Goudotostes orangeanus, Ballerio, 2021

Ballerio, Alberto, 2021, The Ceratocanthinae of Madagascar and Comoro Islands: a revision of the genera Synarmostes and Goudotostes, and of the flightless Philharmostes, with description of 64 new species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea, Hybosoridae), Fragmenta entomologica 53 (2), pp. 105-282 : 187-188

Goudotostes orangeanus sp. nov.

( Figs 9 f, g, l, m , 37 a-h, 51 a-i, 77) http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:B18888EC-8B70-4489-A900-11A333FB6EDB

Type series. Holotype, ♂, deposited in the collection of the California Academy of Sciences , San Francisco, CA, USA, labelled as follows: / CASTYPE 20274 / Madagascar: Province d’Antsiranana forêt de l’Orangea, 3.6 km 128° SE Ramena Elev. 90 m 22-28 Feb. 2001 / 12° 15’ 32” S 049° 22’ 29” E coll. Fisher, Griswold et al. Calif. Academy of Sciences sifted litter littoral rainforest collection code: BLF3200 / Goudotostes orangeanus n. sp. det. A. Ballerio 2020 Holotypus ♂ / [distended, glued on card, dissected, male genitalia glued in DMHF resin on a separate card, same pin]. Paratypes [2 ♂♂ dissected]: 10 ♂♂ and 12 ♀♀ (17 in CASC and 5 in ABCB), same collecting data as holotype .

Diagnosis. Goudotostes orangeanus sp. nov. can be differentiated from all other species of Goudotostes by the following combination of characters: a) medium size, b) dorsal ocular area present (vestigial), c) head with a strong tubercle on clypeal disc, d) pronotal anterior carina monolobate, e) pronotal anterior carina obtusely triangular in frontal view, f) pronotal anterior carina raised without giving rise to a longitudinal sharp carina visible in dorsal view, g) pronotal basal carina monolobate, h) pronotum not saddle-shaped in lateral view, i) pronotal disc with gibbosities, in particular the paradiscal ones are strongly developed, and lacking any distinct carinae and/ or tubercles (apart from the monolobate anterior and posterior carinae), j) elytra with dense strongly raised tubercles and short longitudinal carinae. The species falls within the scabrosus group of species and can be differentiated by the other species of the group by the combination of characters c), e), f), h) and i).

Description. Size: HL = 1.1 mm; HW = 1.5 mm; PL = 1.6 mm; PW = 2.5 mm; EL = 2.5 mm; EW = 2.4 mm. Overall morphology as in generic diagnosis. Large-sized Goudotostes . Body strongly convex. Brown with bronze sheen especially on tubercles and carinae, shiny, dorsum with setigerous punctures bearing a very short seta (50×), underside, tarsi and antennae dark reddish-brown, setation yellowish-brown. Head: W/L ratio = 1.66; clypeal apex obtuse, apical projection strongly developed and sexually dimorphic, sides slightly rounded with strongly unaligned genae; dorsal ocular area vestigial, ventral ocular area medium-sized, genae acute, distinctly protruding outwards, genal suture indistinct; head dorsal surface strongly sculptured, with vertex raised with respect to remaining surface and a strongly raised large tubercle on clypeus, surface of tubercle with dense impressed large simple punctures, remaining head surface with dense impressed large simple punctures, surface along clypeal fore margin covered by some transverse irregular lines. Interpunctural distance of punctures inferior than punctural diameter. Pronotum: subtrapezoidal (dorsal view) (W/L ratio = 1.78), convex, fore angles truncate; pronotal surface with disc covered by dense impressed large simple punctures, interpunctural distance inferior than punctural diameter, interpunctural space raised, giving a granulose appearance to the surface, sides with some horseshoe-shaped punctures with opening directed outwards; pronotal bead not appreciable in dorsal view; pronotal base distinctly and irregularly raised all over its extension; pronotal sculpturing as follows: monolobate basal carina strongly raised to form a tubercle, inverted V-shaped in frontal view and in dorsal view, monolobate anterior carina strongly raised in correspondence with head, generating a tubercle V-shaped in dorsal view and inverted wide V-shaped in frontal view, disc with a depression in the middle, each side of disc with one raised large tubercle and next to it two parallel transverse carinae reaching outer margin; tubercles marked by deep irregular impressed punctures. Scutellum : completely covered by deep large transverse short comma-shaped punctures. Elytra: slightly longer than wide (W/L ratio = 0.97), subcircular (dorsal view), strongly convex; humeral callus indistinct; elytral surface uniformly covered by large horseshoe-shaped punctures with opening directed backwards on proximal third and outwards and inwards on median and distal thirds, interpunctural distance inferior than punctural diameter; striated articular area hardly visible in lateral view, relatively narrow and short; inferi- or sutural stria complete and deep; marginal area large and distinctly protrudent outwards; elytral articular process well developed, smooth and shiny with a line bordering scutellar sides. Elytral sculpturing as follows: base with one tubercle near apex of scutellum (parasutural tubercle), next to it two strongly raised tubercles, one of them marking humeral area, remaining dorsal surface densely covered with several longitudinal raised short carinae, sides and apical area with denser and irregular tubercles; surface of tubercles made of deep irregular large punctures. Wings: flightless. Male genitalia: aedeagus (L = 1.2 mm) with parameres as in Figs 51 f-i.

Etymology. Latin adjective in the nominative singular meaning “from Orangea”, the type locality.

Distribution and habitat. Known only from the type locality in northern Madagascar ( Fig. 93 g-h). The type series was collected by sifting litter in littoral forest, although the vegetation cover of the area is also classified as “Dry deciduous forest” (also known as “Western dry forest”, Moat & Smith 2007). The forest cover of Oronjia (also known as Orangea) is low and degraded and sometimes takes the form of a dry thicket ( Goodman et al. 2018). The area falls within the protected area “Paysage Harmonieux Protegé d’Oronjia”.

Figures

Fig. 9– a, Synarmostes benaraensis sp. nov. female protibia (at: apical teeth); b, Synarmostes benaraensis sp. nov., male protibia; c, Philharmostes scapulatus, protibia; d, Pseudosynarmostes mitsinjo, female protibia; e, Pseudosynarmostes mistinjo, male protibial; f, Goudotostes orangeanus sp. nov., female protibia; g, Goudotostes orangeanus sp. nov., male protibia; h, Philharmostes scapulatus, female mesotibia; i, Synarmostes benaraensis sp. nov., male mesotibia (mias: male inner apical spur); j, Synarmostes benaraensis sp. nov., female mesotibia; k, Synarmostes annamariae sp. nov., male mesotibia l, Goudotostes orangeanus sp. nov. male mesotibia (mias: male inner apical spur); m, Goudotostes orangeanus sp. nov., metatibia; n, Synarmostes benaraensis sp. nov., metatibia; o, Synarmostes annamariae sp. nov., metatibia; p, Pseudosynarmostes mitinjo, metatibia.

Fig. 37 – Goudotostes orangeanus sp. nov., mouthparts, a–b, mandibles in dorsal view; c–d, mandibles in ventral view; e, labium and labial palpi; f, maxilla and maxillary palpus; g, detail of galeal brush; h, distal epipharynx.

Fig. 51 – Goudotostes orangeanus sp. nov., paratype. a, pronotum of rolled up specimen; b, ventral view of rolled up specimen; c, dorsal view of rolled up specimen; d, ventral view of rolled up specimen; e, lateral view of rolled up specimen; f–i, Four views of aedeagus.

Fig. 93 – Habitat, a–d, Ambondrobe forest (photos by Brian Fisher), habitat of Goudotostes litoralis sp. nov.; e–f, Makirovana forest (photos by Brian Fisher), habitat of Synarmostes makirovanae sp. nov., Goudotostes laevis sp. nov., Philharmostes rotundatus sp. nov., and Philharmostes scapulatus sp. nov., and g–h, Orangea forest (g, photo by Brian Fisher in the year 2001 and h, photo by Alberto Ballerio in the year 2005), habitat of Goudotostes andreonei sp. nov. and Goudotostes orangeanus sp. nov.