Macraspis buehrnheimi 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 buehrnheimi Bento, Jameson & Seidel sp. nov.

Figs 3A-G , 4A-D , 5A-C , 12

Type material

(1 male, 1 female). Holotype male deposited at CZPB, labeled: "BRASIL, Amazonas, Coari, / rio Urucu, LUC - 09, 4°51'56"S, 65°04'56"W, / 25/I-10/II/1995, P. F. / Bührnheim et al col." (white, printed) // “à luz mista / de mercúrio” (white, printed) // "HOLOTYPE / Macraspis buehrn-/ heimi Bento, Jameson, / Seidel, 2022 / M. Bento, det. 2022. Paratype: same data as holotype (1 ♀, CZPB).

Diagnosis.

Male genitalia are required for identification: lateral articular areas of tectum pointed and strongly projected distally (Fig. 3E ); paramera in dorsal view slightly constricted medially, with middle portion almost as wide as apical portion (Fig. 3E ); apex of paramera in caudal view obtusely triangulate, with a strong median tooth (Fig. 3F, G ).

Description.

Holotype male (Fig. 3A, B, E-G ). Length 10.6 mm, width 5.9 mm. Body rounded-oval. Coloration. Head, elytra, and scutellar shield shiny green, with brownish reflections. Pronotum shiny green, anterolateral areas with brownish reflection, and posterolateral areas with yellow maculae laterally extending to anterior margins. Pygidium and venter shiny green with strong brownish reflections. Head. Vertex sparsely punctate on disc, laterally punctostriate. Frons with slight V-shaped depression, moderately punctate, punctures moderate and deep. Interocular width 3.7 times wider than transverse eye diameter. Clypeus confluently punctate, with anterior margin subtrapezoidal, slightly raised medially. Mandible with outer teeth strongly raised, outer margin slightly curved near base. Pronotum shallowly and sparsely punctate on disc, punctures small and shallow; anterolaterally punctostriate, punctures large and deep. Scutellar shield moderately punctate, longer than elytral suture. Elytra 2 times longer than mid-width, moderately punctate, punctuations large and shallow. Posthumeral depression well developed laterally. Apical umbone wide and poorly defined. Pygidium strongly convex, with weak and concentric sculpturing, slightly effaced posteriorly. 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, strongly convex and transversally ridged. Legs. Protibia externally tridentate, with proximal tooth well defined and acute. Protarsomere V longer than protarsomeres I-IV combined. Anterior protarsal claw enlarged, unequally bifid and obliquely truncated. Mesotibia with internal margin straight, with inner apex not dilated. Mesotarsomere IV with ventroapical projection well developed, thickened and ventrally swollen. Abdomen with ventrite 6 broadly and slightly emarginated posteriorly. Aedeagus (Fig. 3E-G ). Tectum abruptly narrowed towards the apical edge, with lateral articular areas pointed and strongly projected distally. Paramera in dorsal view slightly constricted medially, with middle portion almost as wide as apical portion; apex in caudal view triangulated with a strong median tooth, strongly deflected ventrally. Endophallus (Fig. 4A-D ) divided into three portions: one narrow, tube-shaped basal portion; one wide, sac-shaped medial portion; and one hairy, slender apical portion (partially lost in Fig. 4A, B, D ). Proximal portion distally hairy; V-shaped sclerite with thin, long arms; and temones large, fused into a single sclerite with a mediolongitudinal carina. Medial portion with a broad ventral raspula and a small dorsomedial raspula bearing moderately dense, thin-walled asperites; a dorsodistal raspula bearing multiple, irregular, and dense rows of thick-walled asperites; and a large, triangular lateral sclerite, with distal edge thick and slightly raised.

Paratype (1 female) (Fig. 3C, D ). Length 11.2 mm. Width 6.3 mm. The female differs from male by the more robust and more convex body; interocular width 4.2 times wider than transverse eye diameter; clypeus longer, with anterior margin narrower and more raised; pygidium plano-convex; protibia with outer teeth stronger and apically rounded; Mesotarsomere IV with a short ventroapical projection straight and pointed; and abdominal ventrite 6 not emarginated. External genitalia (Fig. 5A-C ). Gonocoxites dark brown, strongly sclerotized and moderately setose apically, setae moderately long. Proximal gonocoxites rugostriate and large, as long as wide, overlapping the distal gonocoxites; inner margin abruptly deflected to apex narrow. Distal gonocoxites with inner margin curved and apex narrowly rounded.

Etymology.

This species is named after the Brazilian zoologist Paulo Friederich Bührnheim (1937-2001), who greatly contributed to education and research in Amazonas state, Brazil. In addition, he founded the insect collection at the Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM) and collected the type series of this species.

Distribution

(Fig. 12 ). Brazil (2). Amazonas: Coari.

Remarks.

Macraspis buehrnheimi sp. nov. has the same color pattern as M. lateralis (Olivier, 1789), M. fernandezi Neita-Moreno, 2014, and M. phallocardia sp. nov. These species are only separated by careful comparison of male genitalia. The male aedeagus of M. buehrnheimi is most similar to that of M. fernandezi (unknown female) in that both have paramera apically dilated. Other characters that serve to separate M. buehrnheimi and M. fernandezi are (characters of M. fernandezi given in parenthesis): tectum abruptly narrowed towards the apical edge, with lateral articular areas pointed and strongly projected distally (tectum evenly narrowed towards the apical edge, with lateral articular areas truncated and weakly projected distally (Fig. 3H )); paramera in dorsal view slightly constricted medially, with middle portion almost as wide as apical portion (paramera in dorsal view strongly constricted medially, with middle portion narrower than half the apical portion (Fig. 3H, I )); apex of paramera in caudal view triangulated, with a strong median tooth (apex in caudal view oblong-oval, with a weak median tooth (Fig. 3I )).

There are no reliable means to distinguish the female of M. buehrnheimi sp. nov. from that of M. phallocardia sp. nov. based on external morphology. Analysis of the external genitalia showed conspicuous differences in the proximal and distal portions of the gonocoxites of these species (compare Fig. 5A, B to Fig. 5D, E ). However, the scarce number of specimens prevented us from assessing intraspecific variation in these structures, which need further morphological examination within the genus. Females of these species should be reliably identified when collected with associated males.

Figures

Figure 3. Macraspis buehrnheimi sp. nov. (A-G) and Macraspis fernandezi Neita-Moreno, 2014 (H-J) Macraspis buehrnheimi sp. nov. A dorsal view of holotype male and B ventral view of holotype male C dorsal view paratype female and D ventral view view paratype female E-F aedeagus of holotype (E dorsal F caudal G lateral views). Macraspis fernandezi Neita-Moreno, 2014 from Caracarai, Roraima state, Brazil (new country record) H aedeagus dorsal view I aedeagus caudal view and J aedeagus lateral view. Scale bars: 2 mm (A-D); 0.5 mm (E, G, H, J); 0.2 mm (F, I).

Figure 4. Comparison of male endophalli of Macraspis buehrnheimi sp. nov. and Macraspis fernandezi Neita-Moreno, 2014. Macraspis buehrnheimi sp. nov. (A-D) in A dorsal B lateral and D lateral views, with C detail showing lateral sclerite. Macraspis fernandezi Neita-Moreno, 2014 (E-H) in E dorsal F lateral and H ventral views, with G detail showing lateral sclerite. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.

Figure 5. Comparison of female external genitalia of Macraspis buehrnheimi sp. nov. (A-C) and Macraspis phallocardia sp. nov (D-G). Macraspis buehrnheimi sp. nov. in A ventral B lateral and C dorsal views. Macraspis phallocardia sp. nov. in D ventral E lateral and F dorsal views. Abbreviations: dgx = distal gonocoxite; pgx = proximal gonocoxite; pct = proctiger; ppt = paraproct. Scale bars: 0.3 mm.

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.