Goudotostes litoralis, 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 : 182-183

Goudotostes litoralis sp. nov.

( Figs 48 a-k, 77) http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:DFD8876B-329C-48AC-9CA0-A6716AF197C5

Type series. Holotype, ♂ deposited in the collection of the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA, USA, labelled as follows: / CASTYPE 20270 / Madagascar: Antsiranana: Ambondrobe 41.1 km 175° Vohemar 29 November 2004 13° 42’ 55” S 050° 06’ 06” E / California Acad. of Sciences Coll. B. L. Fisher elev. 10 m sifted litter (leaf mold, rotten wood) littoral rainforest BLF11100 / Goudotostes litoralis 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 [3 ♂♂ dissected]: 10 ♂♂ and 24 ♀♀, same collecting data as holotype (26 in CASC and 8 in ABCB) .

Diagnosis. Goudotostes litoralis 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 weak tubercle on clypeal disc, d) pronotal anterior carina monolobate, e) pronotal anterior carina acutely triangular in frontal view, f) pronotal anterior carina raised and with 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 and lacking any distinct carinae and/or tubercles (apart from the monolobate anterior and posterior carinae), j) elytra with irregular rows of strongly raised tubercles and short longitudinal carinae (distinct interstriae can be seen between those carinae and tubercles). The species falls within the scabrosus group of species and is extremely similar to G. similis sp. nov. from which differs by the shape of the aedeagal median lobe, which is distinctly hooked distally in G. litoralis , by the shape of right paramere and by the orientation of the spiculum of spiculum gastrale which is oriented towards the left, whereas in G. similis is oriented towards the right.

Description. Size: HL = 1.1 mm; HW = 1.4 mm; PL = 1.5 mm; PW = 2.5 mm; EL = 2.4 mm; EW = 2.4 mm. Overall morphology as in generic diagnosis. Large-sized Goudotostes . Body strongly convex. Brown with slight metallic bronze/green sheen, especially on tubercles and carinae, dorsal setation fine and extremely short (50×), underside, tarsi and antennae dark reddish-brown, setation yellowish-brown. Head: W/L ratio = 1.50; clypeal apex obtuse, apical projection present and sexually dimorphic but weakly developed, sides almost rectilinear apart from slightly unaligned genae; dorsal ocular area present and small, genal canthus fused with occipital area of head, ventral ocular area small-sized, genae acute, distinctly protruding outwards, genal suture indistinct; head dorsal surface uniformly covered by large impressed simple punctures mixed to comma-shaped punctures, fore margin with some transverse lines, vertex with a short longitudinal rise in the middle, clypeus with a weakly raised irregular large tubercle with surface covered by large deep simple punctures. Interpunctural distance inferior than punctural diameter (punctures almost adjacent to each other), interpunctural surface raised, giving an uneven appearance to head surface. Pronotum: subrectangular (dorsal view) (W/L ratio = 1.68), strongly convex and unevenly sculptured, base and sides broadly rounded, fore angles distinctly truncate; surface uniformly covered by dense deep large simple punctures mixed to a few comma-shaped, becoming horseshoe-shaped punctures at sides, each one bearing a short fine seta in the middle, punctation very deep, with interpunctural intervals raised and narrow (interpunctural distance inferior than punctural diameter, punctures almost adjacent to each other) giving a granulose appearance to surface; monolobate anterior carina strongly raised, portion raised having the shape of a brace in frontal view and of a transverse short sharp carina in dorsal view, disc with a depression in the middle, sides of disc with one weakly raised rounded tubercle, next to tubercle a transverse short sharp carina reaching outer margin, another carina parallel to it near fore angles, monolobate posterior carina distinctly and irregularly raised, dorsally marked by an inverted T- shaped short carina, margin in frontal view ondulate, with a central triangular rise. Pronotal bead complete and visible from above apart from base and fore margin. Scutellum : base smooth, remaining surface covered by dense large transverse deep comma-shaped punctures, each one bearing a setigerous puncture internally. Elytra: longer than wide (W/L ratio = 0.95), subovoidal (dorsal view), strongly convex; humeral callus indistinct; elytral surface uniformly covered by large deep horseshoe-shaped punctures with opening directed outwards, inwards and backwards, each one bearing a short fine seta internally; interpunctural distance inferior than punctural diameter; inferior sutural stria complete and deep; striated articular area hardly visible in lateral view, relatively narrow and short; marginal area medium-sized; elytral articular process developed, smooth and shiny, partly isolated from remaining elytral surface by a deep furrow. Elytral sculpturing as follows: elytral suture marked by a longitudinal row of raised tubercles and short carinae occupying the median and distal third of elytra (parasutural tubercles), base with one longitudinal short carina near apex of scutellum, next to it two longitudinal short- er carinae, then another oblique carina which marks the humeral area (humeral tubercle), remaining elytral dorsal surface with two irregular rows of raised tubercles and short carinae (distinct interstriae can be distinctly seen between those carinae and tubercles), sides and apical portion of elytra with several irregular short rows of denser tubercles and short carinae. Wings: flightless. Male genitalia: aedeagus (L = 1.0 mm) with parameres as in Figs 48 g-k, spiculum gastrale (L = 1.0 mm) as in Fig. 48 f .

Etymology. Latin adjective in the nominative singular meaning “coastal”, in order to remark its habitat, a coastal rainforest.

Distribution and habitat. Known only from the type locality (Ambondrobe, some 40 km south of Vohemar) in North-Eastern Madagascar ( Fig. 93 a-d). The type series was collected by sifting leaf litter in a patch of littoral rainforest. The vegetation cover consists of “humid forest” ( Moat & Smith 2007) also known as “moist evergreen forest” ( Goodman et al. 2018).

Figures

Fig. 48 – Goudotostes litoralis sp. nov., a, holotype, dorsal view of distended specimen; b, paratype, dorsal view of rolled up specimen; c, paratype, ventral view of rolled up specimen; d, paratype, lateral view of rolled up specimen; e, paratype, ventral view of rolled up specimen; f, holotype, spiculum gastrale; g–k, holotype, four views of aedeagus (eml: endophallite of median lobe).

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.