Zeadolopus bahamensis Peck and Cook, 2014

Peck, Stewart B. & Cook, Joyce, 2014, A review of the small carrion beetles and the round fungus beetles of the West Indies (Coleoptera: Leiodidae), with descriptions of two new genera and 61 new species., Insecta Mundi 2014 (397), pp. 1-76 : 24

Zeadolopus bahamensis Peck and Cook , new species

Figure 37

Diagnostic description. Body strongly convex. Length 1.2–1.3 mm; greatest width 0.8–0.9 mm. Reddish brown, shining, elytra with faint reticulate microsculpture. Head finely, sparsely punctate. Antennal club moderately robust. Eyes large. Pronotum finely, sparsely punctate; sides rounded, posterior angles rounded. Elytral striae weakly impressed; strial punctures coarse and dense; interstriae minutely, sparsely punctate. Flight wings fully developed. Vertical face of mesosternum broad, convex, not medially carinate. Metasternum coarsely, densely punctate laterally; finely punctate medially. Male with toothlike process at apex of posterior margin of metafemur; metafemur unmodified in female. In both sexes, mesotibia broad and spinose, metatibia narrower and spinose. Male with dense setae on ventral surface of pro- and mesotarsus. Median lobe of aedeagus ( Fig. 37 ) short, broad; paired apices inwardly curved at apex. Parameres slender, weakly curved, extending beyond apex of median lobe, each bearing 2 apical setae. Inverted internal sac of aedeagus with elongate, median flagellum-like structure; in apical half, an Ashaped sclerotized structure. Spermatheca of two connected spheres.

Type material. Holotype male, with the following label data: “ BAHAMAS: Andros Island / Forfar Field Sta., Stafford / Creek , 4-VI-2001, / M.C. Thomas, blacklight/ trap in coastal coppice” ( FSCA) . Paratypes (2) have the following label data: same data as holotype (1, FSCA) ; with same data except: 7-VI-2001, coll. B.K. Dozier (1, FSCA) .

Distribution. Known only from Andros Island in the Bahamas Islands.

Remarks. Because of the geographic proximity of south Florida and Andros of the Bahamas, it might be expected that the species of the two areas might be closely related. Comparison of Z. bahamensis n. sp. of Andros with the species Zeadolopus egenus (LeConte) , known from Florida and other nearby states ( Peck and Cook 2013b), showed similarity in structure of the aedeagus. This is the only example of any affinity of the leiodid fauna of the Bahamas and Florida.

Etymology. The epithet bahamensis (Bahama + the Latin suffix –ensis, locality) refers to the only known locality for this species in the Bahamas.

Figures

Figures 37–43. Aedeagi, dorsal view, of Zeadolopus. 37) Z. bahamensis. 38) Z. caymanensis. 39) Z. atratus. 40) Z. cubensis. 41) Z. flavidus. 42) Z. lucidus. 43) Z. pusillus. Scale line = 0.30 mm.