Hemilactica sierramartingarcia, Konstantinov, 2021

Konstantinov, Alexander S., 2021, Flea beetles of the West Indies: the genus Hemilactica Blake, 1937 (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Galerucinae, Alticini), ZooKeys 1044, pp. 589-607 : 589

Hemilactica sierramartingarcia sp. nov. Figures 12 , 13-16 , 17-24

Type material examined.

Holotype, male. Labels: 1) Dominican Republic, Barahona Pr., Sierra Martin Garcia 9.XII.2014, 925 m, WP-511, 18°21.224'N, 71°00.870'W Leg. A. S. Konstantinov; 2) Holotype Hemilactica sierramartingarcia des. A. Konstantinov 2020 (USNM). Paratypes with the same labels as holotype (5 USNM, 2 MHND).

Diagnosis.

Pronotum, thorax, antennae, and legs uniformly orange, with tips of legs a bit darker. Elytra uniformly blue. Supracallinal sulcus poorly developed, straight, or convex, perpendicular to midline. Midfrontal sulcus visible, long, but weakly impressed. Frontal ridge relatively long, dorsally wider than ventrally. Median lobe of aedeagus bends gradually about middle, with tip curving dorsally in lateral view. Spermathecal pump more or less straight, wider than receptacle, with small round structure at the tip.

Description.

Body length 2.16-2.70 mm. Body width (widest point of elytra) 1.13-1.51 mm. Body height 0.81-0.86 mm. Pronotum, thorax, antennae, and legs uniformly orange, with tips of legs a bit darker. Elytra uniformly blue. Abdomen dark brown with tip a bit lighter.

Head. Surface of vertex densely and evenly covered with large punctations (Fig. 15 ). Orbit narrow. Supraorbital pore well developed, noticeable among other punctations. Inner margins of eyes slightly concave to straight, diverging towards mouth parts. Distance between eyes above antennal sockets in frontal view three times greater than transverse diameter of eye. Sides of head below eyes converging ventrally. Anterior margin of labrum entire. Labrum with two pairs of setae placed symmetrically on sides of labrum. Midcranial suture absent. Supraorbital sulcus represented by fold between antennal callus and orbit. Orbital sulcus poorly developed. Supracallinal sulcus poorly developed, straight, or convex, perpendicular to midline. Supracallinal and supraorbital sulci form wide angle. Midfrontal sulcus visible, long, but weakly impressed. Suprafrontal sulcus long, antennal calli and top of frontal ridge meet, separated by groove. Antennal calli nearly trapezoidal or nearly quadrate, directed longitudinally, not entering interantennal space. Frontal ridge relatively long, dorsally wider than ventrally. Its sides between antennal sockets slightly convex. Dorsal side of frontal ridge acute. Frontal ridge extends slightly between antennal calli. Anterofrontal ridge very low, merges with clypeus.

Antenna filiform (Fig. 17 ), reaching beyond half elytron. Antennomere 1 shorter next two antennomeres combined. Antennomere 2 elongate, as long as 3, narrower than antennomere 1, wider than antennomere 3. Antennomere 3 shorter than 4. Antennomere 5 as long as 4 and longer than 6. Antennomeres 6 and 7 nearly as wide as antennomeres 4 and 5 separately. Antennomere 7 approximately as narrow as 8.

Prothorax surface glabrous (Fig. 14 ), covered with relatively shallow, sparsely placed punctations. Anterolateral callosity elongate, not expanded beyond lateral margin, facing anterolaterally. Anterior setiferous pore along anterolateral callosity situated close to posterior end. Anterolateral corners of pronotum projected slightly forward. Sides of pronotum slightly and evenly convex. Base of pronotum with two short impressions visible only near basal margin. Pronotal base evenly convex. Antebasal transverse impression on pronotum shallow and poorly defined, better visible near longitudinal impressions, limited by them. Posterolateral callosity situated on corner of posterior and lateral margins. Procoxal cavities open. Intercoxal prosternal process convex at apex, extends beyond procoxae.

Elytra at base wider than base of pronotum, with convex sides. Humeral and basal calli present. Elytral punctation confused. Punctations deeper and slightly larger than those of pronotum. Ridges on elytra absent (Fig. 13 ).

Legs. Pro- and mesotibiae without apical spur and with longitudinal ridge (Fig. 21 ). Protarsomere 1 in males wider and longer than in females. Metatibia straight in dorsal view, slightly curved in lateral view, more or less cylindrical around middle. Metatibia on lateral side without small denticles (Fig. 20 ). Metatibial apex flattened dorsally before tarsal insertion. Metatibial spur simple, narrow, ending in one tooth, situated laterally, nearly as long as greatest width of metatibial apex. Incision of metatarsomere 3 present. Claw appendiculate with a short lobe.

Genitalia: Spermatheca with receptacle and pump with distinct border in between (Fig. 24 ). Receptacle longer than wide, in a single plane, inner side straight, outer side convex, longer and narrower than pump. Pump more or less straight, wider than receptacle, with small oval structure at the tip. Duct of spermatheca without coils, roundish, narrowing abruptly towards gland. Vaginal palpi absent. Tignum widens anteriorly into a wide lobe (Fig. 23 ). Median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view bends gradually at about middle, with tip curving dorsally. In ventral view slightly constricted basally and above middle basally, lacking denticle (Fig. 22 ).

Habitat.

Seasonally dry tropical forest ( Franklin et al. 2019).

Etymology.

Specific epithet is a noun in apposition based on the type locality, Sierra Martin Garcia.

Comments.

Hemilactica sierramartingarcia is quite unusual among Hemilactica species because its uniformly blue elytra. Among them it is similar to H. stomachosa (Suffrian), which elytra are also bluish. The concept of H. stomachosa is based on the specimen from Cuba that Blake identified as such with “?”. Both species may be separated by weakly developed pronotal grooves in H. sierramartingarcia . Pronotal grooves are well developed in H. stomachosa . Hemilactica sierramartingarcia is similar to the type species of the genus, H. pulchella Blake, H. erwini , and H. rugosa Blake in having deeply and coarsely punctate and lacking elytral ridges. Interestingly, median lobe of aedeagus in H. sierramartingarcia and in H. erwini have an elongate apex strongly bent dorsally (Figs 10 , 22 ), which may be a character that identifies the genus. Hemilactica sierramartingarcia may be separated from them by the smaller size and the body color. In addition, H. sierramartingarcia may be identified with the help of the key below.

Figures

Figure 12. Hemilactica sierramartingarcia sp. nov., illustration by Madison Dorr (Systematic Entomology Laboratory internship program 2020).

Figures 13 - 16. Hemilactica sierramartingarcia sp. nov. 13 dorsal habitus 14 pronotum 15 head, frontal view 16 lateral habitus.

Figures 17 - 24. Hemilactica sierramartingarcia sp. nov. 17 antenna 18 last abdominal tergite and vagina 19 abdominal ventrites 20 hind leg 21 front leg 22 median lobe of aedeagus (ventral, lateral, and dorsal views) 23 tignum 24 spermatheca.

Figures 6 - 11. Hemilactica erwini sp. nov. 6 pronotum 7 abdominal ventrites 8 hind leg 9 spermatheca 10 median lobe of aedeagus (ventral, lateral, and dorsal views) 11 tignum.