Nototylus balli Erwin & Kavanaugh, 2020

Erwin, Terry L., Kavanaugh, David H. & Maddison, David R., 2020, After 157 years, a second specimen and species of the phylogenetically enigmatic and previously monobasic genus Nototylus Gemminger & Harold, 1868 (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Nototylini), ZooKeys 927, pp. 65-74 : 65

Nototylus balli Erwin & Kavanaugh sp. nov. Ball’s strange-combed beetle Figures 2-8 , 9

Type material.

Holotype: A female, deposited in NMNH, labeled: French Guiana, Cayenne, track Bélizon, pk 4.5, 90 m (4.3704N, 52.3216W), July 2015 (JL Giuglaris) (NMNH: ADP143591, female).

Derivation of specific epithet.

The epithet, balli, is a Latinized eponym based on the family name of George E Ball, carabidologist and academic leader of a host of younger carabidologists, including all three coauthors, in celebration of his 90th birthday, 25 September 2016. This species was introduced to George and many other carabidophiles at Athens, GA, during the Fourth International Symposium of Carabidologists in September 2016.

Diagnosis.

With the attributes of the genus as described above and slightly larger-sized than the N. fryi specimen. Adult with pale brown integument; only the mandibular apices and dorsal margins of tibiae infuscated. Head slightly broader and less narrowed posteriorly and with eyes more convex and hemispheric than in N. fryi . Frons and occiput moderately domed, aspect sub-hypognathus; smooth with fine, scattered setigerous punctures, perhaps with one slightly longer superorbital seta. Pronotum markedly domed, subquadrate, grossly explanate basolaterally, with lateral margins very slightly and evenly convex between front and hind angles (in N. fryi , lateral margins straighter and slightly sinuate anterior to hind angles); dorsum, margins and proepipleura sparsely setiferous. Elytron with humerus perfectly rounded, elytral silhouette more distinctly swollen posterior to humerus than in N. fryi , lateral margin markedly sinuate, disc markedly convex, apex at level of tucked post-femoral apex obliquely angulate, narrowly rounded apically to suture, not dentate, not plicate; lateral margin and epipleuron markedly setiferous. Interneurs with rounded or slightly elongate punctures, with uneven spacing between punctures. Hindwings macropterous.

Description.

(Fig. 2 ). Size: ABL = 9.1 mm, SBL = 9.00 mm, TW = 4.6 mm. Color: As described above. Luster: Shiny. Head: As described above. Antennae moderately short, filiform; antennal scape and flagellar antennomeres about twice as long as wide, length of pedicel slightly less than twice its width; all antennomeres with pubescence in addition to multiple fixed setae, with only sparse pubescence on scape and pedicel and denser pubescence on flagellar antennomeres. Prothorax: Subquadrate, slightly constricted near base, hind angles produced posteriorly, anterior margin broader than neck; surface of disc as described above. Pterothorax: Elytron markedly convex, slightly broader in anterior third with small epipleural flange, moderately flared from middle to apical third and rounded to hind angle; intervals flat, intervals 1, 3, and 5 with setigerous pores throughout length, interneurs striate. Legs: Profemur with antennal grooming structure as described for genus (Fig. 6 ) and with protibia ventrally and mesotibia ventromedially (Fig. 7 ) with fringes of slender, elongate and apically ovospatulate setae (Fig. 8 ) like those in the profemoral grooming structure. Abdomen: As described above. Male genitalia: Unknown for this species. Female ovipositor: see Deuve (1994) for N. fryi .

Note.

Based on unpublished scanning electron microscope images of the foreleg of the female holotype of N. fryi from George Ball and shared with us by Wendy Moore, we can now report that N. fryi also has the strange ovospatulate setae in the same locations as we have observed in the holotype of N. balli .

Geographic distribution.

(Fig. 9 ). This species is currently known only from the type locality in French Guiana.

Dispersal potential.

Macropterous and capable of flight. The holotype was collected with a glass pane flight intercept trap (FIT) (JL Giuglaris, pers. comm.).

Way of life.

Unknown, except that these beetles live in lowland rainforests and are extremely rarely collected. Only one specimen has been found so far despite the on-going beetle inventory by the Société entomologique Antilles-Guyane (SEAG) since 2014 in French Guiana (see Notes, below).

Notes.

The rainy season in French Guiana consists of heavy rainfall between December and July while the remaining months are comparatively dryer. Annual precipitation reaches 9.652 cm in and around Cayenne. Temperatures reach 25 to 27 °C as an average high at Cayenne. Thus, the specimen described herein was collected in the late warm rainy season a mere 57.4 km south of Cayenne.

From materials thus far collected by the SEAG inventory program, 19,272 carabid specimens have been sent to the first author, TLE. These specimens were collected from 30 different localities in French Guiana, mainly by FITs (flight intercept traps of both the glass pane and net types), but also at lights of various wave lengths (blue, pink), GEM lights, and SLAM traps (a small 4-sided malaise called the Sea, Land, and Air Malaise (SLAM) Trap that floats on water, stands on the ground, or hangs in the sky) ( Erwin et al. 2012). None of those was a Nototylus specimen. An independent collector (not part of SEAG) came upon the single specimen described here, also collected in a glass pane FIT. It is unclear just why no adults of this species have been collected in any of the many SEAGFITs.

Figures

Figure 9. Map illustrating known distributions of species of Nototylus. Key: ■ = precise locality for N. balli sp. nov. (see text); ● = generalized locality for N. fryi (Schaum) in Brazil.

Figures 1 - 8. Nototylus 1 Nototylus fryi (Schaum), habitus, dorsal aspect, apparent body length (ABL) = 8.2 mm 2 - 6 Nototylus balli sp. nov.: 2 habitus, dorsal aspect, ABL = 9.1 mm 3 habitus, left lateral aspect 4 head, dorsal aspect 5 head, left lateral aspect; arrow indicates location of sulcus beneath eye 6 left foreleg, lateral aspect; femur with antennal cleaner present subapicoventrally 7 left mesotibia, ventral aspect 8 closeup of a middle leg spatulate seta. Scale bars: 0.5 mm (1 - 8).