Platyhydnobius howdenorum Peck & Cook, 2009

Peck, Stewart B. & Cook, Joyce, 2009, Review of the Sogdini of North and Central America (Coleoptera: Leiodidae: Leiodinae) with descriptions of fourteen new species and three new genera, Zootaxa 2102 (1), pp. 1-74 : 58

Platyhydnobius howdenorum Peck & Cook , new species

( Figs. 160 , 165–166 )

Type material. Holotype: ♂ ( CMNC). MEXICO: Chiapas State: San Cristobal , 26–27.V.1990, 2200 m, H. and A. Howden, B. Gill . Paratype: MEXICO: Chiapas State: with same data as holotype, ♂ ( SBPC) .

Diagnostic description. Reddish brown, shining; elytral bases with a narrow transverse yellow band; elytral epipleurae yellow. Length of pronotum + elytra = 2.4–2.9 mm (males). Head finely, irregularly punctate with fine reticulate microsculpture. Pronotum broad, widest at base, sides weakly rounded, basal angles weakly obtuse; ratio length:width = 1:1.7; finely punctate with fine reticulate microsculpture. Elytra of medium length, wider than pronotum, ratio length:width = 1:0.74; with 9 regular, closely punctate striae; striae 6 and 7 do not reach apex, stria 8 does not reach base, stria 1 weakly impressed; intervals minutely punctate, transversely striolate. Antennal club ( Fig. 165 ) moderately slender, ratio club width:length = 1:3.1; width ratio of antennomeres 7:8:9 = 1.3:1:1.8. All femora unarmed; all tibiae slender, spinose on outer margin, protibiae and mesotibiae weakly widened apically, mesotibia weakly curved. Male. Aedeagus ( Fig. 166 ) with median lobe elongate, abruptly narrowed at apex, with small apical lobe. Parameres longer than median lobe, flat, with small lateral lobes near base. Paramere apices thin, inwardly curved, with two dorsal setae and many small setae apically. Female. Unknown.

Bionomics and distribution. The type specimen was taken in late May in a mixed broadleaf oak-pine forest, probably in leaf litter, up the hill and behind Motel Molino, southeast of the city of San Cristobal ( Fig. 160 ).

Etymology. Named in honor of Henry and Anne Howden of Ottawa, of the Canadian Museum of Nature, extraordinary beetle collectors and systematists.

Figures

FIGURE 160. Known localities in Mexico and Central America of Platyhydnobius andersoni (black square), P. bicolor (open triangle), P. calvario (open square), P. howdenorum (black triangle), P. latigra (black dots), P. newtonorum (asterisk).

FIGURES 165–166. Platyhydnobius howdenorum. 165. Right antenna, dorsal view. 166. Aedeagus, dorsal view. Scale bar = 0.4 mm (Fig. 166), 0.5 mm (Fig. 165).