Ennearthron victori Lopes­Andrade & Zacaro, 2003

Lopes-Andrade, Cristiano & Zacaro, Adilson Ariza, 2003, The first record of Ennearthron Mellié, 1847 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea: Ciidae) in the Southern Hemisphere, with the description of a distinctive new species, Zootaxa 395, pp. 1-7 : 2-6

Ennearthron victori Lopes­Andrade & Zacaro , sp. nov. ( Figs. 1–7 )

Holotype. Male, BRASIL: MG: Viçosa, Vila Gianetti, xi. 2001 (A. A. Zacaro & C. Lopes­ Andrade). Allotype. Female, same data as holotype. In addition to the locality label, both the holotype and allotype have a red label with their identifications.

Diagnosis. This species can be easily distinguished from the other Ennearthron species by the following combination of characteristics: (i) absence of a fovea in the first ventrite of males ( Figs. 1–2 ); (ii) morphology of the male genitalia.

Description of holotype. Male. Body length (excluding head): 1.45 mm; greatest elytral width: 0.65 mm; greatest pronotal width: 0.65 mm; greatest depth (taken through the elytra and metasternum): 0.55 mm.

Body 2.23X as long as elytral width, convex, shiny on dorsum, dark reddish brown; antenna, bucal apparatus and legs yellowish brown; antennal clubs and mandibles darker. Vestiture of short, stout and shiny yellowish bristles.

Head convex, vertex shallowly concave in the anterior­lateral portions and weakly convex at middle, sparsely and inconspicuously punctate. Punctures small, shallow, uniform in size, each bearing one shiny, short, stout yellowish bristle. Intervals among punctures smooth; frontoclypeal ridge produced forward, emarginate in middle, forming two subtriangular plates which reflex above, with conspicuous median notch between them; antenna with 3rd antennomere 1.5X as long as 4th. The 5th and 6th antennomeres almost with the same length, 7th to 9th forming a loose club, each club antennomere bearing four “sensillifers” formed by a group of short and slender sensilla ( Figs. 3–4 ).

Pronotum (including apical projections) 0.92X as long as broad, anterior corners obtusely angulate, strongly produced forward into two subtriangular projections which protrude beyond head ( Fig. 3 ). These projections are rounded at apex and separated by a distance of twice the length of scutellum; lateral margins narrowly ridge, finely crenulate and setose, first two­thirds invisible from above, posterior portion barely visible; disc strongly convex; sides in lateral view nearly arcuate, widest at middle, slightly convergent apically; basal margin very narrowly ridged, slightly sinuate, lateroposterior angles broadly rounded; dorsum irregularly, closely and distinctly punctate; punctures uniform in size, larger than in head, each puncture bearing one shiny, short and robust yellowish bristle; punctures remote at middle, forming a distinct line; intervals among punctures smooth. Scutellum subpentagonal, with some punctures and bristles. Elytra 1.31X as long as broad, 1.42X as long as pronotum; sides subparallel in anterior two thirds, then gradually converging to apex, with margins not visible from above; punctation single; punctures tight, rough, uniform in size, with obscure outline, rather deeper and slightly larger than those on pronotum, partially seriate; intervals among punctures smooth; each puncture bearing one short, stout, shiny bristle. Suture not margined.

Prosternal disc biconcave; prosternal process broad, slightly enlarged at apex. Protibia with outer apical angle produced and dentate. Metasternum with longitudinal suture in its middle, extending from base to disc. First ventrite without pubescent fovea or setose patch. Male genitalia in topotypes. Tegmen with two small lateral projections. Median lobe slightly enlarged near middle, with tapering apical portion armed with two long and slen­ der hooked projections; basal margin rounded. Eighth sternite with emarginate apical margin, bearing both long and short setae on lateral corners, which are somewhat angulate. Basal piece and ninth sternite as shown in Figs. 5–7 .

Description of allotype. Female. Body length (excluding head): 1.5 mm; elytral length: 0.90 mm; greatest elytral width: 0.60 mm; greatest pronotal width: 0.65 mm; greatest depth: 0.55 mm. Head without protruded plates, and pronotum without projections.

Other specimens examined. Paratypes (360): 11 males, 7 females, same data as holotype; 6 males, 12 females, BRASIL: MG: Viçosa, Vila Gianetti, 29.xi.2001 (A. A. Zacaro & C. Lopes­Andrade); 145 males, 156 females, BRASIL: MG: Ubá, Fazenda Córrego do Pari, [S 21°08’, W 42°52’], 311m, x.2001 (F. Gumier­Costa); 12 males, 11 females, BRA­ SIL: SP: Piracicaba, viii.2000 (P. Milano). Besides a locality label, all paratypes have a yellow label with their identifications.

Variation in a series of paratypes. Male paratypes (n = 15; 5 from each locality): body length (excluding head): 1.15–1.75 mm (mean = 1.5; S.D. = 0.18); elytral length: 0.7–1.1 mm (mean = 0.91; S.D. = 0.12); greatest elytral width: 0.55–0.95 mm (mean = 0.68; S.D. = 0.1); greatest pronotal width: 0.5–0.75 mm (mean = 0.65; S.D. = 0.07); greatest depth: 0.4–0.7 mm (mean = 0.57; S.D. = 0.08).

Female paratypes (n = 15; 5 from each locality): body length (excluding head): 1.15–1.6 mm (mean = 1.44; S.D. = 0.13); elytral length: 0.75–1.05 mm (mean = 0.92; S.D. = 0.08); greatest elytral width: 0.5–0.75 mm (mean = 0.66; S.D. = 0.07); greatest pronotal width: 0.5–0.65 mm (mean = 0.59; S.D. = 0.04); greatest depth: 0.4–0.65 mm (mean = 0.56; S.D. = 0.07).

Host fungus. Bracket mushroom ( Polyporaceae sensu lato), unidentified species.

Etymology. This species is named in honor of Victor Vassoler Zacaro (in memoriam), nephew of Adilson A. Zacaro.

Distribution. Known to occur in the Southeast Region of Brazil, in Ubá and Viçosa (Minas Gerais State) and Piracicaba (São Paulo State).

Depositories. Holotype (male), allotype (female), 12 males and 12 females paratypes at Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, BRAZIL. Eight specimens will be deposited in the following personal or institutional collections: Dr. Paulo Sérgio Fiuza Ferreira, Museu de Entomologia da Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, BRAZIL; Dr. Juan Grados Arauco, Departamento de Entomología, Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, PERU; M.C. José Luís Navarrete­Heredia, Colección Entomológica del Centro de Estudios en Zoología, Universidad de Guadalajara, MEXICO; Mr. Rafal Ruta (personal collection), POLAND; Mr. Roman Królik (personal collection), POLAND; Dr. Glenda M. Orledge (personal collection), UK; Dr. Makoto Kawanabe, collection of the Entomological Laboratory, College of Agriculture, Ehime University, Matsuyama, Ehime Pref., JAPAN; Dr. John F. Lawrence, Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO Entomology, Canberra, AUSTRALIA; Mr. Cheryl B. Barr, Essig Museum of Entomology, University of California, USA; Dr. Philip D. Perkins, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, USA; Mr. Albert Allen (personal collection), USA; California State Collection of Arthropods, Sacramento, USA. Two males and 2 females in the personal collection of Mr. Ayr de Moura Bello (Rio de Janeiro, RJ, BRAZIL). Remaining paratypes (236) are in the personal collection of the senior author.

Discussion. Considering the general external features, Ennearthron victori is closest to E. aurisquamosum Lawrence, 1971 . Information about the morphology of the male genitalia of E. amamense and E. chujoi is provided by Miyatake (1959). Kawanabe (1996) only showed the tegmen and the eighth sternite in schematic representations. The eighth sternite of E. victori is most similar to that of E. chujoi , both of which also have a rounded basal margin of the median lobe. The tegmen and median lobe of E. amamense and E. chujoi share the following features with the ones observed in E. victori : (i) presence of papillae in the apical margin of the tegmen and in the apical portion of median lobe; (ii) tapering apical portion of median lobe (not considering the hooked projections of E. victori ); (iii) tegmen and median lobe almost with the same length.

However, the male genitalia of the other Ennearthron species should be described to confirm whether or not these are generic autapomorphies. Besides being the ninth member of this genus, E. victori is also the first species known from the Southern Hemisphere, and also the first one in which males do not have a fovea in the first ventrite.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 4. Scanning electron microscopy of Ennearthron victori sp. nov. (male, topotypes) evidencing some features of the external morphology. 1. Whole ventral view; large and small arrows indicate, respectively, the produced frontoclypeal ridge and the protruded genitalia. 2. Detail of the first ventrite, which lacks any structure resembling a fovea or setose patch. 3. Lateral view of pronotum and head. 4. Antenna. Scale bars: 1 mm (Fig. 1); 100 µm (Fig. 2); 200 µm (Fig. 3); 50 µm (Fig. 4).

FIGURES 5 – 7. Genitalia of Ennearthron victori sp. nov. (male, topotypes). 5. Whole view evidencing the ninth sternite (ix­T), basal piece (bp), tegmen (teg) and median lobe (ml); the large and small arrows indicate, respectively, the hooked apical projection and the apical margin of the eighth sternite. 6. Detail of the eighth sternite; the large arrows indicate the lateral corners bearing setae; the dashed line (small arrow) reinforces the emarginate apical margin. 7. Detail of tegmen and median lobe; note the presence of papillae (arrows) near the small lateral projections of tegmen; some sparse papillae can also be observed in the middle of the median lobe. Scale bars 100 µm.