Akamboja monteirorum, Roza & Quintino & Mermudes & Silveira, 2017

Roza, André Silva, Quintino, Hingrid Yara Souza, Mermudes, José Ricardo Miras & Silveira, Luiz Felipe Lima Da, 2017, Akamboja gen. nov., a new genus of railroad-worm beetle endemic to the Atlantic Rainforest, with five new species (Coleoptera: Phengodidae, Mastinocerinae), Zootaxa 4306 (4), pp. 501-523 : 515

Akamboja monteirorum sp. nov. Roza, Quintino, Mermudes & Silveira

( Figs 27–30 and 43 )

Etymology. The name is in honor to the Monteiro family, especially our dear friends, Drs. Ricardo and Margarete. Their enthusiasm and contributions to Neotropical insect ecology are noteworthy. They also helped the last author to collect specimens of three species. Genitive, plural.

Diagnosis. Male.

Eyes occupying two thirds of head width, in lateral view ( Fig. 29 ). Apical maxillary palpomere 3.5x longer than subapical ( Fig. 29 ). Vertex occupying? of head in dorsal view ( Fig. 30 ). Elytron reaching the posterior margin of the fourth abdominal segment ( Fig. 27 ).

Description, male.

Measurements (n=5): Total length: 4.1–4.5 mm (aver. 4.3 mm). Head length: 0.5–0.7 mm (aver. 0.6 mm). Head width: 0.6–0.7 mm (aver. 0.6 mm). Pronotum length: 0.5–0.6 mm (aver. 0.55 mm). Pronotum maximum length: 0.5–0.6 mm (aver. 0.55 mm). Elytron length: 1.5–1.6 mm (aver. 1.55 mm). Elytron maximum width: 0.4 mm (aver. 0.4 mm). Elytral spot length: 0.2–0.3 mm (aver. 0.25 mm).

Morphology: Eyes occupying two thirds of head width, in lateral view ( Fig. 29 ). Vertex occupying? of head in dorsal view ( Fig. 30 ). Apical maxillary palpomere 3.5x longer than subapical ( Fig. 30 ). Head as wide as long ( Fig. 30 ). Elytron 3.5x longer than wide ( Fig. 27 ), reaching the posterior margin of the fourth abdominal segment, elytron apical spot occupying a fifth of the elytron ( Fig. 27 ).

Color. Body overall light brown. Pronotum dark to light brown. Elytron almost black to light brown, apex pale yellow, sometimes light brown. Wing venation black to light brown.

Immature and females. Unknown

Biology and distribution. Akamboja monteirorum sp. nov. seems to occur only during spring and summer. It inhabits high altitudinal areas of Itatiaia, on the Itatiaia massif, in the Serra da Mantiqueira mountain range, from 1280 to 1442 m. It is found on the montane forest.

Remarks. This species resembles Akamboja minimum sp. nov., but can be distinguished by its bigger size, elytron (the elytron of Akamboja minimum sp. nov. reaches the anterior margin of the second abdominal segment, while in Akamboja monteirorum sp. nov. it reaches the posterior margin of the third), smaller vertex (bigger in Akamboja minimum sp. nov.) and its high altitude occurrence (low altitude occurrence in Akamboja minimun sp. nov.). Akamboja monteirorum sp. nov. occurs only in montane forest (from 830 m to 1442 m), while Akamboja minimum sp. nov. occurs in lower montane forest (below 800 m) and partially in the montane forest (beginning in 600 m).

Type material. Holotype (male): BRAZIL. Rio de Janeiro. Itatiaia. Parque Nacional de Itatiaia. PENSA RIO Pt . 3, 22°25’42.6’’ S, 44°37’42,2’’ W, 1442 m, 1 male, 12.X.2013, R. Monteiro col. ( DZRJ). Paratypes (all male): BRAZIL. Rio de Janeiro. Itatiaia. Parque Nacional de Itatiaia . PENSA RIO Pt . 2, 22° 25’ 59,6” S, 44° 37’ 39,7” W, 1280 m, 1 male, 12. II.2015, R. Monteiro col. ( DZRJ); PENSA RIO Pt . 3, 22°25’42.6’’ S, 44°37’42,2’’ W, 1442 m, 1 male, 7.I.2015, R. Monteiro col. ( DZRJ); Parque Nacional de Itatiaia . Setor Lago Azul, Mata, Ponto M 3B, 22°27’01.10’’S, 44°36’55.30’’W, 830m, 2 males, 04.XII.2015 – 06.I.2016 ( MNRJ). Serra Negra , 2 males, 17.VII.2012, Mermudes col ( MZSP).

Figures

FIGURES 23 – 30. Akamboja cleidae sp. nov. 23 habitus, dorsal. 24 habitus, lateral. 25 head and pronotum, lateral. 26 head, dorsal. Akamboja monteirorum sp. nov., 27 habitus, dorsal. 28 habitus, lateral. 29 head and pronotum, lateral. 30 head, dorsal.

FIGURES 41 – 43. Map of Akamboja gen. nov. species distribution. Red dots mark the regions of occurrence of the species. Blue highlight marks the Serra do Mar mountain range high altitudinal areas. Yellow highlight marks Serra da Mantiqueira mountain range high altitudinal areas. Green highlight marks Tijuca Massif high altitudinal areas. The regions limits are approximated based on maps of project radambrasil (1983). 41 Akamboja minimum sp. nov. distribution. 42 Akamboja cleidae sp. nov. distribution. 43 Akamboja monteirorum sp. nov. distribution.