Liogenys clipeosetosa Cherman, 2021

Cherman, Mariana A., Basílio, Daniel S., Mise, Kleber M., Frisch, Johannes, Smith, Andrew B. T. & Almeida, Lúcia M., 2021, Liogenys Guerin-Méneville, 1831 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae Diplotaxini) of northern South America and Central America: taxonomic overview with four new species, Zootaxa 4990 (2), pp. 201-226 : 203-206

Liogenys clipeosetosa Cherman , new species

Figs. 2 , 9 .

Type material. Holotype male, labeled: [green typeset] “Venezuela / F. Kummerow S.”, [red typeset and handwritten] “ LIOGENYS / CLIPEOSETOSA / HOLOTYPE / Cherman M. A.”, genitalia mounted ( ZMHB) . Paratypes (10) all bearing the label [yellow, typeset and handwritten] “ LIOGENYS / CLIPEOSETOSA / PARATYPE / Cherman M. A.”. Six female paratypes bearing the same data of the holotype ( ZMHB). Three female paratypes with the label: [green, outlined, typeset] “Hist. Coll. ( Coleoptera ) / Nr. 24131 / Liogenys quadridens Burm. / Columb., Moritz. / Zool. Mus. Berlin” ( ZMHB). One female paratype with the data: [white, typeset] “ VENEZUELA: Lara / 20 km. E. Carora / 24-VI-1976 / Holotype and nine paratypes deposited at ZMHB. One paratypes at USNM .

Additional material. Three females ( FSCA) were port interceptions from Gulfport, Mississippi, United States of America in Musa (Musaceae) (bananas, plantains, etc.) originating from Colombia. We examined photographs of these specimens provided by John Leavengood ( United States Department of Agriculture, Tampa, Florida, United States of America). No specific locality was available within Colombia and it is likely that these specimens were attracted to lights during the packing or loading of this commodity.

Diagnosis. Body light brown; elongate ( Fig. 2A–B ), elytra light brown to yellowish brown, pronotum reddish brown, head darker; clypeus quadridentate; clypeal emargination deep, rounded, and wide; anterior teeth sometimes twice the length of the lateral teeth ( Fig. 2C ); distance between lateral and anterior clypeal teeth longer than basal width of one anterior tooth; angle between lateral and anterior clypeal teeth 90º or acute; clypeus and part of the frons with bristles; pronotum roughly punctate; pronotal corners rounded or subangulate; mesotibia quadrate in cross section ( Fig. 2D ); pygidium flat or slightly convex, depressed medially ( Fig. 2E–F ), pygidial disc with short bristles throughout, bristles longer on apex; males with protarsomere II up to twice the length of protarsomere I in dorsal view; parameres elongate, inner margins straight; lateral expansion along the parameres length entirely visible in dorsal view; apex harpoon-shaped, lateral spine projected backwards, slightly convergent compared to the outer margin of the parameres; spine length slightly longer than the apex, subapical and part of the apex not elevated on midline ( Figs. 1E , 2G ).

Holotype. Male. Length: 12.0 mm, width: 5.8 mm. Light brown. Head: darker than pronotum, distance between eyes less than twice the width of one eye; frons equal in length to clypeus; frontoclypeal surface with bristles, clypeal emargination deep, rounded, and wide; outer sides of anterior teeth parallel; outer margin of anterior teeth shorter than the eye in dorsal view; clypeus convex laterally and strongly produced forming a conspicuous, tooth-like projection; distance between lateral and anterior teeth longer than basal width of one anterior tooth, distance between lateral tooth and anterior margin of eye equal to one eye length, angle between anterior and lateral teeth approximately 90º; canthus not exceeding the outer margin of the eye; distal maxillary palpomere, maximum width more than twice the width at apex; fovea shallow, extending past the transverse midline of the palpomere; antenna with 10 antennomeres, club lighter in color and longer than funicle. Thorax: pronotal anterior margin slightly produced medially, undulate and flanged; anteriorly and on posterolateral surface depressed, sulcate medially; pronotal disc glabrous, punctures sparse medially and rugose on anterior margin; pronotal posterior corners rounded; hypomere with few long bristles; mesepisternum scaly; anterior portion and sides of metaventrite with bristles; distance between mesocoxae and metacoxae nearly twice the width of the metacoxa; scutellum ogival, sparse punctures. Elytra: shiny, uniform yellowish brown, lighter in color than pronotum; elytra near three times the length of pronotum; elytral suture slightly darker than elytron and not elevated; all four elytral ridges weakly defined. Legs: procoxa with long bristles on infra-carinal surface, fine scales and short bristles on outer surface; three protibial teeth, middle and apical teeth equal in size, distance between basal and middle teeth longer than between middle and apical teeth; mesofemur with a row of long bristles on anterior and posterior margins, mesotibia quadrate in cross section, surface coarsely sculptured, mesotibia with two transverse carinae, the apical carina incomplete; metacoxa with bristles throughout; basal articular lobe of metacoxa produced beyond the outer margin of trochanter; inner margin of metatibia carinate and produced on apex, apical inner surface with scattered bristles, metatibial surface coarsely sculptured; metatibial transverse carina and discontinuous longitudinal carina present posteriorly; protarsomere II elongate; protarsomeres and mesotarsomeres I–IV enlarged, protarsomeres slightly wider than mesotarsomeres, more than twice the width of metatarsomeres; metatarsomere I and metatarsomere II equal in length; claw bifid, symmetrical, outer tooth of a claw longer and as wide as the inner tooth; distance between teeth shorter than the inner tooth. Abdomen: disc of ventrites with sparse bristles; propygidium with bristles, pygidium flat, subtrapezoidal, wide, pygidial width exceeding distance between spiracles of propygidium; pygidial disc glabrous except for a few bristles on apex, pygidial disc coarsely punctate; depressed medially; pygidial apex quadrate. Parameres: basal region slightly wider than both sections of the parameres at its midline; parameral split at 2/3 the length of the basal region; inner margins straight; lateral expansion along the parameres length entirely visible in dorsal view; apex harpoon-shaped, laterally expanded and blunt projected. Parameres concave in lateral view ( Fig. 2H ).

Variation. Female paratypes. Length: 11.2–12.6 mm; width 5.4–6.3 mm. As the holotype except pygidial apex rounder, wider and somewhat convex, not depressed medially. Some females have the clypeal teeth noticeable longer. One female from Venezuela has a subtrapezoidal pygidium .

Etymology. Adjective in the nominative singular. From the Latin clipeus (clypeus) + Latin setosus, from seta (“bristle”).

Type locality. Venezuela.

Geographical distribution. COLOMBIA, VENEZUELA (Lara).

Remarks. Liogenys clipeosetosa Cherman , new species resembles L. quadridens in the body color and size, shape of the quadridentate clypeus, pygidium, and somewhat in the shape of the male parameres. Liogenys clipeosetosa differs ( L. quadridens in parenthesis) in the clypeus with bristles (clypeus glabrous), fovea of the distal maxillary palpomere shallow, surface almost flat (fovea deep); pronotal anterior margin flanged (flange less conspicuous or absent); pronotum depressed anteriorly and on posterolateral surface, sulcate medially (not as so); pronotal disc roughly punctate mainly on anterior margin (pronotal disc less coarse and uniformly punctate); males with the protarsomere II longer than wide (as wide as it is long); apex of parameres entirely flat and lateral expansion along the parameres length entirely visible in dorsal view (subapical and proximal part of the apex elevated medially and lateral expansion of parameres partially hidden, visible from the midline up to the subapical portion).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Clypeus and pronotum: Liogenys quadridens (Fabricius, 1798) A) male, B) female; L. quadridentata Blanchard, 1851 C) male, D) female. Parameres of E) L. quadridens and F) L. clipeosetosa Cherman new species. Black arrows indicate: A, C) angle between anterior and lateral teeth on clypeus; lateral expansion along the parameres F) entirely visible or E) partially hidden, E) disc of subapical portion and base of apex elevated.

FIGURE 2. Liogenys clipeosetosa Cherman new species male holotype views: A) dorsal, B-C) dorsal and clypeus of female, D) lateral, E) posterior, F) posterolateral of pygidium, and parameres G) dorsal and H) lateral. Black arrow indicates the F) medial depression of pygidium.

FIGURE 9. Geographical distribution of the Liogenys of A) the northern South America and Central America, overlapping records in B) Panama and in C) Venezuela.