Pharaxonotha thomasi Skelley and Tang, 2020

Skelley, Paul E. & Tang, William, 2020, Two new species of Pharaxonotha Reitter among the early-diverging lineages, with a key to the species of the genus (Coleoptera: Erotylidae: Pharaxonothinae), Insecta Mundi 2020 (837), pp. 1-11 : 7-9

Pharaxonotha thomasi Skelley and Tang , new species

Figure 2A–I

Diagnosis. Pharaxonotha thomasi is one of the most recognizable species of the genus. It is the only species where all tibiae are strongly triangularly dilated apically; protibia with a complete row of short stout spinules on a straight ventral apical margin; body distinctly flattened; and with a known distribution in Honduras on Zamia onan-reyesii .

Description. Length 2.44–2.96 mm, width 0.96–1.19 mm. Body ( Fig. 2A–C ) in dorsal view elongate, distinctly flattened, greatest width at middle of elytra; in lateral view flattened dorsally. General body color entirely red-brown; dorsal surface punctate, shining and appearing glabrous, short procumbent hairs associated with punctation on pronotum and elytra, ventrally shining and appearing glabrous except mesoventrite and abdomen mostly covered with short procumbent setae.

Head. Not broad, width = 0.68–0.74× pronotal width; in dorsal view conical, gradually narrowed anteriorly, surface flat to slightly convex, finely, moderately punctured, average distance between closest punctures 2–3× width of puncture; head width 0.56–0.65 mm; dorsal interocular distance 0.33–0.37 mm, head width/dorsal interocular distance ratio 1.63–1.80, ventral interocular distance 0.21–0.26 mm, head width/ventral interocular distance ratio 2.55–2.89. Eye with large black facets, about 2× diameter of head punctures. Antennal length slightly shorter than pronotal width, 1.2× head width; antennomere I (scape) fairly large, slightly elongate; antennomere II equal in size to III; IV small, circular; V–VII same length as IV, gradually becoming wider with VIII distinctly transverse and flattened apically; club fairly large, IX and X similar in length; XI not enlarged, 1.4× longer than X, globular with rounded apex. Clypeus weakly concave anteriorly, moderately punctate. Transverse occipital line [vertexal line] distinct from eye to eye. Mentum and submentum somewhat coarsely punctured, 2–3× diameter of facet, distance between nearest punctures approximately 1× own diameter, each puncture with a short seta. Gular area smooth, without punctation or setae, border with submentum marked by change in punctuation.

Thorax. With pronotum transversely rectangular in dorsal view, length/width ratio 0.67–0.73; with distinct marginal carina laterally and basally, anteriorly with fine marginal carina medially; dorsally flattened; anterior angles broadly rounded, not projecting forward; posterior angles weakly developed, with small denticle at angle; lateral margin parallel-sided in medial half, shallowly arcuate inward anteriorly and posteriorly; posterior margin slightly projecting medially, projection beginning approximately by pair of small, dark pores in margin located 1/4 width from posterior angles, each pore marks base of a distinct sulcus extending anteriorly onto disc 1/4 length of pronotum. Prosternum in ventral view convex, with few scattered punctures; anterior margin slightly emarginate, finely denticulate with row of long, anteriorly directed setae, longest setae approximately 1/3 length of eye; prosternal process flattened apically, expanded and truncate at apex. Hypomeron laterally with few minute punctures, medially lacking distinct longitudinal striations. Scutellar shield distinctly transverse, posterior margin weakly roundly pentagonal. Elytra in dorsal view elongate, flattened dorsally; length/width 1.44–1.62, greatest width near midlength; with distinct marginal line basally; 10 complete striae of moderate puncture size; scutellary striole extending 1/4 elytral length, with 10–15 punctures; punctures of elytral striae 1.5× larger than pronotal punctures, striae weakly impressed; intervals of striae with fine, shallow punctures, 1/4 size of strial punctures; all punctures of elytral bearing a single short seta; seta only visible in profile, extending slightly out of puncture. Mesoventrite with strong punctation, distance between nearest punctures approximately equal to diameter of punctures, puncture depth moderate. Metaventrite glossy, with strong lateral punctation separated by 1–2× own diameter; medial surface finely distinctly punctured, separated by 3–4× own diameter; surface medially flattened, metathoracic discrimen extending approximately 3/4 metaventrite length. Legs broadened, relatively similar in length and shape. Procoxa oval; mesocoxa globular; metacoxa transversely elongate-oval; trochanters obliquely truncate apically; femora robust, compressed laterally; tibiae shorter than femora, triangularly dilated to obliquely truncate apices, obliquely truncate apical margin width 1/3 tibial length; protibia with apical lateral tooth small, with complete apical fringe of very short stout spinules on straight ventral apical margin; meso- and metatibia with apical fringe of short stout spinules on anterior margin, finer setae on posterior margins.

Abdomen. Ventrite apical margin bearing short, sparse setae; all ventrites bearing moderate, shallow punctation evenly distributed across surface, distance to nearest puncture approximately 2× diameter of puncture, punctures bearing mostly reclining setae; ventrite V with setae length nearly uniformly approximately 2× diameter of puncture; I–IV each with 2 or more median pairs of longer, semi-erect sensory hairs (difficult to see in poor lighting, often abraded). Male genitalia (n = 2) similar to all others in the genus, with dorsoventrally flattened tegmen, elongate cylindrical median lobe, and long coiled flagellum ( Fig. 2D–G ).

Female. Similar to male, sexual dimorphism weakly evident with male protarsomere I more broadly dilated. Genital tube shortened, length past abdominal segment VIII = 1.5× width (n = 2); gonostylus set apically on gonocoxite, gonostylus length = 4–5× width ( Fig. 2H ). Spermatheca shaped like a pill capsule, length approximately 3× width, basal half smooth, apical half with reticulation, folding at center ( Fig. 2I ).

Range. Known from Honduras, the type locality, on male cones of Zamia onan-reyesii .

Material examined. Holotype (by designation) male of Pharaxonotha thomasi with the following labels: 1) [rectangular; white; printed in black ink] “ HONDURAS: San Pedro Sula , Filo del Cerrito, Laguna Tembladeros, 30-VII-2003, [GPS coord. omitted], col. Jody Haynes, on male cone of Zamia sp. ” 2) [rectangular; red; printed in black ink] “ HOLOTYPE ♂ Pharaxonotha thomasi Skelley & Tang 2020 ”. Deposited in the FSCA.

Female allotype and adult paratypes (n = 41): same data as holotype (4 ANIC; allotype, 25 FSCA; 4 NHMUK; 4 NZAC; 4 USNM). In Tang et al. (2020), this species is presented on their tree as “D0066 Z. onanreyesii > HONDURAS ” .

Etymology. In the early 1990s, Andrew Vovides sent specimens from a Ceratozamia cone to Michael C. Thomas for identification, who recognized them as multiple undescribed taxa. While Mike was an expert on cucujoid beetles, he had not published on this group of beetles. James Pakaluk, who had recently described species in the group ( Pakaluk 1988), agreed to describe them. However, Pakaluk left entomological work in the late 1990s and the task of describing the new taxa fell back to Thomas. In the early 2000s, Węgrzynowicz (2002) and Leschen (2003) independently merged several higher taxa into the family Erotylidae , including Pharaxonotha . At that time, author PES agreed to help Mike Thomas with the descriptions. With this new enthusiasm additional materials began arriving from cycad researchers, most representing obviously undescribed taxa or presenting taxonomic problems that needed more detailed study before being described. Mike eventually turned the entire project over to PES, who was quickly overwhelmed with the diversity and complexity, but was able to help others describe individual species ( Chaves and Genaro 2005; Franz and Skelley 2008). Around 2010, Willie Tang, Guang Xu, and others began work on relationships of cycad pollinating beetles using molecular methods. A team formed and progress on “ Pharaxonotha ” finally started ( Skelley 2013; Xu et al. 2015; Skelley et al. 2017; Tang et al. 2018a, 2018b, 2020; Skelley and Segalla 2019).

After his initial 1990s work, Mike Thomas encouraged and helped others working on this complex genus, until he died in October 2019. It is an honor that we recognize Mike’s enthusiasm and encouragement of others to study beetles by naming this species after him. If not for his initial push, a lot of this work would not have happened.

Remarks. The host for P. thomasi is Zamia onan-reyesii ( Nelson and Sandoval 2008, Schutzman et al. 2008), an arborescent species of the Mesoamerica clade of Zamia as identified via genetic analysis by Calonje et al. (2019).

Figures

Figure 2. Pharaxonotha thomasi, paratype. A) Dorsal habitus. B) Lateral habitus. C) Ventral habitus. D). Male terminalia, dorsal. E) Male terminalia, lateral. F) Apex of penis and tegmen, dorsal and lateral. G) Male abdominal segments VIII–IX. H) Female genitalia. I) Spermatheca.