Chelagyrtodes newtoni Seago & Leschen

Seago, Ainsley E. & Leschen, Richard A. B., 2011, Revision and phylogeny of Chelagyrtodes Szymczakowski (Coleoptera: Leiodidae: Camiarinae: Agyrtodini), Zootaxa 3090, pp. 1-20 : 12-13

Chelagyrtodes newtoni Seago & Leschen , new species

( Figs. 4 e, 5e, 8)

Type material. Holotype: Male, labeled: NEW ZEALAND, WD Milford Rd, Tutoko R., 22 Jan 1998, R Leschen & C Carlton, leaf litter coastal forest ( NZAC). Paratypes: NEW ZEALAND: FD: 2, Te Anau Control Gates Tk, 22 Jan 1998, R. Leschen, C. Carlton, Nothofagus leaf litter ( NZAC); 1, beside Tutoko R, 60 m, 13 Feb 1980, J W Early ( LUNZ); 1, Milford Rd, Tutoko R., 22 Jan 1998, R Leschen & C Carlton, leaf litter coastal forest ( NZAC); 1, Bauza I., 27 Nov 1981, C F Butcher, litter & moss ( NZAC); 1, Secretary I, ridge towards Mt Grono, 853 m, 27 Nov 1981, C F Butcher, alpine mats, moss & tussock ( NZAC); 1, Te Anau Control Gates Tk, 22 Jan 1998, Nothofagus leaf litter, R. Leschen & C. Carlton ( NZAC); WD: 3, Jackson Bay, 23 Sep 1979, A K Walker, litter, moss, and dead wood ( NZAC).

Diagnosis. Male protibia simple. Body form elongately oval, hind margin of pronotum as wide as broadest span of closed elytra. Epistomal suture present, with or without stem. Elytral sides parallel in basal third only, curving in distal two-thirds, converging apically; transverse strigae present. Pronotum and elytra with sparse, even vestiture of fine setae. Metaventrite extremely short, compressed between meso and metacoxal insertions, without conspicuous punctation. Abdominal ventrite 6 short, medially divided, narrowed medially to form two triangular sclerites. Aedeagus long, slender, parallel-sided, with simple, bluntly pointed apex; parameres scarcely longer than median lobe, slender, weakly apically expanded.

Description. Length 1.7 mm (n = 4). Body about 1.8X as long as wide (BL / EW = 1.80). Body form compact and oval, with sides of elytra converging apically at apical ½. Color of body dark ferrugineous; mouthparts, tarsi, and clypeus light brown to pale, with femora same color as tibiae; sparse vestiture of slender golden setae. Dorsum glabrous apart from setiferous punctures.

Antennomere ratios: 11:12:11:8:9:7:11:6:11:11:16; segment 6 quadrate, segment 8 transverse. Eyes small, weakly protuberant, with slight posterior emargination. Eyes coarsely facetted, greatest length 3 facets, greatest hight 5 facets. Epistomal suture present with or without median stem, clypeus subquadrate. Mandibles with single apical tooth, small subapical cluster of short spines, prostheca and small mola. Maxillae with slender galea, broad lacinia with apical non-articulated brush of minute, curved spines; maxillary palp with penultimate segment wider than other segments, terminal segment slender and apically attenuate. Labial palpi robust, three-segmented, each segment barely longer than wide. Pronotum about 0.6 X as long as wide (PL / PW = 0.57). Rim of procoxal fossae weakly developed, not contiguous with anterior margin of prosternum. Elytra about 1.3 X as long as wide (EL / EW = 0.1.27) and about 2.3 X as long as pronotum (EL / PL = 2.31), widest at base; sides parallel in basal twothirds, converging in apical one-third. Complete transverse strigae present; setae biseriate, decumbent to suberect, with setae reaching to base of next seta in series; width of epipleuron at level of metacoxa broader than width of metanepisternum. Metaventrite shortest between meso- and metacoxae, very strongly compressed, narrowly separating meso- and metacoxae medially. Metanepisternal clamp weakly-developed. Mesothoracic, metathoracic and abdominal ventrites glabrous, with sparse shallow punctures. Abdominal ventrites 1–4 each with single complete transverse row of minute setae; abdominal ventrite 5 longer than 4 or 6. Ventrite 6 deeply emarginate, divided medially, with narrow, weakly sclerotized connection.

Tibia with 5–6 large blunt spines at apex, protarsi with segments 1–3 compressed and weakly expanded, segment 1 two-thirds as wide as tibial apex; male with protibia simple, abundant tenent setae present on protarsomeres 1–3 and mesotarsomeres 1–2. Male genital segment elongate, parallel-sided, anterior apophysis extremely short, reduced to minute stump; sternite 9 longer than wide; tergite 10 (= proctiger) with shallow apical notch. Tergite and pleurites of male genital segment with dense apical brushes of robust setae. Aedeagus elongate and parallel-sided, with median lobe> 2 X longer than wide; apex of median lobe simple, weakly attenuate. Phallobase (basal piece) broadly enclosing the anterior portion of the median lobe; parameres slightly shorter than median lobe, basally slender and slightly expanded at apices, with sparse apical cluster of long setae. Endophallus membranous, with many small spines and 3–4 small, curved sclerites. Spermatheca present, unsclerotized and irregular-shaped; gonocoxite with 4 long setae, stylus approximately ¼ as long and ½ as wide as gonocoxite, bearing a single elongate, robust seta equal in length to both segments combined.

Remarks. This species of Chelagyrtodes can be distinguished from most species by the presence of an epistomal suture (with or without median stem), the arrangement of the sclerites of the internal sac, and from C. crowsoni and C. davidi by the absence of a chelate protibia in the male. Specimens were collected mainly from moss, leaf litter and rotten wood.

Distribution. New Zealand: South Island, Fiordland (FD) and Westland (WL) regions.

Etymology. Named in honor of Alfred Newton, who has made tremendous contributions to the knowledge of Agyrtodini and other Leiodidae .

Figures

FIGURE 4. Habitus photographs of adult Chelagyrtodes. a) C. crowsoni; b) C. davidi; c) C. glacicola; d) C. haasti; e) C. newtoni; f) C. rotundus.