head, frontal view. 3. Lateral habitus. 4. Ventral habitus.

- 1 ♀, 2 ♀, StannCreek : 16 km W Dangriga, Bocawina, 16°927'N, 88°°397'W, 5- 7August, 2017, on dead tree at night, L. G. Bezark collector ( LGBC) ;

- 1 ♀, Cayo: Las Cuevas Research Station, 15 km E Caracol, Monkey Tail Trail 16.733N, 88.32.985W, 570’, 16 May 1995 ( NMH) ;

- 1 ♂, Costa Rica, Cartago: Turrialba ( CATIE), 13-14 January 1989 , F. T. Hovore collector ( CASC) ;

- 1 ♀, Alajuela: 14 km N Pavones, December , 1990, F. T. Hovore collector ( CASC) .

Description of the holotype

Coloration. – Integument mostly dark brown; lateral edges and apex of elytra dark green;maxillaryand labial palpomeres lighter brownwith terminal segmentyellowish; both narrow base and apex of scape lighter brown; pedicel and basal 2/3 of antennomere III light brown, median section of antennomeres V, VII and IX lighter brown. Pronotum with a pair of dark vittae diverging posteriorly (lining up with the edges of large central elytral macula) and narrowing toward anterior margin, but not quite reaching it. Elytra with large central macula lighter brown than remaining surface which is covered with grayish pubescence. Tibiae light brown; femora mottled with grayish pubescence;tibiaewithlight coloredpubescentbandsat base andmiddle; apical tarsomeres yellowish. Base of first abdominal ventrite darker brown than remainder of segment and following segments which are lighter brown.

Head. – Frons with narrow median groove, densely, finely punctate; with small patches of appressed dense brown pubescence obscuring integument, and scattered appressed swirling grayish pubescent areas obscuring integument, resulting in a mottled pattern; with one long, erect dark-brown seta close to eyes just above middle. Vertex and area behind upper eye lobes with sparse grayish pubescent areas obscuring integument and covering in part the median groove, becoming denser behind eyes. Genae mottled with appressed brown pubescence more abundant than appressed grayish pubescence. Distance between upper eye lobes 0.26 times distance between outer margins of eyes; in frontal view, distance between lower eye lobes 0.55 times distance between outer margins of eyes. Antennae 2.4 times elytral length, reaching elytral apex at apex of antennomere VI. Scape with mottled appearance;dorsally and laterally with dense whitish pubescence, with sparse brownish pubescent maculae interspersed, ventrally with less dense grayish pubescence; pedicel with grayish pubescence slightly less abundant apically. Antennomere III with both grayish and dark-brown pubescence, with mottled appearance (more grayish pubescence than dark brown) on basal 2/3, apical third with dark-brown pubescence; antennomere IV with mostly dark-brown pubescence with a few patches of lighter pubescence on basal 1/4; antennomeres VI, VIII, X and XI with only dark-brown pubescence; antennomeres V, VII and IX with narrow base with dark-brown pubescence, central area with lighter pubescence (corresponding to lighter ground color of the segments) and apical 1/3 with dark-brown pubescence.

Thorax. – Prothorax wider than long; anterior basal constriction well marked; sides divergent from basal constriction to lateral tubercles, subparallel-sided from lateral tubercles to posterolateral angles; lateral tubercles located on posterior third. Pronotum with one oblique gibbosity on eachside of anterior half, located onblack oblique vittae, and one small barely elevated, central tubercle just above basal sulcate area; posterior quarter widely transversely sulcate; moderately coarsely punctate throughout, punctures absent on dorsal gibbosities and very sparse on lateral tubercles of prothorax; sides with dense whitish pubescence obscuring surface; central region mostly with dense, whitish pubescence exceptdark-brown pubescence on dark integumental vittae; with one, erect grayish seta on each side of posterior quarter very near base. Sides of prothorax moderately coarsely punctate except for impunctate lateral tubercles; with dense whitish pubescence obscuring surface. Prosternum with moderately dense whitish pubescence not obscuring surface. Prosternal process with moderately dense whitish pubescence not obscuringsurface; narrowest area 0.58timesprocoxal width. Mesanepisternum, mesepimeron, and sides of mesoventrite with moderately dense whitish pubescence. Mesoventral process parallel-sided, slightly widened at apex; posterior margin very slightly concave; narrowest area 1.28 times mesocoxal width. Scutellum broadly rounded apically, mottled with grayish and dark brown tomentum.

Elytra. – Abundantly, coarsely punctate;centrobasal crest slightly elevated, with short, dense, erect dark-brown setae; dorsal surface with one slightly elevated longitudinal carina beginning at humeri and extending to one-third of elytral length; obliquely depressed dorsally on sides of basal third; slightly depressed centrally beyond lateral depression, then flattened centrally and slightly rounding toward lateral margin; slightly widened beyond depression, then narrowing toward oblique apex; apex with blunt point laterally; a very few small tufts of dark-brown setae just inside lateral margins; with longitudinal, arched dark band dorsally, from near anterior margin to about posterior fifth, brownish on its apical region; eight pairs of very small dark brown spots along suture from apical half of large macula to elytral apex; a few very faint thin longitudinal lines of grayish pubescence at apical quarter; remainder of elytra with dense whitish tomentum obscuring surface.

Legs. – Femora mottled, with dense gray-white pubescence, and small areas with sparser brown pubescence interspersed. Tibiae with light colored pubescent bands at base and middle. Protarsomeres I with dense grayish tomentum, II-III with dark-brown tomentum, shorter than II-III combined; meso- and metatarsomeres I with dense grayish tomentum, II-III with dark-brown tomentum, tarsomere I subequal to II-III togther; tarsomeres V yellowish with sparse whitish setae.

Abdomen. – Ventrites with dense whitish pubescence almost obscuring integument; apex of ventrite V subtruncate.

Variation. – Specimens from Costa Rica have more vivid green ground color laterally on the elytra and femoral club, and some from Belize also appear more greenish on these areas. Fifth ventrite in males is narrower and longitudinally somewhat pinched medially.

Dimensions (mm)

Female holotype (CASC) length 5.9, prothoracic length 1.0, anterior prothoracic width 1.3, posterior prothoracic width 1.6, maximum prothoracic width (including tubercles) 1.8, humeral width 2.4, elytral length 4.3.

Etymology. – The specific epithet “centralis ” refers to both the large light-brown macula located centrally on the elytra, and to Central America where the type specimens were collected ( Belize and Costa Rica).

Remarks. – Eleothinus centralis is very different from the other known species in the genus. It is similar to E. abstrusus Bates, 1881 by the angled pronotal vittae, however the large central elytral macula easily separates it (present in E. centralis , absent in E. abstrusus ); additionally E. abstrusus has numerous small setal tufts on the elytra, which are mostly absent in the new species.