Chelagyrtodes crowsoni Szymczakowski, 1973

Seago, Ainsley E. & Leschen, Richard A. B., 2011, Revision and phylogeny of Chelagyrtodes Szymczakowski (Coleoptera: Leiodidae: Camiarinae: Agyrtodini), Zootaxa 3090, pp. 1-20 : 5-7

Chelagyrtodes crowsoni Szymczakowski, 1973

( Figs. 1 b, 4a, 5a, 7)

Type material (not examined). Holotype: Male, labeled Wilton’s Bush, Wellington, leaf-litter, 6.XII.1956, leg. R. A. Crowson. Paratypes: Female, same locality. Both deposited in Crowson collection, Glasgow University.

Material examined. NEW ZEALAND: RI: 1, NE Ohingaiti, Mangamako Rd, Paki-iti Farm, 23 Aug 1985, C T Duval, litter, moss & rotten wood ( NZAC); WI: 1, Manawatu Gor., 12 Dec 1948, A E B (Brookes), leaf mould ( NZAC); 1, Manawatu Gorge, Palmerston N., 12 Dec 1948, A E Brookes ( NZAC); WN: 1, Tararua Range, Judd Ridge, Otaki Forks, 272 m, 5 Nov 1980 ( NZAC); 1, Orongorongo V., 23 Sep 1969, J S Dugdale, litter ( NZAC); 1, Otari/Wiltons Bush, 26 Nov 2002 – 13 Dec 2002, C H Watts, pine / broadleaf ( NZAC); 1, Otari / Wiltons Bush, 1 Mar 2005 – 27 Mar 2005, C H Watts, pine / broadleaf ( NZAC); 2, Orongorongo V, Stn Ridge, 100 m, 27 Jan 1992, J S Dugdale, litter Nothofagus solandri emergence trap ( NZAC); 31, Orongorongo V., June, 1975, Abdul Moeed, pit trap, broadleaf forest floor ( MONZ); 2, 10 km S of Levin, Waikawa, 150 m, 8 Mar 1978, S B & J Peck, litter ( NZAC); 2, 10 km S of Levin, Waikawa Stm, Tararua SF, 180 m, 8 Mar 1978, S Peck, berl forest leaf & log litter ( FMNH); 1, Tararua FP Tk, Akatarawa Sdle, 17 Jan 1984, H P McColl ( NZAC); 1, Tararua Ra, Otaki, below Fields Hut, 12 Aug 1952, B A Holloway, ex moss & lichens ( NZAC); 1, Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, KR 07, 26 Nov –13 Dec 2004, C. H. Watts ( NZAC); WA: 1, Pori, N. Isd., 21 Feb 1956 – 28 Feb 1956, E S Gourlay ( NZAC).

Diagnosis. Male protibia chelate. Body form broad and rounded anteriorly; hind margin of pronotum wider than elytral base. Epistomal suture present. Elytra with sides converging at apex; transverse strigae present, pronotum with even vestiture of fine setae, elytral punctures setiferous. Metaventrite short, strongly compressed medially, without conspicuous punctation. Abdominal ventrite 6 medially divided, pleural pieces broadly truncate. Apex of median lobe blunt, produced, slightly flared; parameres slender and straight.

Redescription. Body length 1.9 mm (n = 3). Body about 1.7 X as long as wide (BL / EW = 1.71), and greatest depth approximately 0.6 X as great as elytral width (GD / EW = 0.57). Body form compact and oval, with sides of elytra converging apically in distal half, parallel-sided in basal half. Color of body brunneus, elytral disc with darker brown median patch; mouthparts, tarsi, and clypeus light brown to pale, with femora same color as tibiae; vestiture of slender golden setae. Dorsum predominantly glabrous with strigae of sparse, setiferous punctures.

Antennomere relative length (from 1 to 11; here and in all places below) ratios: 13:12:11:8:10:9:12:7:12:12:17; segment 6 longer than wide, segment 8 subquadrate. Eyes small, protuberant, with marked posterior emargination, coarsely facetted (edges of ommatidia distinct), greatest length 4 facets, greatest height 6 facets. Epistomal suture present, clypeus large, subquadrate. Mandibles with single apical tooth, subapical spine cluster, small prostheca and mola present. Maxillae with slender galea, broad lacinia with loose, non-articulated apical cluster of curved spines; maxillary palp with penultimate segment wider than other segments, terminal segment longer than other segments and apically attenuate. Labial palpi stout, three-segmented, each segment subquadrate.

Pronotum about half as long as wide (PL / PW = 0.45). Rim of procoxal fossae weakly developed, not contacting anterior margin of prosternum. Elytra about 1.3 X as long as wide (EL / EW = 1.33) and about twice as long as pronotum (EL / PL = 2.0), widest at base; parallel-sided in basal half, converging in apical half. Complete transverse strigae present; setae uniseriate, decumbent to suberect, with setae reaching to or beyond next seta in series; width of epipleuron at level of metacoxa subequal to width of metanepisternum; epipleuron incomplete at elytral apex. Metaventrite short but not strongly compressed. weakly-developed. Mesothoracic and metathoracic ventrites glabrous, lacking distinct punctures.

Abdominal ventrites 1–4 each with two transverse rows of minute setae; male abdominal ventrite 5 longer than 4 or 6; male ventrite 6 completely divided and distally notched along midline, with only minute membranous connection.

Tibia with 3–4 large blunt spines and many small spines at apex; protarsi with segments 1–3 weakly expanded, segment 1 two-thirds as wide as tibial apex; males with protibia chelate, tenent setae present on protarsomeres 1–3 and mesotarsomeres 1–2. Male genital segment elongate, parallel-sided; tergite 9 pointed at apices with setae confined apically, anterior apophysis minute, extremely short and slender; sternite 9 longer than wide, with membranous apical lobe; tergite 10 (= proctiger) with apical membranous region, not deeply notched. Aedeagus ( Fig. 5 a) slender, elongate, with median lobe more than twice as long as wide; apex of median lobe produced, bluntly lobed. Phallobase (basal piece) long, enclosing the anterior portion of the median lobe; parameres extending well beyond apex of median lobe, slender and slightly dorsoventrally flattened, with sparse cluster of apical setae. Endophallus membranous, with rows of minute, sharply pointed well-sclerotized teeth and three pigmented sclerites (elongate laterosclerites, mediosclerite irregular to elongate).

Spermatheca present, unsclerotized and irregular-shaped; gonocoxite with 4 long setae, stylus approximately ¼ as long and ½ as wide as gonocoxite, bearing one minute subapical seta and one elongate, robust seta equal in length to both styli segments combined.

Remarks. This species is the only member of the genus known from the North Island and can be distinguished from all of the other species by the presence of a chelate protibia in the male, apart from C. davidi which can be distinguished from it by having well-developed setae on the dorsal surfaces and transverse strigae on the elytra. Original type specimens have not been examined as queries to the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow and Natural History Museum, London yielded no original specimens. Specimens were mainly collected in leaf litter, pitfall traps and emergence traps in pine, broadleaf and Nothofagus forests.

Distribution. New Zealand: North Island, Rangitikei (RI), Wanganui (WI), Wellingon (WN) and Waiarapa (WA) regions.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Habitus illustrations of Chelagyrtodes. a) C. davidi; b) C. crowsoni.

FIGURE 5. Aedeagus and male genital segment of Chelagyrtodes. a) C. crowsoni; b) C. davidi; c) C. glacicola; d) C. haasti; e) C. newtoni; f) C. rotundus.