Cymatodera durangoensis Rifkind

Rifkind, Jacques, 2015, New species of Cymatodera Gray (Coleoptera: Cleridae: Tillinae) from México and Central America, with notes on others, Zootaxa 3946 (4), pp. 519-552 : 535

Cymatodera durangoensis Rifkind , n. sp.

( Figs. 31–33 )

Type specimens. Holotype male: México, Durango, Hwy. 40, 11.1 km E La Ciudad, 8400’, June 23, 1991, J. Rifkind, coll., beating dead pine needles, pine-oak-madroño forest. Holotype deposited in CSCA. Paratypes: MEXICO, DURANGO: 1, 20 km E Ciudad, 2800 m, pine/oak forest, Sept. 6, 1992, beating dead attached branch of living pine, J. Rifkind, A. Reifschneider, colls.; 1, 5 km W La Ciudad, Aug. 2, 1983, E. Giesbert, coll.; 1, 5 km W La Ciudad, 7 Aug., 1983, F. Hovore, coll., oak; SINALOA: 1, 8 mi. W. El Palmito, Aug. 7, 1983, E. Giesbert, coll.; 1, 9 km NE Loberas, 30 Sept. 1990, R. Turnbow. Paratypes are deposited in JNRC, RHTC and WFBM.

Diagnosis. Separable from congeners on the basis of body shape, unique elytral coloration and patterning, the broad dark banding of the meso- and metafemora, and the distinctive appearance of the male pygidium. Affinities are unclear: the new species bears a superficial resemblance to C. vandykei Schaeffer , a beetle of coastal California, but the latter species is unequivocally brachypterous, whereas C. durangoensis retains the second pair of wings.

Description. (Holotype). Length: 10.0 mm. Alate. Color: head, antennae, and pronotum reddish brown (head a little darker); mouthparts, venter, legs (in part) testaceous; femora with a broad, indistinct, infuscate annula; elytra ( Fig. 31 ) stramineous with darkened punctures, and dark brown markings as follows: a narrow rectangulate macula on each side extending from base to before elytral midpoint (interrupted by eplipleuron laterally); a broad, irregularly margined, anteapical, transverse fascia that is narrowly interrupted at suture. Head: measured across eyes, wider than pronotum; surface rugulose–punctate, inconspicuously vested with short, reclinate (and fewer longer erect) testaceous setae. Pronotum: moderately subflattened above; basal swellings reduced; lateral foveae distinct; surface shining, rather shallowly, transversely, rugulose–punctate; vestiture as on head. Elytra: teardrop shaped; metathoracic wings present; disk strongly subflattened; anterior margin arcuately emarginate; apices broadly, separately rounded and dehiscent; surface rather coarsely punctate, with punctures forming loose longitudinal striae; vestiture inconspicuous, composed as on pronotum. Metaventrite: shining, nearly glabrous, with a pair of short, sharp tubercles posteriorly. Abdomen ( Figs. 32–33 ): surface very finely granulate, inconspicuously clothed with short, yellowish, very fine setae; ventrite 5 broad, hind angles swollen and rounded, posterior margin bisinuate, with a shallow, angulate inflection at middle; ventrite 6 broadly transverse, concave, sides rounded, not narrowed posteriorly, hind angles rounded, posterior margin with a rather deep V–shaped indentation at middle; tergite 5 with hind angles rounded, posterior margin broadly, arcuately emarginate; tergite 6 rather large, quadrate (surpassing ventrite 6 posteriorly), slightly tumid above, lateral margins broadly, arcuately emarginate, hind angles rounded, posterior margin broadly, arcuately rounded, ventral surface concave, with a rather broad tumid lip at posterior margin.

Variation. Length ranges from 8.5–10.0 mm. Females have ventrite 5 broadly, arcuately emarginate posteriorly (without tumid hind angles), ventrite 6 and tergite 6 rounded posteriorly, the latter slightly surpassing the former in ventral view.

Etymology. The specific epithet is a reference to the Mexican state of Durango, the location of the type locality.

Distribution. Known from the Sierra Madre Occidental of western México in the vicinity of La Ciudad, Durango and adjacent eastern Sinaloa state.

Biology. Specimens were collected from end-June to end-September on oak and dead pine in forests above 2500 m elevation.

Figures

FIGURES 31 – 33. 31. Habitus of Cymatodera durangoensis Rifkind, n. sp. (holotype male). 32. Pygidium (ventral view) of male Cymatodera durangoensis. 33. Pygidium (dorsal view) of male Cymatodera durangoensis.