Myrmecobrenthus susinii Bartolozzi & Bayendi Loudit

Bartolozzi, Luca & Loudit, Sandrine Mariella Bayendi, 2011, Revision of the genus Myrmecobrenthus Kleine with a description of a new species from Gabon (Coleoptera: Brentidae: Eremoxenini), Zootaxa 3101, pp. 53-58 : 57

Myrmecobrenthus susinii Bartolozzi & Bayendi Loudit new species

( Figs. 4 , 8 )

Type material. Holotype 3, GABON: Makokou/Ipassa, II.2011, A. Susini legit ( MZUF, collection number 15685)

Description. Size (in mm). Total length 6.8, head. and rostrum 1.6, prothorax 1.6, elytra 3.6; maximum width (at elytra) 1.3.

Male (Holotype). Body slender, parallel sided, dark brown ( Fig. 4 ). Head well separated from the neck, transverse, short, about 1/3 of the prothorax in length; eyes large, prominent, temples almost absent; vertex flat, smooth and shiny, occiput carinate, the two carinae longitudinal and subparallel, starting at the level of the middle of the eye; surface between the carinae and the eye margin with short erect hair; underside of the head, convex, hairy. Rostrum strong, large, about 2 times the head length. Prorostrum short, with small, sharp mandibles, mesorostrum with large subtriangular plate, about as large as head, strongly inclined forward and slightly elevated behind ( Fig. 8 ), its posterior pointed part separated from the head by a depression; metarostrum with two large lateral apophysis beginning under the mesorostral plate and ending at the anterior margin of the eyes. Underside of rostrum flat, sulcate under pro- and mesorostrum, largely hollowed under the metarostrum, that depression with carinate margins.

Antenna short, 9-articulate, strongly enlarged and compressed dorso-ventrally; article 1 strong, knotty; articles 2–8 short, enlarged, appressed; article 9 about as long as the three preceding ones together, subtriangular with slightly curved sides, less flattened than articles 2.8, with very short hair on the apical part. Prothorax barrelshaped, darker than the rest of the body, regularly and finely punctuate on disc and sides, with a weak longitudinal medial groove on the basal 2/3 of pronotum. Elytra dark brown, with trace of two darker dots in the posterior half; parallel sided, about 2 times as long as prothorax, separately and regularly rounded at apex, with fine, not deep striae and larger, flattened interstriae. Legs short, with strongly laterally compressed tibiae, and appressed short tarsal articles. Underside with last abdominal segment slightly depressed medially in the posterior part.

Female: unknown.

Etymology. We are glad to dedicate this interesting new species to our friend Antonio Susini, who so enthusiastically organised the expeditions to Gabon, and collected many interesting Brentidae there.

Remarks. The new species is close to M. ater Damoiseau, 1961 and M. wasmanni Kleine, 1920 but differs in the following main characteristics: mandibles not falcate, vertex of the head and posterior part of the mesorostral plate separated by a depression, not contiguous.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 4. 1 — Myrmecobrenthus wasmanni, male from Gabon, dorsal view (total length 9.7 mm); 2 — Myrmecobrenthus wasmanni, female from Gabon, dorsal view (total length 10.9 mm); 3 — Myrmecobrenthus ater, male from Ivory Coast, dorsal view (total length 10.0 mm) (photo by Stéphane Hanot, MRAC); 4 — Myrmecobrenthus susinii n. sp. male holotype, dorsal view (total length 6.8 mm).

FIGURES 5 – 9. 5 — Myrmecobrenthus wasmanni, male head and rostrum, lateral view; 6 — Myrmecobrenthus wasmanni, female head and rostrum, lateral view; 7 — Myrmecobrenthus ater, holotype, male head and rostrum, lateral view; 8 — Myrmecobrenthus susinii n. sp. male head and rostrum, lateral view; 9 — Myrmecobrenthus wasmanni, female head and rostrum, dorsal view (scale bar 2 mm).