Lelegeis helenavictoriae, Bremer & Hauth, 2023

Bremer, Hans Joachim & Hauth, David, 2023, A new species of Lelegeis Champion, 1886 from lowland natural forest of the Amazon basin of Peru (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae, Diaperini), Zootaxa 5318 (2), pp. 291-294 : 291-293

Lelegeis helenavictoriae sp. n.

( Figs 1a , 2a, c , 3a )

Type material. Holotype, ♁, MHNSM: Peru, Dept. Huánuco, Panguana ACP, 9.6121°S 74.9357°W, 230 m, XII.2017, | Fogging, leg. Floren, ZSM-HYM-FOG, 171210 | HOLOTYPE, Lelegeis helenavictoriae sp. nov., Bremer & Hauth 2023.

Paratype, ♁, ZSM: Peru, Dept. Huánuco, Panguana ACP, Río Yuyapichis , 9°37’S – 74°56’W, 230 m, 28.VIII.2018, A. Floren leg., | Fogging, B 104 ZSM-HYM-Fog1809104 | PARATYPE, Lelegeis helenavictoriae sp. nov., Bremer & Hauth 2023 | SNSB-Zoologische Staatssammlung München ( ZSM) ZSM-COL-00073 .

Body length 3.13+ 3.45 mm. Body width 1.94+2.00 mm. Width/length pronotum 1.94+ 1.99 mm; length/width elytra 1.25+ 1.32 mm.

Coloration. Pronotum and frons black, with slightly reduced luster, clypeus dark brown to brown. Elytra brown, luster somewhat reduced. Legs brown; antennomeres 1–4 yellow, 5–10 black, 11 except the darker base yellow; underside dark brown.

Head. Frons somewhat convex longitudinally, epistome nearly flat, not separated by a grooved epistomal suture from frons. Frons with relatively dense, minute punctures, origin of tiny, recumbent hairs; punctures on clypeus somewhat larger, also with similar hairs. Eyes large, reniform, frons somewhat higher situated than eyes. Antennae short, bent backwards just reach to the elytral base; starting with antennomere 6 somewhat widened, antennomere 10 wider than long; antennomere 11 rounded.

Pronotum wide, uniformly convex transversely, slightly micro reticulated, with small, but distinct punctures.

Elytra. Scutellar shield indicated pentagonal. Elytra relatively short, very convex transversely but elytral borders visible from above, moderately convex longitudinally. Eight rows of small punctures, punctures situated within translucent darker-colored areas; rows 4 plus 5 unconnected, 24 punctures in row 4; intervals flat, allusively micro reticulated.

Ventral side. Prosternum closely punctured, punctures large; episterna of prosternum with only a few tiny punctures; prosternal process elongate oval, with its greatest width at the procoxae, protruding horizontally posteriorly.

Legs. Tibiae short. Outer side of protibiae not dentate, meso and metatibiae dentate. In males basal protarsomeres widened and flattened, their soles are pushed underneath the protarsomeres 2; protarsomeres 3–5 of usual shape; basal mesotarsomeres prolonged and widened and pushed underneath mesotarsoneres 2; mesotarsomeres 3–5 of usual shape; metatarsomeres in males of usual shape, lengths of metatarsomeres 1 to metatarsomeres 2–4 15/25.

Etymology. This species is dedicated to Helena Victoria Nagy in gratitude for the support of the research institution ACP Panguana.

Differential diagnosis. By shape and coloration Lelegeis helenavictoriae sp. n. ( Fig. 1a ) resembles Lelegeis pytanga collected in remnants of the Atlantic Forests of Southeast Brazil.

Lelegeis helenavictoriae sp. n. differs from L. pytanga by body size: body length of L. pytanga 6.32–8.00 mm versus L. helenavictoriae 3.13–3.45 mm, furthermore, the basal mesotarsomere is not widened in males in L. pytanga (widened in L. helenavictoriae ) ( Fig. 2c )). The shape of aedeagus of L. pytanga (the image presented in Aloquio & Lopes-Andrade 2017) is very similar to the shape of aedeagus of L. helenavictoriae ; ( Fig. 3a ), the shape of aedeagus of L. helenavictoriae is quite different from the shape of aedeagus of L. nigrifrons .

The photograph of L. nigrifrons is from a specimen which was collected at same location where also L. helenavictoriae sp. n. was collected.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Legeleis spp., habitus. a—L. helenavictoriae sp. n., male; b—L. nigrifrons (Chevrolat, 1878), male from Panguana.

FIGURE 2. Legeleis spp., tarsi of male. a—protarsus of L. helenavictoriae sp. n.; b—protarsus of L. nigrifrons (Chevrolat, 1878); c—mesotarsus of L. helenavictoriae sp. n.; d—mesotarsus of L. nigrifrons (Chevrolat, 1878).

FIGURE 3. Legeleis spp., aedeagus. a—L. helenavictoriae sp. n., b—L. nigrifrons (Chevrolat, 1878).