Macraspis opala Bento, Jameson, Seidel, 2022

Bento, Matheus, Jameson, Mary Liz & Seidel, Matthias, 2022, New species and illustrated key of Macraspis (Scarabaeidae, Rutelinae, Rutelini) from the Amazon biome of Brazil, ZooKeys 1124, pp. 161-189 : 161

Macraspis opala Bento, Jameson, Seidel sp. nov.

Figs 9A-H , 12

Type material

(2 males). Holotype male deposited at DZUP, labeled: "Brasil - Pará / Itaituba / Rio Tapajós” (white, printed) (verse: "RU / 65 ♂. / 2.65." (handwritten)) // " DZUP/530613" (white, printed) // "HOLOTYPE / Macraspis opala / Bento, Jameson, Seidel, / 2022 / M. Bento, det. 2022". Paratype male, labeled: "Brasil. Rondônia - UHE / Samuel - Canteiro de / obras. 07-08/XI/1986 / J. C. Costa e Z. F. Silva, col." (white, handwritten) (CZPB).

Diagnosis.

Apex of pygidium smooth (Fig. 9C ); metatarsomere IV with ventroapical projection short and apex acute; apical edge of tectum wider than base of paramera, with lateral articular areas horizontally rotated (Fig. 9E-H ); paramera strongly declivous laterally, with sides inconspicuous in caudal view and strongly excavated medially (Fig. 9F-H ).

Description.

Holotype male (Fig. 9A-G ). Length 9.7 mm, width 5.6 mm. Body rounded-oval. Coloration. General color copper with green or red reflections. Head, pronotum, and scutellar shield with strong green reflections. Pronotum with yellow posterolateral maculae effaced. Elytra brownish copper, with two median yellow maculae somewhat effaced. Pygidium and venter with color more diffuse than dorsal surface. Head. Vertex sparsely punctate at disc, laterally punctostriate. Frons with slight V-shaped depression, densely punctate, punctures large. Interocular width 4.2 times wider than transverse eye diameter. Clypeus confluently punctate, with anterior margin subtrapezoidal, slightly raised medially. Pronotum shallowly and sparsely punctate at disc, with slight anterolateral depression densely punctate at lateral corner, punctures moderate and deep. Scutellar shield moderately punctate, longer than elytral suture. Elytra 1.8 times longer than mid-width, moderately punctate, punctuations moderate and shallow. Posthumeral depression weak. Apical umbone wide and well defined. Pygidium (Fig. 9C ) strongly convex and apically smooth. Venter glabrous, moderately punctate. Mesometaventral process anteriorly directed between procoxae, ventrally flat, with apex abruptly acute in anteroventral view. Mesepimera partially exposed in dorsal view, slightly convex and transversally ridged. Legs. Protibia strongly tridentate externally, with proximal tooth well defined and pointed. Protarsomere V longer than protarsomeres I-IV combined. Anterior protarsal claw enlarged, unequally cleft and obliquely truncated. Mesotibia with internal margin straight, with inner apex not dilated. Mesotarsomere IV with ventroapical projection well developed, thickened and ventrally curved. Metatarsomere IV with spine-like ventroapical projection short and pointed. Abdomen with ventrite 6 broadly and slightly emarginated posteriorly. Spiculum gastrale (Fig. 9D ) Y-shaped with proximal arms short and distal stem slender, about 2.8 times longer than arm length. Aedeagus (Fig. 9E-G ). Tectum broadly curved laterally, not narrowed towards the apical third; apical edge wider than base of paramera, with lateral articular areas horizontally rotated. Paramera strongly declivous laterally, with sides inconspicuous in caudal view and strongly excavated medially to form a laterolongitudinal carina.

Female. Unknown.

Paratype (1 male). The male paratype differs from holotype by the general coloration darker with stronger green reflections and elytra without yellow maculae; paramera slightly narrower, with lateral margins parallel and apex slightly more rounded (Fig. 9H ).

Etymology.

The specific epithet is derived from the Latin word ' opalus ' (= precious stone) in reference to opal gemstone, alluding to the metallic, multicolor cuticular surface.

Distribution

(Fig. 12 ). Brazil (2). Pará: Itaituba, Rondônia: Candeias do Jamari. The two male specimens composing the type series were collected within the Madeira-Tapajós interfluvium.

Remarks.

This species is quite similar to Macraspis maculata Burmeister, 1844. However, M. opala sp. nov. has a slightly smaller body size and is distinguished from M. maculata by (characters of M. maculata given in parenthesis): apex of pygidium smooth, without sculpturing (apex of pygidium with strong and concentric sculpturing (Fig. 9M )); metatarsomere IV with ventroapical projection short and pointed (metatarsomere IV with ventroapical projection thickened and truncated); tectum broadly curved laterally, apical edge wider than base of paramera, with lateral articular areas horizontally rotated (tectum laterally narrowed towards the apical third, apical edge as narrow as base of paramera, with lateral articular area vertically positioned (Fig. 9J-L )); paramera strongly declivous laterally, with sides inconspicuous in caudal view and strongly excavated medially to form a laterolongitudinal carina (paramera slightly declivous laterally, with sides conspicuous in caudal view and weakly excavated apically (Fig. 9K, L )).

Figures

Figure 9. Macraspis opala sp. nov. (A-H) and Macraspis maculata Burmeister (I-M): Macraspis opala sp. nov., holotype male A dorsal view B ventral view C pygidium in caudal view D spiculum gastrale E aedeagus, dorsal view F aedeagus, caudal view G lateral view, paramera (of paratype) and H caudal view. Macraspis maculata Burmeister, 1844 from Linhares, Espirito Santo state, Brazil, I spiculum gastrale J aedeagus in dorsal view K caudal view and L lateral view M pygidium in caudal view. Scale bars: 2 mm (A, B); 1 mm (C, M); 0.5 mm (E, G, J, L); 0.2 mm (F, H, K).

Figure 12. Distribution of Brazilian species of Macraspis treated in this publication. The Brazilian Amazon biome is colored lime green. Brazilian states are abbreviated as follows: AC = Acre, AM = Amazonas, AP = Amapa, BA = Bahia, ES = Espirito Santo, GO = Goias, MA = Maranhao, MG = Minas Gerais, MT = Mato Grosso = PA = Piaui, RO = Rondonia, RJ = Rio de Janiero, RR = Roraima, SP = Sao Paulo, TO = Tocantins.