Phelister curvipes, Caterino & Tishechkin, 2020

Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2020, Recognition and revision of the Phelister blairi group (Histeridae, Histerinae, Exosternini), ZooKeys 1001, pp. 1-154 : 1

48. Phelister curvipes sp. nov. Figs 31A, B , 32A-C , Map 17

Type material.

Holotype male: " Brazil: Minas Gerais, Águas Vermelhas 15°45'S, 41°28'W [-15.75, -41.4667]. Dec 1997, F.Vaz-de-Mello" / "Caterino/Tishechkin Exosternini Voucher EXO-00088" (CEMT).

Diagnostic description.

Length: 1.58 mm; width: 1.50 mm. Body elongate oval, convex, faintly bicolored, body dark rufescent with elytra lighter, ground punctation fine and sparse; frons and epistoma weakly depressed; supraorbital stria complete; anterior part of frontal stria comprising two isolated arcs interrupted at middle and detached from sides; labrum weakly emarginate; left mandible with strong basal tooth, right mandible not examined; prescutellar impression an elongate semi-ovals, slightly larger than scutellum; pronotal disk with ~ ten larger lateral secondary punctures; marginal stria complete along sides and front, weakly crenulate anteriorly; lateral submarginal stria complete, close to lateral margin, reaching around anterior corner, nearly meeting anterior marginal stria behind eye; pronotal gland openings 3/4 behind anterior margin, not annulate; epipleuron with single, complete stria; outer subhumeral stria in apical 1/2, inner absent; 1st dorsal stria abbreviated from apex, striae 2-4 complete, 5th in apical 1/2 and with very short, isolated basal arch, sutural stria in apical 2/3; propygidium with small but rather dense secondary punctures in basal 1/3, becoming sparser to apex; pygidial secondary punctures, smaller, obsolete beyond basal 1/2; prosternal keel wide, weakly emarginate at base, prosternal striae united along basal margin, converging to middle then diverging anteriorly, free; prosternal lobe short, rounded, with complete marginal stria; mesoventrite weakly produced, marginal straight across front, well, impressed, not quite meeting base of short postmesocoxal stria at side; mesometaventral stria bluntly angulate at middle, crenulate, continued at sides by lateral metaventral stria nearly to inner 1/3 of metacoxa; metaventrite impunctate; 1st abdominal ventrite impunctate, with single, complete lateral stria; protibia inwardly arcuate along inner margin, outer margin rounded, weakly dentate, with six marginal spines; meso- and metatibiae slender, with fine marginal spines. Male: T8 with secondary lobes along inner apical edges; aedeagus with basal piece nearly 1/2 length of tegmen; tegmen with sides subparallel in basal 3/4, evenly narrowed to subacute apices, tegmen abruptly expanded ventrad at midpoint in lateral view; medioventral process absent; median lobe ~ 1/4 tegmen length, basal apodemes evenly narrowed to tips.

Etymology.

We name this species for the distinctive curved protibia (which it shares with the following species).

Distribution.

This species is only known from Minas Gerais in eastern Brazil.

Remarks.

This species appears closely related only to the following, and they are very similar in a few distinctive external characteristics, listed above. In addition to the surprisingly substantial genitalic differences detailed in the description, this species is typically vaguely bicolored, whereas the following species is uniformly dark. They also differ in the form of the elytral striae, where in P. curvipes all the dorsal striae are contiguous, in P. vilavelha the inner elytral striae are formed by series of disconnected punctures.

Figures

Map 17. Collecting records for Phelister curvipes (upright black triangle), P. vilavelha (black hexagon), P. rio (white circle), P. semotus (stars), P. uncinatus (black squares), and P. inscriptus (inverted white triangles).

Figure 31. A, B Phelister curvipes: A dorsal habitus B ventral habitus C-E P. vilavelha: C dorsal habitus D ventral habitus E prothoracic leg, showing curved protibia.

Figure 32. Male genitalia A-C Phelister curvipes: A eight tergite, dorsal (T 8) B aedeagus, dorsal C aedeagus, lateral D, E P. vilavelha: D aedeagus, dorsal E aedeagus, lateral.