Taisia cornitermitis Frolov, Ocampo, Akhmetova

Frolov, Andrey V., Ocampo, Federico C., Akhmetova, Lilia A. & Vaz-de-Mello, Fernando, 2017, A new genus and species of the termitophilous Neotropical Hybosorinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Hybosoridae) associated with Cornitermes (Isoptera: Termitidae) in the Cerrado ecoregion in Brazil, Journal of Natural History (J. Nat. Hist.) 51 (29 - 30), pp. 1759-1765 : 1760-1764

Taisia cornitermitis Frolov, Ocampo, Akhmetova et Vaz-de-Mello, sp. nov.

( Figures 1 (a–f), 2(a–d))

c 0.5 mm d e 0.5 mm f

Type locality

Cuiabá municipality, Mato Grosso, Brazil.

Type material

Holotype, male at CEMT labelled ‘ Brazil, MT, Cuiabá , Flor do Cerrado, 15°29 ʹ 38.20’ S 56° 4 ʹ 36.40” W 6.XI.2015 А. Frolov & L. Akhmetova leg.’.

Paratypes: 184 specimens. One female and six males at CEMT with the same data as the holotype; six males at CEMT with the same locality data as the holotype but collected 15 November 2015; seven males at CEMT labelled ‘ Brazil, MT, Cuiabá, Flor do Cerrado, 15°29 ʹ 38.20’ S 56°4 ʹ 36.40” W Frolov leg . 15 .X .2016 , termite nests and flying around’; 123 males and three females at CEMT, IAZA, BMNH, IOCRJ, IRSNB, MNHG, MNHN, MNRJ and ZIN with the same locality data but collected 27 October 2016 with a flight interception trap (FIT); 31 males at CEMT with the same locality data but collected 12–17 November 2016 by FIT; one male at CEMT with the same locality data but collected 3–12 November 2016 by FIT; four males at CEMT with the same locality data but collected 8–12 November 2016 by FIT; two males at CEMT labelled ‘ Brazil, MT, Aguas Quentes 15°53 ʹ 11”S 55°30 ʹ 44’W 25 .XI .2016 M. Cupello & A . Frolov leg’ .

Description

Holotype, male ( Figure 1 (a,c–e)).

Body length 4.5 mm. Colour uniformly brown to light brown, sclerites poorly melanised, semitransparent.

Head ( Figure 1 (a)): Frons slightly convex; surface punctate with sparse and moderately coarse punctures. Frontoclypeal suture distinctive, convex. Clypeus subtrapezoidal, anterior margin narrowly rounded, surface punctate with few punctures. Clypeal anterior margin weakly reflexed except in middle. Labrum somewhat trapezoidal, lacking medial tooth at apex. Mandibles protruding beyond labrum, with 3 outer teeth. Labium subtrapezoidal, densely setose. Maxillae with galea densely setose at apex, setae visible in dorsal view of head; maxillary palps with 4 palpomeres. Eyes relatively small, visible in dorsal view. Antennae with 9 antennomeres; antennomeres 2–6 moniliform; antennal club with 3 antennomeres; basal antennomere of club cup-shaped, capable of receiving penultimate and ultimate antennomeres.

Pronotum: slightly convex, base flat in middle, pronotum 1.6 times wider than long; surface with relatively sparse, double punctation. Anterior margin feebly convex medially, base almost straight; posterior angles nearly right-angled. Lateral margins convex and coarsely serrate.

Scutellum pentagonal. Apical, permanently exposed part (commonly referred to as ‘scutellum’ in the Scarabaeoidea taxonomic literature) widely rounded, surface smooth. Medial part mostly hidden under pronotum, coarsely punctate with round punctures; each puncture bears a seta. Basal part hidden under pronotum in undisturbed beetles, with two semirectangular, transverse, adjacent fossae with rugose and setose surface ( Figure 2 (a)).

Elytra moderately convex, with rounded apices, 1.3 times longer than wide. Elytral striae marked with regular rows of relatively coarse punctures; intervals feebly convex, minutely punctured; margins setose.

Wings fully developed.

Protibia with 2 large teeth and a number of smaller teeth on outer margin; dorsal surface with 2 setose, longitudinal carinae; protibial spur shorter than apical tibial tooth, curved, apex acute. Meso- and metatibia lacking transversal carina; with 2 apical, acuminate spurs. Metatibia with long, truncate process apically, analogous to the ‘enclosed corbel’ of some Curculionidae ( Thompson 1992) . Pro- and metatarsomeres 1–3 with feather-like setae ventrally ( Figure 1 (e)). Apical tarsomeres longer than tarsomeres 1–4, claws longer than half of apical tarsomeres.

Male genitalia strongly asymmetrical ( Figure 1 (c,d)).

Female ( Figure 1 (b,f)) differs from male in having mandibles with 2 teeth; galea with sparse, short setae, not visible in dorsal view; wider pronotum and elytra, normal (not feather-like) setae on tarsomeres ( Figure 1 (f)), and rounded apical processes of metatibiae.

Variation

Body length of males 4.0– 5.2 mm, females 4.3–4.7 mm. Except for the body size variation the examined specimens are rather similar.

Distribution and habitat

Taisia cornitermitis sp. nov. is known from two localities in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil ( Figure 2 (e)) . Most of the type series including the holotype originate from the vicinity of Cuiabá . Another locality is near Fazenda Aguas Quentes, Santo Antônio do Leverge municipality, some 80 km east of Cuiabá . The habitat in the vicinity of Cuiabá is a small patch of Cerradão, a forest-like subtype of the Cerrado .

Biology

Taisia cornitermitis sp. nov. are associated with termites Cornitermes cf. bequaerti ( Termitidae , Nasutitermitinae ). The beetles were observed coming out of the ‘ventilation holes’ of the termite nests, and sitting on and flying around the nests ( Figure 2 (b–d)). The ‘ventilation holes’ go deep around the nest (and some through the nest) and apparently join below the nest to form a ‘paraecie’, an empty space of regular thickness surrounding subterranean termite nests and subterranean parts of epigeal ones and thought to play a role in microclimate regulation and defence ( Noirot and Darlington 2000). The termite nest inside the ‘paraecie’ is closed and the latter is devoid of termites. However, the ‘paraecies’ seem to be populated by various animals. Except for T. cornitermesi , whose flying activity is limited to a few weeks after the beginning of rainy season, most prominent inhabitants are crickets ( Gryllidae ) and whip spiders (Amblypygi) which can be found in every hole at night.

Taisia cornitermitis is apparently a diurnal species, and most of its flying activity was observed in the mornings. In addition to the specimens collected by hand on the termite nests, long series were collected by FITs set near the nests. In Fazenda Aguas Quentes, the beetles were collected on the side of a termite nest. There is little doubt that this species will be found in other localities within the rather large distribution range of Cornitermes .

It is worth noting that the sex ratio of the collected specimens is strongly biased: there were only four females found among the long series of over 180 males. Although the females have well developed wings, they probably do not normally leave termite nests.

Etymology

Latin noun in the genitive case derived from the name of the host termite genus.

Figures

Figure 1. Taisia cornitermitis, holotype male (a, c, d, e), paratype female (b, f). Habitus in dorsal view (a, b), aedeagus in lateral view (c, d), mesotarsi (e, f).

Figure 2. Taisia cornitermitis. Mesonotum (a, fossae arrowed); nest of Cornitermes cf. bequaerti and the beetles coming out from the ventilation hole (b–d); locality map (e).