Coarazuphium lundi, Pellegrini & Ferreira & Zampaulo & Vieira, 2020

Pellegrini, Thais Giovannini, Ferreira, Rodrigo Lopes, Zampaulo, Robson De Almeida & Vieira, Letícia, 2020, Coarazuphium lundi (Carabidae: Zuphiini), a new Brazilian troglobitic beetle with the designation of a neotype for C. pains Álvares & Ferreira, 2002, Zootaxa 4878 (2), pp. 287-304 : 289-292

Coarazuphium lundi sp. nov. Pellegrini, Ferreira & Vieira

Type material. Holotype: Male, with labels and data: white, black-framed, black printed “ Projeto Limeira—Pru-dente de Morais ( MG)—Gruta 06L—Zona Afótica—Data: 17.III.2019 — Zampaulo, R.A.; Reis, A.S. ” / white, handwritten, Nankin “ ISLA 65796” ( ISLA). Specimen preserved in alcohol 80%. Red label in the lid of the tube “ Coarazuphium lundi sp. nov. Pellegrini, Ferreira & Vieira / Holotype ”.

Remarks: The Holotype had the abdomen partially removed for genitalia dissection.

Type locality. The specimen is known from a single cave, Gruta 06L cave (19°26’29.0”S 44°06’26.9”W), located in Prudente de Morais municipality in Minas Gerais state, Brazil ( Figs. 1–4 ) .

Description. Holotype male ( Fig. 5 ). OBL: 4.15 mm; EW: 1.43 mm; HW/PW: 1.07. Body coloration yellow. Dorsal integument covered with short pubescence, except for glabrous top of the head.

Head. Subtrapezoidal ( Fig. 5 ), HW/HL: 0.90; HW: 0.78 mm. Head almost as wide as pronotum. Eyes flattened, ommatidia not visible at 50x. Fixed setae disposition in the head: dorsal surface with one pair in the clypeus; head capsule with anterior pair of supraorbital above eyes; one pair of postocular (pos) immediately behind eyes, laterally; posterior pair of supraorbitals (psos) posteriad eyes; one pair of occipital posteriorly close to posterior margin of head; also one pair posterior supernumerary laterally and close to posterior supraorbital setae; ventral surface with one pair close to the median line of head; and an anterior pair close to the margin of gular region ( Fig.6 ). Eyes situated laterally at the end of the genal sulcus, reduced ( Fig. 6 ), depigmented and lacking ommatidia. Mandibles falciform, sharp at tip, asymmetrical; outer margin of scrobes with 2 large and 5 shorter setae; inner scrobal keel bearing at least 4 shorter setae. Labial and maxillary palps as described for C. tessai ( Godoy & Vanin 1990) .

Antennae. Antennae filiform and flagellar, ( Fig. 5 ) AL: 3.44 mm; AL/PL: 3.93; A1L/A2–4L: 0.92. First antennomere (scape) with a long seta distally close to the apical portion, and a row of several semi-erect setae; 2 nd very short. Segments 3 rd– 10 th subequal, and almost round in cross-section, except for the tip of the terminal antennomere, which is laterally flattened.

Pronotum. Shape elongate and trapezoidal, PL/PW: 1.20 ( Figs. 5 and 7 ). Maximum widths close to the anterior angle, which is a little narrower than the head. Anterior angle rounded. Posterior angle acute. Dorsal surface with two pairs of lateral marginal erect setae: one close to the anterior 1/8 angles and the other shorter, close to the posterior-lateral angles. Ventral surface with one pair of anterior setae medially located ( Fig. 7 ).

Elytra. Elytra free, EL/EW: 1.68. Maximum width at about one third from the posterior margin, EW/PW: 1.95. Apex of elytra truncate, not sinuate ( Fig. 5 ). Setae of marginal umbilical serie 5 + 3 + 5 (2 short and 3 long humeral, 3 short lateral, 2 short and 3 long preapical ones). In addition, it shows a long and a short apical setae.

Hind wings. Brachypterous, EL/HWL: 1.99.

Abdomen. Abdominal tergites 1–5, glabrous, sixth sternum with a small pair of ventral setae at its posterior margin.

Legs. Profemur 1.11 times longer than the mesofemur and 0.78 times the length of metafemur. Protibia 1.06 times longer than the mesotibia and 0.78 times the length of metatibia. Protibia 1.28 times longer than protarsus. Mesotibia 0.89 times the length of mesotarsus, and metatibia 0.96 times the metatarsus. First tarsomere from pro-, meso-, and metatarsus almost equal to tarsomeres 2–4 together. Length of protibia and tarsus together 1.90 times the length of the pronotum. Mesotibia and tarsus length 2.14 times, and metatibia and tarsus length 2.81 times the length of pronotum.

Male genitalia. Phallus elongate and narrow (PAW/PAL: 0.20), slightly curved ventrally, tip narrowed and rounded, apical portion short (APL/PAL: 0.11), ostial membrane not very extensive (OML/PAL: 0.24) ( Figs. 8–10 ). Left paramere subtriangular, conchoids ( Fig. 8 ). Right paramere distinctly shorter, almost half of the left paramere (RPL/LPL: 0.49), triangular shape ( Fig. 10 ). The male genital segment is triangular shaped ( Fig. 11 ).

Differential diagnosis. All characteristics of C. lundi sp. nov. are consistent with the description of the genus Coarazuphium . This species differs from all other Coarazuphium by the following combination of characters: more reduced, flattened and depigmented eyes; elytra with almost parallel sides with maximum width in the posterior middle; elytra with apical margin truncate, not sinuate; head capsule dorsally with anterior pair of supraorbital setae; one pair of postocular setae (pos); a posterior pair of supraorbital setae; one pair of occipital setae and one pair posterior supernumerary setae; male right paramere broad, not styliform.

Etymology. The specific epithet honors the Danish naturalist Peter Wilhelm Lund, considered the founder of speleology as a science in Brazil. Peter Lund has worked for decades in the caves of Minas Gerais state, especially in the “Grupo Bambuí” caves and made remarkable contributions to Brazilian paleontology.

Habitat and ecological notes. “Caverna 06L” cave is located in one of the largest limestone outcrops in the Lagoa Santa karst region ( Figs. 1–4 ), which comprises one of the most expressive karst areas of Minas Gerais state. Located in the southern portion of the Bambuí Geological Group, this region is currently under considerable anthropization, especially from mining, agriculture, and urban expansion. To date, over 1200 caves have been registered in the area, of which around 500 have been biologically inventoried. This suggests that this species seems to be endemic to one cave, not being found in any other caves in the area.

The “Caverna 06L” cave presents two entrances, the main entrance and another formed by a skylight positioned in the intermediate portion of the main conduit. The cave is composed of a rectilinear conduit of approximately 100 meters. The single specimen found was collected in the final portion of the cavity, in an aphotic zone, near a guano deposit from hematophagous bats ( Desmodus rotundus Geoffroy, 1810 ). In this place, the floor is composed of fine sediment and it was extremely dry at the time of sampling. No Laboulbeniales fungi were observed in the Coarazuphium specimen collected.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Coarazuphium lundi sp. nov. male holotype, habitus dorsal view. Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURES 1–4. Geographic localization of Coarazuphium lundi sp. nov. 1. Localization of the Lagoa Santa Karst regions in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The grey area corresponds to the Bambui limestone group and the red triangle corresponds to Gruta 06L Cave, the type locality of C. lundi type locality; 2. Main conduit from Gruta 06L Cave; 3. Gruta 06L Cave locality type at Maciço Limeira; 4. Detail at the Maciço Limeira outcrop. (Photograph 2 from Robson de Almeida Zampaulo; 3 and 4 from Allan Silas Calux).

FIGURES 6–11. Coarazuphium lundi sp. nov. male holotype. 6. Head, pronotum and prothorax, lateral view; 7. Prothorax, ventral view; 8. Aedeagus left view; 9. Aedeagus dorsal view; 10. Aedeagus right view; 11. Genital segment capsule. Scale bar = 0.1 mm.