Oocyclus sharpi Short & Perkins, 2004

Short, Andrew E. Z., Torres-Gavosto, Juan Martin & Hettinger, Ty, 2023, A review of the Oocyclus Sharp of Ecuador with description of 12 new species (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae: Laccobiini), Zootaxa 5277 (1), pp. 91-112 : 103-104

Oocyclus sharpi Short & Perkins, 2004

( Figs. 5B–D , 7 )

Oocyclus sharpi Short & Perkins, 2004: 18 .

Oocyclus zulianus Short & García, 2010: 29 . syn. n.

Material Examined (567 exs.): ECUADOR: Manabí Province: 79 km W. Santo Domingo de los Colorados , 8.v.1975, leg. P. Spangler, A. Langley, & J. Cohen (32 exs., USNM) ; 26.5 km E. Flavio Alfaro , 380 m, 8.i.1978, leg. P. Spangler, roadside seep (442 exs., USNM) . Pichincha Province: 14 km E. Santo Domingo de los Colorados , 5.vii.1975, leg. A. Langley & J. Cohen (56 exs., USNM) ; 25 km E. Santo Domingo de los Colorados , 5.vii.1975, leg. A. Langley & J. Cohen (7 exs., USNM) ; 44 km E. Santo Domingo de los Colorados , 10.vii.1975, leg. J. Cohen, (2 exs., USNM) . El Oro Province: 13.3 km W. Pinas, 1150 m, 31.v.1979, leg. J. Anderson, 79 V 31 :1 (28 exs., USNM) .

Diagnosis. Smaller species (Length = 2.9–3.5 mm). Posterolateral corners of pronotum rounded. Prosternal carinae without spines. Elytra with irregular rows of punctures that bear decumbant or recumbant setae. Dorsum usually densely setifeorus. Elytral margins not explanate, with a fringe of long setae. Abdominal ventrites dark brown.

Among Ecuadorian species, O. sharpi is one of only two species (the other is O. rupestris ) in which the mesoventral process is set with thin hairs instead of thickened spines. The species can be distinguished from O. rupestris by the lack of a pale spot on the anterolateral corners of the pronotum (present in O. rupestris ).

Distribution. Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela. Here newly reported from Ecuador, where it has been found at a number of sites along the western slopes of the Andes ( Fig. 7 ).

Remarks. Oocyclus sharpi Short & Perkins was originally described from a number of localities in Costa Rica. Additionally, Short & Perkins (2004) determined that a single specimen from Panama that Sharp (1887) had identified as O. vestitus was actually O. sharpi . We compared the Ecuadorian specimens with paratype specimens from Costa Rica, including the aedeagus, and determined them to be conspecific with no substantial differences between them. The densely hirsute elytra, lack of a pale spot on the anterolateral corners of the pronotum, and lack of any spines or hairs on the prosternal carinae are all rare features within the genus. The broad range of this species made us reexamine the identity of the putatively similar O. zulianus Short & García, 2010 which was described from a single female specimen from northwestern Venezuela. We found no external morphological differences to distinguish O. sharpi from O. zulianus , and they both share the same suite of unusual diagnostic characters. Therefore, we recognize O. zulianus as a junior subjective synonym of O. sharpi .

Figures

FIGURE 5. Aedeagi of Oocyclus species in Ecuador with rounded posterolateral corners of the pronotum. (A) rupestris sp. n. (B) sharpi, paratype from Costa Rica (C) sharpi, specimen from Ecuador (D) sharpi, specimen from Ecuador (E) kichwa sp. n. (F) kichwa sp. n. (G) yantzaza sp. n. (H) ancho sp. n.

FIGURE 7. Distribution of Oocyclus spp. in Ecuador.