Pseudotriphyllus defoei, Carlton & Leschen, 2009

Carlton, Christopher E. & Leschen, Richard A. B., 2009, A New Species And North American Record Of Pseudotriphyllus (Coleoptera: Mycetophagidae), The Coleopterists Bulletin 63 (1), pp. 24-30 : 25-29

Pseudotriphyllus defoei new species

( Figs. 1–2 , 5 , 7a–b )

Holotype. Point-mounted, male, aedeagus and associated genital sclerites in glycerine vial below specimen. U.S.A., TN, Cocke Co., GSMNP, Albright Grove Trail, 83u169450W, 35u449100N/ elv 1,000 m, old growth Berlese, 29 June 2001, C. Carlton, A. Tishechkin, V. Moseley. Type locality: Albright Grove Loop Trail, Great Smoky Mountains National Park . Deposited in the Florida State Collection of Arthropods , Gainesville, FL.

Paratype. Point-mounted , teneral male with aedeagus in glycerine vial below specimen, same data as holotype. Deposited in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Collection, Gatlinburg, TN .

Etymology. The species is named for Don Defoe (1938–2003), Curator at Great Smoky Mountains National Park from 1957–2003. Defoe devoted much of his career to documenting the insect fauna and studying the natural history of the park.

Diagnosis. Anterior portion of each lateral pronotal carina barely visible in dorsal view. Posterior angles of pronotum rounded. Width of prosternal process 26 larger than half the width of a prothoracic coxa. Separation of prosternal punctures equal to their diameters or greater. Elytron without strongly contrasting markings. Parameres not hooked apically, each bearing one long and two short lateral setae.

Description. Length 2.00 (paratype)–2.10 (holotype) mm. Body about 1.85 3 as long as wide (BL/EW 5 1.91–2.09), and greatest depth about 0.66 3 as great as elytral width (GD/EW 5 0.64–0.68). Color light to medium brown (elytron without strongly contrasting markings); head and ventral portions of body medium brown; pronotum and most of elytra darker brown; antennae, frons near antennal insertions, palps, legs, and basal one-fifth of elytra yellowish-brown. Dorsal vestiture of short suberect (pronotum) and decumbent (pronotum and elytra) yellowish-gray setae, longest setae longer than one-half length of eye; setae on ventral surfaces slightly shorter; setal insertions separate (clypeus, frons, pronotum), confluent (elytra) or within (ventral surfaces) punctures. Punctation coarse on all surfaces except elytra, where the punctures are shallow with indistinct rims, but larger in size than elsewhere; punctures separated by 0.5– 1.0 diameters (clypeus and frons), 1.0–3.0 diameters (pronotum), 1.0–2.0 diameters (elytra and ventral surfaces), becoming finer on abdominal ventrites. Small median area of vertex impunctate. Antennomere lengths (mm).10/.08/.07/.05/.06/.05/.05/.04/.10/.10/.08; antennomere 10 weakly transverse (width about 1.5 3 that of length). Maxillary palpomere three about 3 3 longer than two. Eye coarsely facetted (edges of ommatidia distinct), greatest length about 10 facets, greatest width about 19 facets. Pronotum about 0.63 3 as long as wide (PL/PW 5 0.60– 64); sides rounded, not strongly angulate, diverging to posterior third, then weakly converging posteriorly and wider in basal third; posterior angles rounded;

(arrows). 5) Pseudotriphyllus defoei holotype; 6) P. suturalis from UK.

basal fovea three diameters from lateral margin and about three-fourths diameter from posterior margin. Lateral pronotal carinae barely visible anteriorly in dorsal view. Width of prosternal process larger than half the width of a prothoracic coxa. Elytra 1.25 3 as long as wide (EL/EW 5 1.19–1.32) and 2.05 3 as long as

28 pronotum (EL/PL 5 1.94–2.15); humeri weakly developed and very slightly elevated. Aedeagus simple, parameres extending slightly posteriorly beyond median lobe, apically rounded and slightly curved ventrally, and not hooked apically; median lobe evenly acuminate from midpoint to apex.

Female unknown.

Comments. Pseudotriphyllus defoei is similar to the European P. suturalis . It differs from this species by having a slightly smaller body, having the anterior portion of each pronotal lateral carina barely visible in dorsal view and posterior angle rounded (compare Figs. 1 , 3 ), punctation, especially of the prosternum, less dense, prosternal fovea of male clearly visible, not mostly obscured by setae (compare Figs. 5, 6 ), and the aedeagal parameres straight apically, not slightly hooked, and bearing one long and two short setae, not four subequal longer setae (compare Figs. 7a–b, 8a–b ). Pseudotriphyllus defoei keys to P. colchicus in Nikitsky (1993) but can be distinguished from this species by having completely irregular punctation. Pseudotriphyllus nepalensis also keys to P. colchicus , and P. defoei can be distinguished from it by the shape of the parameres. The apices are acute in P. nepalensis and sharply curved ventrally. In P. defoei they are rounded and only slightly curved. The most complete key to the species of Pseudotriphyllus is that of Nikitsky (1993), which does not include P. ohbayashii , P. vicarius , or P. nepalensis , the latter described more recently (Nikitsky 2003). The male and female syntypes of P. vicarius (described by Peyerimhoff 1913) were examined at the Muséum national d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN). This species differs from P. defoei in having more strongly serrate pronotal margins, denser punctation on the dorsal surfaces, and a weakly infuscate band across the otherwise pale elytra (dark unicolorous in P. defoei ). Pseudotriphyllus vicarius has slightly less dense punctation and vestiture than P. suturalis , and the marginal serrations of the pronotum are more strongly recurved.

The all taxa biodiversity inventory (ATBI) in Great Smoky Mountains National Park has resulted in numerous and sometimes surprising discoveries of new beetle species and taxonomic records, summarized in Carlton and Bayless (2007). The present example highlights the occasionally capricious nature of these discoveries. Both specimens of P. defoei were recovered from a single Berlese sample in Albright Grove, an area of old growth cove forest habitat in the northeastern part of the park. The collection was made during the first collecting trip of the Louisiana State Arthropod Museum’s eight-year involvement with the ATBI. Albright Grove has been visited and sampled many times since, but despite repeated attempts to collect additional specimens using a variety of techniques, none have materialized. Most mycetophagids are fungus feeding as larvae and adults, apart from some that feed on plant pollen or fern spores (see Leschen 1990; Lawrence 1991; Leschen and Lawrence 1991; Nikitsky 1993; Nikitsky and Schigel 2004; Lawrence and Leschen 2009). European and Japanese Pseudotriphyllus have been collected from wood-decaying polypores, coral, and other fungi (e.g., see Miyatake 1959; Nikitsky 1993). But, focused collecting on such fungi has not yielded specimens of P. defoei . This contrasts sharply with collecting success reported for the European species P. suturalis , which can routinely be collected from appropriate fungal hosts. Curators and collectors in North America may discover additional specimens of P. defoei by examining their holdings of mycetophagids, cryptophagids, tetratomids and similar small brown beetle families. Direct collecting efforts should focus on growths of fungi on dead wood as potential substrates for the species. Flight intercept traps may also be effective since other mycetophagids are regularly collected by using them.

Figures

Figs. 1–2. Pseudotriphyllus defoei holotype. 1) Dorsal view; 2) lateral view.

Figs. 5–6. Pseudotriphyllus spp. details of male prosterna showing median foveae

Fig. 7–8. Pseudotriphyllus spp., aedeagi. Scale bars 5 0.1 mm. 7) Pseudotriphyllus defoei holotype; 7a) dorsal view; 7b) left paramere; 8) P. suturalis from UK; 8a) dorsal view; 8b) left paramere.

Figs. 3–4. Pseudotriphyllus suturalis from UK. 3) Dorsal view; 4) lateral view.