Renodesta, Caterino & Leschen & Johnson, 2008

Caterino, Michael S., Leschen, Richard A. B. & Johnson, Colin, 2008, A New Genus of Caenoscelini (Cryptophagidae: Cryptophaginae) from California, with Two New Species, The Coleopterists Bulletin 62 (4), pp. 509-523 : 509-523

Renodesta new genus

( Figs. 2–6 )

Diagnosis. Body form elongate oval. Eye reduced to single facet. Antennal club apparently 1-segmented (with the two apical antennomeres fused). Genal carina present. Pronotal sides converging anteriorly with greatest width at base. Pronotum without sublateral lines, but transverse line at middle present. Prosternum and prosternal process vaulted, with longitudinal lines. Weakly projecting anteromedially. Prosternum without transverse pits. Hypomeron with antennal groove. Hind wing absent.

Description. Length 1.21–1.47 mm; body form elongate oval, strongly convex, testaceous, setae conspicuous, decumbent, uniformly dense over entire body. Head with frontal carina prominent, running from eye to eye, separating convex, setose frons from depressed, glabrous genae, acutely angulate between antennal bases, this angulation continuous with short genal carina or epistomal ridge; eye reduced to single, protruding ommatidium, only faintly differentiated from surrounding cuticle; antennae with antennomeres 10–11 fused into 1-segmented club, with faint constriction and series of blunt setae marking line of fusion; frontoclypeal suture not visible; labrum strongly reduced, mostly hidden by clypeus; maxillae with three segmented palpi, palpomere two about half the length and slightly narrower than palpomere 1, palpomere 3 much narrower than 2, about 1.5 times as long, narrowed to subacute, setose apex; mentum wide, with rounded sides, bi-emarginate at palpal bases, acute at middle, with transverse apical stria; labium with three segmented palpi, basal-most strongly reduced, palpomere 2 bulbous, palpomere 3 narrower at base than 2 and narrowed to subacute apex; gular sutures fused, indistinguishable. Pronotum with sides weakly convergent from base, subangulate just behind middle, thence strongly narrowed to apex and widest at base, margined and finely depressed along lateral edge; sublateral lines absent; pronotal disk with sinuate, crenulate transverse stria, meeting marginal angle at sides, disk faintly depressed behind; pronotal disk punctate, with punctures slightly less dense at middle behind transverse stria. Hypomeron with well developed antennal groove in anterior one-third, delimited by strong lateral and weaker medial carinae; prosternum and prosternal process broad and vaulted, about equal in width to procoxa, with two parallel longitudinal lines, with series of setae along lateral striae, but glabrous at middle, the lateral striae meeting before anterior prosternal margin; prosternum lacking transverse pits; weak chin piece present. Mesoventrite deeply emarginate for reception of prosternal keel, mesocoxae widely separated; mesanepisternum lacking fovea or pits; abdomen with 5 visible abdominal ventrites, none connate, all with marginal striae along lateral and posterior edges; first abdominal ventrite with broad, rounded intercoxal process; metasubcoxal lines present, acutely angulate behind broadest part of metacoxa; setae of ventrites converging to midline, those of ventrite 5 more dense, with dense group of blunt setae near apex. Legs with trochanters relatively long, approximately one-sixth (anterior) to one-fifth of total trochanter + femur length (measured along shorter, dorsal margin); tibiae widened in apical half, with apical ctenidium around inner margin; tarsus 5-5- 5 in female and 5-4- 4 in male, tarsomeres with irregular longitudinal striations; tarsal claws simple. Aedeagus horizontal in abdominal cavity, symmetrical, tegmen narrowly rounded anteriorly, anterior edge without strut; parameres reduced to pore-bearing bracons that are fused to phallobase. Penis anteriorly with single broad strut that is 4 times as long as median lobe; endophallus complex with asperities and lacking internal sclerites.

Type species. Renodesta stephani , new species, here designated.

Remarks. Among Cryptophagidae , adult Caenoscelini are characterized by the combination of: lack of conspicuous glandular ducts on any body surface, serrate incisor lobe of mandible (most commonly on the left mandible), terminal labial palpomere narrower than penultimate, presence of a ‘boss’ on the front of the head, absence of gular sutures, pronotum laterally unmodified and lacking basal pits, presence of thickened setae on ventrite 5, a vertically oriented aedeagus, and club shaped tibiae ( Leschen 1996). Renodesta agrees in all these characters apart from aedeagal orientation (though this is variable in many cucujoid taxa), and shares additional characters with both Dernostea and Sternodea . All three exhibit brachyptery or aptery (note that some Caenoscelis are also apterous, Johnson and Bowestead 2003). With Dernostea , Renodesta also shares a genal carina, single segmented antennal club and reduced eyes. With Sternodea it shares a transverse pronotal stria, eye reduction (in some species) and lack of deep, annulate prosternal pits. The genus is supported to be sister taxon to the Asian clade of Dernostea + Himascelis .

516 The species of Renodesta are found only in the central coast ranges of California, between Monterey Bay and Santa Barbara (roughly 34– 37 ° N). Specimens have been sifted from a variety of litters, including leaves of Quercus , Platanus , Ceanothus , Metasequoia , Lithocarpus , and Umbellularia , most frequently within or in close proximity to very rotten wood ( Quercus , Platanus and Ceanothus ).

Etymology. The genus name is an anagram of the related genera Dernostea and Sternodea , and is feminine.

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Figures

Fig. 2. Map of southern California showing all known localities for species of Renodesta. Stars indicate type localities. A. Renodesta stephani. B. Renodesta ramsdalei.

Fig. 3. SEM micrographs of Renodesta spp. A. R. stephani, dorsal habitus. B. R. ramsdalei, ventral. C. R. stephani, lateral.

Fig. 4. Generic characters of Renodesta spp. A. Mouthparts, ventral view. B. Antennal club (fused antennomeres 10 + 11), ventral. C. Antennal groove in prosternum, ventral. D. Abdomen, ventral. E. Head, anterolateral. F. Pronotum, dorsal. G. Metatarsus, lateral. All scale bars 100 Mm.

Fig. 5. Species level characters of Renodesta spp. A. Antenna of R. stephani, dorsal view. B. Prosternum of R. stephani, ventral. C. Antenna of R. ramsdalei, dorsal. D. Prosternum of R. ramsdalei ventral. All scale bars 100 Mm.

Fig. 6. Aedeagus of Renodesta spp. A. R. stephani, lateral view. B. R. stephani, ventral. C. R. ramsdalei, lateral. D. R. ramsdalei, ventral.