Agathidium (Macroceble) guttiferum, Švec, 2012

Švec, Zdeněk, 2012, New Leiodinae (Coleoptera: Leiodidae) from India and Papua New Guinea, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 52 (2), pp. 411-424 : 418-419

Agathidium (Macroceble) guttiferum sp. nov.

( Figs. 11–13 , 26, 27 )

Type locality. India, Arunachal Pradesh, 11 km SSE of Tenga, Eagles Nest wildlife sanctuary, 27º06′23″N 92º26′02″E, 2510 m a.s.l.

Type material. HOLOTYPE: J ( NMPC): ‘ INDIA: Arunachal Pradesh (15) / 11 km SSE of Tenga, Eagles / Nest WL Sanctuary, 4.v.2008 / 27º06′23″N 92º26′02″E, 2510 m / Fikáček, Podskalská, Šípek lgt. // Primary evergreen mountain / cloud forest with very sparse / understory vegetation / sifting: wet leaf litter’ . PARATYPES: 1 J 9 ♀♀ ( NMPC, ZSPC): same data as the holotype.

Description. Body length 1.8–2.0 mm (holotype: 2.0 mm). Length of body parts (holotype): head 0.3 mm, pronotum 0.8 mm, elytra 0.9 mm, antenna 0.6 mm. Maximum width of body parts (holotype): head 0.9 mm, pronotum 1.2 mm, elytra 1.1 mm.

Body shortly oval ( Fig. 26 ), red-brown with posterior half of head, majority of pronotal surface except margins and large triangular ill-defined patch on base of elytra dark brown. Venter yellow-reddish. Dorsum without microreticulation, punctuate, each puncture with very short and fine seta.

Head. Maximum width of head at eyes shortly before their posterior margin. Eyes very flat, narrow, 7× as long as wide in dorsal view. Clypeus feebly emarginate, clypeal line absent. Dorsal surface with very sparsely scattered fine punctures separated by more than 10× their diameter. Mandibles without striking characters. Relative length of antennomeres III: II = 1.7.

Pronotum. Widest shortly before base. Lateral sides in basal half of pronotum roundly tapered, then conically narrowed to anterior corners in dorsal view; closely rounded in lateral view ( Fig. 27 ). Puncturation as that of head.

Elytra. Broadest approximately at midlength. Punctures as on head and pronotum. Sutural stria absent.

Legs.Anterior tarsomere I a little enlarged in male. Tarsi slender in female. Femora simple. Tarsal formula 5-5- 4 in male, 4-4- 4 in female.

Mesoventrite. Low longitudinal mesoventral carina present; lateral lines not developed.

Metathoracic wings absent.

Metaventrite. Femoral lines absent. Both sexes with horn-shaped ventro-caudally oriented process at posterior margin between coxae.

Genitalia. Aedeagus as in Figs. 11–12 . Operculum small, triangular. Spermatheca as in Fig. 13 .

Variability. The length ratio of antennomeres III: II varies between 1.7–1.8 in the type specimens; the ratio of length: width of the eyes in the dorsal view being between 6–8. The majority of the paratypes are reddish with a dark vertex and elytral patch.

Differential diagnosis. Agathidium (Macroceble) guttiferum sp. nov. resembles A. (Macr.) brancuccii Angelini & DeMarzo, 1981 and A. (Macr.) cochleariforme sp. nov. in the body size, coloration of the antennae, the presence of dorsal puncturation, absence of microsculpture on the dorsum, absence of sutural striae and by the presence of a semivertical process on the metaventrite. It also resembles A. brancuccii in the shape of the aedeagus. The new species differs from A. brancuccii and A. cochleariforme sp. nov. in the longer antennomere III (the length ratio antennomeres III: II = 1.7–1.8 in A. guttiferum , while it is 1.4 in A. brancuccii , and 1.5 in A. cochleariforme ), the presence of the triangular darker patch on the elytra, and finally by the slender basal part of the spermatheca (in contrast to the subhaemisphaerical basal portion of spermatheca in both A. brancuccii and A. cochleariforme sp. nov.). The new species also differs from A. brancuccii in the distinctly sparser dorsal puncturation, the tarsal formula in females 4-4-4 (in contrast to 5-4- 4 in A. brancuccii ), and by the shape of the median lobe that ends in a small pointed process (in contrast to the simply pointed apex of the median lobe in A. brancuccii ). The new species also differs from A. cochleariforme sp. nov. in the very flat and narrow eyes (in contrast to larger dorsal portion of eyes in A. cochleariforme sp. nov., see the description of that species), and by the simple distal part of the parameres (in contrast to the spoon-shaped parameral apices in A. cochleariforme sp. nov.).

Etymology. The species name refers to the drop-shaped patch on the elytra.

Bionomics. Type specimens were found by the sifting of thick layers of wet leaf litter in the primary evergreen mountain cloud forest with very sparse understory vegetation (M. Fikáček, pers. comm.).

Figures

Figs. 11–17. Genitalia of Agathidium and Zeadolopus. 11–13 – Agathidium (Macroceble) guttigerum sp nov. (11 – aedeagus, lateral view; 12 – apex of aedeagus, dorsal view; 13 – spermatheca). 14–16 – A. (Macroceble) acutangulum sp. nov.(14 – aedeagus, lateral view; 15 – apex of aedeagus, dorsal view; 16 – spermatheca). 17 – Zeadolopus punctiventris sp. nov., aedeagus, dorsal view. Scale = 0.1 mm.

Figs 18–29. Habitus of the holotypes of Agathidium species. 18–19 – A. (A.) fikaceki sp. nov.; 20–21 – A. (Macroceble) cochleariforme sp. nov.; 22–23 – A. (Macr.) armigerum sp. nov.; 24–25 – A. (Macr.) unicorne sp. nov., 26–27 – A. (Macr.) guttiferum sp. nov.; 28–29 – A. (Macr.) acutangulum sp. nov. (18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28 – dorsal view; 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29 – lateral view).