Brasiella ocoa, Acciavatti, Robert E., 2011

Acciavatti, Robert E., 2011, Taxonomic Revision of Hispaniola Tiger Beetles in the Genus Brasiella Rivalier 1954 (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Cicindelinae), ZooKeys 147, pp. 99-182 : 132-134

Brasiella ocoa sp. n. Fig. 11

Holotype.

Male! labeled "DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: / Peravia Prov. / Rio Ocoa-0.8km S, 0.2km W / Hy. 2-Las Carreras, 130 m / 18°20.7'N, 70°29.3'W / D. Brzoska 18-X-2005" [typeset black on white label]; Carnegie Museum / Specimen Number / CMNH-493,579" [typeset black on white label]; "HOLOTYPE / Brasiella / ocoa / Acciavatti" [typeset black on red label]. [Genitalia placed in glycerin within a microvial pinned under the holotype.]

Allotype.

Female unknown.

Paratypes.

One male! labeled with same label data as holotype; "PARATYPE / Brasiella / ocoa / Acciavatti" [typeset black on red label].

Type Depositories.

Holotype at CMNH; CMNH Unique Number stored in data files at CMNH. Paratype at DWBC.

Type Locality.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Peravia Province, Las Carreras vicinity along Rio Ocoa, 0.8 km south and 0.2 km west of Highway 2, 18°20.7'N, 70°29.3'W, 130 m. Aerial view in Fig. 19D.

Diagnosis.

Distinguished from other Brasiella species on Hispaniola by the following combination of characters: 1) small body size of males; 2) head and pronotum shiny, shiny copper; 3) proepisterna shiny copper; 4) elytral markings bold and complete, pale tan to white against a duller cupreous ground color with metallic blue and green flecks scattered randomly over the unmarked portions of their surface; 5) male genitalia with a long aedeagus neck and a apical hook rounded nearly at a right angle and tip short; 6) aedeagus inner sac stylet short with recurved tip; 7) aedeagus inner sac large tooth short, narrowly pointed at tip; 8) aedeagus inner sac shield angled distad.

Description.

General.Fig. 11A. Body. Formelongate; head broad, eyes slightly bulging; pronotum broad and square; elytra slender. Size.Males, length 5.8-5.9 mm, width 1.8-1.9 mm; female unknown.

Head. Figs 11B, 11D. Shiny, shiny copper dorsally, copper green laterally, blue green ventrally; entire surface glabrous except for two pairs of supraorbital sensory setae. Frons finely and longitudinally rugose. Vertex more coarsely rugose, transverse rugae along anterior margin narrow and irregularly arranged, 16-18 more or less complete longitudinal rugae between eyes and middle where rugae converge into an arcuate pattern; rugae transition abruptly into a posterior area with a finely and irregularly granulate surface. Eyes prominent, slightly bulging laterally. Genae longitudinally rugose. Clypeus finely and irregularly granulate, anterior margin broadly arcuate. Labrum testaceous with a dark brown margin, subrectangular, width to length ratio 3 in holotype male; anterior margin sinuate, prominent at middle, a small bulge on either side of a tiny tooth; medial carina broadly and distinctly raised; 7 setae in an irregular row near middleasymmetrically arranged. Maxillae and labium mainly testaceous, only distal palpal segments dark brown with metallic blue green reflections. Mandibles in male with surface mainly testaceous, only teeth metallic green; mandibles symmetrical, four teeth distad of molar, apical tooth longest, first and second tooth coequal in length, both shorter than third tooth; gaps between three intermediate teeth narrow in male. Antennae 11 segmented; scape entirely to partially shiny green and slightly testaceous ventrally; scape with a single subapical sensory seta; antennomeres 2-4 shiny green to slightly testaceous, glabrous except for a few, short erect setae along their length and distally; antennomeres 5-11 dull brown, sheathed with dense short sensory setae.

Prothorax.Figs 11C, 11D. Pronotum shiny, shiny copper. Proepisterna shiny copper, surface wrinkled dorsad. Prosternum shiny green. Pronotum glabrous except for short, decumbent, white setae distributed in several, irregular rows medially directed, originating close to, and lying in a narrow band nearly impinging on lateral suture, in a sparse narrow band transversely and anteriorly oriented within broad anterior margin, and in a sparse narrow band laterally oriented on each side of midline extending nearly to the narrow posterior margin; transverse submarginal sulci distinct, anterior sulcus shallow, posterior sulcus deeper and deepest at posterior angles; transverse rugae within broad anterior margin and within posterior margin parallel, distinctly and deeply engraved, extending onto midline; surface sculptured by finer, transverse rugae angled on disc and interrupted by a finely engraved longitudinal midline, and more finely and irregularly sculptured elsewhere. Proepisterna glabrous except for white, erect and appressed setae arising from small setigerous punctures scattered over most of the surface in males.

Pterothorax.Fig. 11C. Mesepisterna glabrous except for appressed setae near ventral margin; female coupling sulcus represented by a small depression medially situated, a distinct groove extends only dorsally from pit, surface smooth below pit. Mesepimeron with sparse appressed setae. Metepisterna with scattered appressed setae, more abundant in male than female. Prosternum and mesosternum glabrous, smooth to slightly wrinkled; metasternum glabrous except for long, dense white appressed setae laterad, surface smooth mesad and coarsely sculpted laterad where setae originate. Scutellum triangular, cupreous.

Legs.Fig. 11A. Segmentsentirely shiny, metallic yellow green to partially testaceous brown with metallic green reflections. Coxae shiny, dull metallic brown green; trochanters shiny testaceous; femora and tibiae entirely metallic green to partially testaceous with metallic green reflections anteriorly; tarsomeres dark metallic brown; white, appressed setae on front and middle coxae, and laterally on hind coxae with one (rarely two) sensory setae mesad; erect setae and suberect closely spaced in several regular and irregular rows on all femora; setae widely spaced in a few rows on all tibiae; middle tibiae with patch of appressed setae dorsally along distal half; tarsomeres with short scattered setae on ventral surface; distal tarsomeres with two asymmetrical rows each with a few to several small, erect setae; an erect subapical seta present only on front trochanter, absent on middle and hind trochanters; males with dense pad of erect setae ventrally on proximal three tarsal segments; tarsal claws small.

Elytra.Fig. 11A. Elytra elongate, narrow, sides nearly parallel, only slightly broader at outer apical angle; evenly curved along posterior margins with apices separately rounded; sutural spine very small, prominent, feebly withdrawn from apex; posterior margins finely microserrulate. Surface finely granulate, impunctate, numerous small, irregular, shiny green or blue green flecks of various sizes scattered over a dull, dark copper brown background; fully developed elytral pattern of broad, bold markings contrasting with the darker elytral ground color; setigerous punctures with short, erect, transparent setae indistinct in subsutural rows on disc, but distinct at elytral base, and at inner humeral angles, each surrounded by a metallic fleck slightly larger than flecks elsewhere on elytra; surface very slightly depressed in humeral area and on disc creating only a very slight raised area basally. Elytral markings tawny, bold and distinct, forming a complete pattern consisting of humeral and apical lunules and middle band; humeral lunule complete terminating as a slightly enlarged end on disc in holotype, slightly broken before enlarged posterior end in paratype; middle band distinctly sinuate, complete, edges irregular, slightly enlarged near suture and slightly expanded along lateral margin; apical lunule complete broadened at suture. Elytral epipleura testaceous except for narrow, metallic green to copper green band along dorsal margin.

Abdomen. Not Fig.d. Male surface of 1st-5th sterna shiny black with green reflections, 6th sternum entirely shiny black green; posterior margins of male 3rd-5th sterna dark brown; male 3rd-5th sterna medially smooth with scattered, fine, erect setae in both sexes; male 1st-6th sterna laterally covered with dense, scattered, appressed white setae and roughened from setal punctures; male 6th sternum glabrous medially with a broad, deep concave notch.

Male Genitalia.Figs 11E, 11F, 11G. Shape narrow near base, uniformly broad in middle half, slim distally with neck long and narrow, apical hook evenly rounded nearly at a right angle, tip short. Aedeagus inner sac sclerites: stylet short, tip recurved; shield angled distad; large tooth short, narrow and pointed at tip with root and small dark fields; arched piece short and thick; spine field within aedeagus neck short and narrow.

Ecology.

Adults of this species are active in October based on the type series of two male specimens collected by David Brzoska on sand and gravel in the flood plain of the Rio Ocoa at 130 m (Fig. 19D). Brasiella ocoa occurred at its type locality in association with a much larger tiger beetle species, Cicindela (Plectographa) schafferi W. Horn 1903, based on information from Dave Brzoska that accompanied the Brasiella ocoa specimens. Robert L. Davidson also collected Cicindela schaefferi specimens at this Rio Ocoa location on a 1987 CMNH expedition to the Dominican Republic. He collected adults of this larger tiger beetle species both on the shoreline and on the gravel riverbed along the Rio Ocoa (Fig. 19D).

Distribution.

Fig. 22. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Peravia Province, Las Carreras vicinity along Rio Ocoa flood plain south of Highway 2. This species likely occurs elsewhere along the Rio Ocoa south toward the coast and further north into the Cordillera Central.

Etymology.

This Latinized eponym, a noun in aposition, is derived the Rio Ocoa, a major river that originates in the southern end of the Cordillera Central, flows across the southwestern coast of Peravia Province, and empties into the Caribbean Sea along the border with Azua Province in the Dominican Republic.

Remarks.

Brasiella ocoa , new species, superficially resembles Brasiella dominicana , an allopatric species that occurs nearby apparently along the Rio Bani (refer to Ecology for the latter species). However, their distinctiveness as separate species has been established by differences in the sclerites within the adult male aedeagus and other characters presented in the key and under their descriptions. Nonetheless, that fact that both species appear to have similar habitat requirements in low elevation flood plains, in contrast to the high elevation montane habitat requirements of most other Brasiella species known from Hispaniola, suggests that they may share a common lineage.