Lilophaea sulina von Groll & Moura

Groll, Elisa Von & Moura, Luciano De A., 2016, A new species of Lilophaea Bechyné (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Galerucinae) with a historical background and a checklist of the genus, Zootaxa 4168 (1), pp. 195-200 : 196-199

Lilophaea sulina von Groll & Moura , sp. nov.

( Figs 1–11 )

Type material. Holotype ♂, BRAZIL, Rio Grande do Sul: Canela ( Usina de Canastra ), 20.XI.1997, M. A. Marques col. ( MCNZ 160.195 ) . Paratypes: BRAZIL, Paraná, Morretes , ♀, 13.I.1995, A. Franceschini col. ( MCNZ 158.086 ) ; ♀, Santa Catarina: Nova Teutônia , XI.1966, F. Plaumann col. ( MZSP) ; Rio Grande do Sul: Derrubadas (Parque Estadual do Turvo, estrada p/ Yucumã ), ♂, ♀, 20.X.2004, L. Moura col. ( MCNZ 229.519, 230.113 ) ; Derrubadas (Pq. Est. Turvo), ♀, 28.X.2003, L. Moura col. ( MCNZ 226.675 ) ; Derrubadas ( Campestre ), ♀, 22.X.2007, L. Schmidt col. ( MCNZ 229.489 ) ; Canela , ♀, 20.X.1997, M. A. Marques col. ( MCNZ 160.192 ) ; Canela ( Usina da Canastra ), 2♂, 8♀, 15.XII.1999, Franceschini, Bonaldo & Silva col. ( MCNZ 238.251, 238.252 , 238.256-238.261, MZSP, DZUP); Canela (Barragem dos Bugres), ♂, 25.XI.1996, L. Moura col. ( MCNZ 238.254 ) ; (Barragem dos Bugres), ♂, 25.XI.1996, Franceschini col. (MCNZ 238.253); São Francisco de Paula (Barragem dos Bugres), 2♂, 04.II.1999, A. Bonaldo col. ( MZSP, DZUP) ; ♀, 14.II.1999, Franceschini, Bonaldo & Silva col. (MCNZ 238.262); S. F. de Paula ( Passo do Inferno ), ♂, 2♀, 16.XII.1999, Franceschini, Bonaldo & Silva col. ( MCNZ 238.255, 238.263 , 238.264); Maquiné (Estação Experimental Fepagro), 2♀, 10-12.I.2006, collected by fogging ( MCNZ 238.265, 238.266 ) ; Maquiné ( Garapiá ), ♀, 13.XII.2007, L. Moura col. ( MCNZ 238.267 ) ; Torres ( Parque Estadual de Itapeva ), ♀, 12.I.2005, R. Ott col. ( MCNZ 232.507 ) .

Description. Measurements, male/female, respectively (in millimeters): body length 3.8-4.5/ 4.2-4.4 mm; elytral length 3.0-3.6/ 3.4-3.7 mm; humeral width 1.9-2.0/2.0- 2.1 mm. General coloration yellow with dark brown spots on head and elytra. Body dorsally glabrous and ventrally covered by a yellowish pubescence.

Head ( Fig. 2 ) with vertex dark-brown, smooth, bright and glabrous; clypeus not well defined, bright, with a row of setae placed near anterior margin. Antennal tubercles weakly evident, subcontiguous, separated by longitudinal groove, with a bright surface. Labrum broader than long, bright, with a transversal row of six long setae; apical margin slightly emarginated at middle. Eyes ( Fig. 2 ) developed, globose, greatest diameter more than ten times the length of gena, which is extremely reduced; an erect seta close to the inner upper margin of each eye. Interocular distance about 3.5 times the space between antennal insertions. Antennae 11-segmented, filiform, exceeding half of elytra’s length, brown to dark brown, except scape, antennomeres III and IV, half of V, and XI, yellow; articles I to III with sparsely distributed setae and, from antennomere IV to XI, the pubescence is dense and uniform. Scape elongated, being the longest of all antennomeres, dilated at the end; antennomere III slightly longer than pedicel, which is subcylindrical; antennomere IV longer than III and slightly smaller than V, which is subequal to the subsequent ones, except X, more reduced. Apical antennomere acuminated, with a sharp end.

Thorax yellow, subrectangular, width about 1.6 times length. Pronotum with anterior margin straight and posterior margin rounded; tegument smooth, bright, glabrous with sparse shallow punctures; sides rounded, with anterior angles slightly projected; each angle with a long seta; mesoternum and metasternum yellow, bright and sparsely pubescent. Scutellum dark-brown, glabrous and bright.

Elytra ( Figs 1, 3 ) suboval, yellow, with a marginal dark-brown band that extends from the base via the humeral region and reaches the suture near the apex; suboval spot on the disc, slightly below the median line. Surface glabrous, bright, with dense and shallow puncture; short and spaced setae at the border from the apical third. Legs yellow, thin; femora with smooth and bright tegument and sparse pubescence; tibiae covered by dense pubescence, the hind ones with a sharp developed spine at apex. First tarsomere of anterior legs extremely long, approximately more than twice as long as the following tarsomeres combined. Tarsal claws appendiculate.

Abdomen yellow, bright, with short and uniform pubescence; in males, ventrite V ( Figs 4, 5 ) with a deep incision at the apical border, on each side of the middle, and females with a rounded border ( Fig. 8 ).

Genitalia. Aedeagus ( Figs 4, 6, 7 ). Median lobe elongated, sclerotized, slightly curved with ventral concavity and rounded at the end. Tegmen hastiform with about one third of median lobe length; bifurcation on the mid-level forming the lateral arms that partially surround the median lobe. Spiculum gastrale ( Figs 6, 7 ) hastiform, with inverted V-shape.

Female genitalia ( Figs 8-11 ). Sternite VIII ( Fig. 9 ) sclerotized, basally subcircular, with short and sparsely distributed setae, except centrally, which is glabrous and less sclerotized; apodeme long and hastiform. Vaginal palpi digitiform ( Fig. 10 ), apically sclerotized with long setae at the apex. Bursa copulatrix membranous ( Fig. 8 ). Spermatheca ( Figs 8, 11 ) globose and posteriorly projected in an elongated formation, somewhat sinuous; spermathecal gland filiform and spermathecal duct filiform and long; receptacle curved.

Distribution. The species is restricted to Southern Brazil (states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul).

Etymology. The specific name sulina is a reference to the species distribution in Southern Brazil.

Remarks. Even not taking into consideration Bechyné & Bechyné (1970), we cannot help but compare those species that would have been transferred from Luperodes to Lilophaea in that referred article, that’s because Lilophaea is an artificial Neotropical genus ( Bechyné, 1958) and its proposer is the co-author on the established transferences to date. In this context, Luperodes notatus Bowditch, 1923 could be regarded as Lilophaea notata ( Bowditch, 1923) as proposed by Bechyné & Bechyné (1970), therefore, subject for comparison with Lilophaea sulina sp. nov. described in this article.

The two species are very similar to each other both in the coloration pattern, as in morphology, more than any other species. Luperodes notatus (or Lilophaea notata sensu Bechyné & Bechyné, 1970 ) and Lilophaea sulina have a brown oval spot on the disc below the median. The new species differs from the before mentioned by having a larger size (3.8–4.5 mm), yellow head, dark-brown vertex, thorax lacking a depression, yellow legs and elytral apex. In Luperodes notatus , the length is 3 mm, the head is completely yellow, the thorax has a relatively wellmarked transversal depression, especially at the sides, and the legs have yellow femora, but the tibiae and tarsi are black; the marginal spot covers the entire elytral apex. Besides, Luperodes notatus occurs in Venezuela.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 3. Lilophaea sulina sp. nov., holotype male: 1, habitus, dorsal view. Length = 3.9 mm. 2, head, frontal view; 3, habitus, lateral view.

FIGURES 4 – 11. Lilophaea sulina sp. nov., paratype male: 4, ventrite V and genitalia; 5, ventrite V; aedeagus: 6, ventral view, 7, lateral view; paratype female: 8, ventrite V and genitalia; 9, sternite VIII; 10, vaginal palpi; 11, spermatheca (ap, apodeme; bc, bursa copulatrix; e, spermatheca; i, intestine; o, basal orifice; sc, sclerite of the internal sac; sg, spiculum gastrale; t, tegmen). Scale bars: figs 1 – 9 = 0.25 mm; figs 10, 11 = 0.1 mm.