Goudotostes lokobensis, 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 : 183-184

Goudotostes lokobensis sp. nov.

( Figs 40 a-n, 77) http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:EADD2E74-C115-47F9-871F-884C461C35DB

Type series. Holotype, ♂, deposited in the collection of the California Academy of Sciences , San Francisco, CA, USA: / CASTYPE 20271 / CASENT 5503713 / Madagascar: Province d’Antisiranana , Nosy Be , Réserve naturelle intégrale de Lokobe 6.3 km 112° ESE Hellville 19-24 March 2001 / 13° 25’ 10” S 048° 19’ 52” E coll. Fisher, Griswold et al. California Acad. of Sciences sifted litter in rainforest elev. 30 m code: BLF3422 / Goudotostes lokobensis n. sp. det. A. Ballerio 2020 Holotypus ♂ / [distended specimen glued on a card, dissected, male genitalia glued in DMHF on a separate card, same pin]. Paratypes [1 ♂ dissected]: 4 ♂♂ and 4 ♀♀ (6 in CASC and 2 in ABCB), same collecting data as holotype .

Diagnosis. Goudotostes lokobensis sp. nov can be differentiated from all other species of Goudotostes by the following combination of characters: a) large size, b) dorsal ocular area present (although probably vestigial), c) pronotal disc with two large tubercles near base (one at each side) and two transverse paradiscal tubercles (one at each side), d) pronotal anterior carina bilobate, e) pronotal basal carina monolobate, f) spiculum gastrale with spiculum as long as basal paired arms. The only other Goudotostes having such developed pronotal tubercles are G. fisheri sp. nov. and G. pittinoi sp. nov., which share with G. lokobensis sp. also the strongly asymmetrical right paramere, however none of them has only two large tubercles on pronotal disc and a paradiscal transverse tubercle next to the discal one ( G. fisheri sp. nov. has two rows of three tubercles on disc and a paradiscal carina on each side, while G. pittinoi sp. nov. has a complex pattern of several tubercles and carinae).

Description. Size: HL = 1.3 mm; HW = 1.7 mm; PL = 1.7 mm; PW = 3.0 mm; EL = 3.2 mm; EW = 3.0 mm. Overall morphology as in generic diagnosis. Large-sized Goudotostes . Body strongly convex. Brown with bronze/metallic green 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 = 1.48; clypeal apex obtuse, apical projection strongly developed and sexually dimorphic, sides slightly rounded with strongly unaligned genae; dorsal ocular area present and smal (probably vestigial)l, interocular distance about 24 times the maximum width of dorsal ocular area, ventral ocular area medium-sized, genae acute, distinctly protruding outwards, genal suture indistinct; head dorsal surface strongly sculptured, with a short weakly raised smooth tubercle on vertex and then a large, strongly raised irregular tubercle on frons and 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 = 1.68), convex, base and sides broadly rounded, fore angles truncate; pronotal disc covered by dense transverse impressed comma-shaped punctures becoming horseshoe-shaped with opening directed outwards at sides, interpunctural distance inferior than punctural diameter; pronotal bead not appreciable in dorsal view; pronotal base distinctly and irregularly raised all over its extension; pronotal sculpturing as follows: monolobate posterior carina strongly raised to form a tubercle, inverted V-shaped in frontal view and in dorsal view, bilobate anterior carina strongly raised inverted W-shaped in frontal view, each side of disc basally with one strongly raised large tubercle and next to it a smaller tubercle and then 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 = 0.01), subcircular (dorsal view), strongly convex; humeral callus indistinct; elytral surface uniformly covered by large horseshoe-shaped punctures with opening directed outwards and inwards on proximal and median thirds and backwards on distal third, interpunctural distance inferior than punctural diameter (punctures almost touching each other); striated articular area hardly visible in lateral view, relatively narrow and short; inferior sutural stria complete and deep; marginal area large and distinctly protrudent outwards; elytral articular process well developed, smooth and shiny. 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 (humeral tubercle), remaining dorsal surface with three irregular and asymmetrical rows of strongly raised tubercles and short carinae well spaced out, one of those rows corre- sponding to sutural stria, elytral sides and apical area with denser and irregular tubercles; surface of tubercles made of deep irregular large punctures. Wings: flightless. Male genitalia: aedeagus (L = 1.6 mm) with parameres as in Figs 40 h-n, spiculum gastrale (L = 1.7 mm) as in Fig. 40 g .

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

Distribution and habitat. Known only from the type locality on the island of Nosy Be (north-western Madagascar), some 15 km west from Madagascar mainland. The type series was collected by sifting litter (leaf mold, rotten wood) in rainforest. Situated on a granite-syenite volcanic intrusion, the Lokobe forest, covering a small patch of 848 ha, represents one of the last remnants of lowland moist evergreen rainforest in the Sambirano Domain ( Goodman et al. 2018). It is classified as “humid forest” by Moat & Smith (2007). The area falls within the protected area “Parc National de Lokobe”.

Figures

Fig. 40 – Goudotostes lokobensis sp. nov., paratype. a, dorsal view of distended specimen; b, ventral view of rolled up specimen; c, dorsal view of rolled up specimen; d, lateral view of rolled up specimen; e, pronotum of rolled up specimen; f, ventral view of rolled up specimen; g, spiculum gastrale; h–n, seven views of aedeagus.