Laccodytes bassignanii, Toledo, Mario, Spangler, Paul J. & Balke, Michael, 2010

Toledo, Mario, Spangler, Paul J. & Balke, Michael, 2010, Taxonomic revision of the Neotropical diving beetles genus Laccodytes Régimbart, 1895 (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae), Zootaxa 2347, pp. 37-58 : 52-53

Laccodytes bassignanii sp.n.

Figs (2, 27, 34, 50, 60, 62)

Type locality. Guyana: Mazaruni-Potaro District, Takutu Mountains.

Type material. Holotype 3 ( USNM): Guyana, Mazaruni-Potaro Distr., Takutu Mts., 6°15'N 59°5'W, Earthwatch research expedition, 18.XII.1983, P.J. Spangler, W.E. Steiner & M; Levine. Paratypes: Guyana: same data as holotype (9 exs CMT, USNM).

Venezuela: Tobogan de la Selva, S Puerto Ayacucho, 100 m, 24.-25.I.2004, Garcia & Balke (7 exs KUL, ZSM)

Diagnosis. Habitus ( Figs 2 , 34 ). Body length 1.6–1.8 mm. Body slightly drop-shaped, tip of elytron rather continuously rounded, hardly truncate. Hind angle of pronotum rounded. Angle between pronotum and elytra missing.

Color. Head and pronotum orange; base of pronotum blackish. Elytron dark orange to brown with obscure paler pattern of dark yellowish patches in the following positions (refer to Fig. 34 for explanation): a subbasal transverse band and a subapical patch well before the tip of elytron. The subbasal band reaches the margin of elytron, where it may be in contact with the anterior angle of elytron; also the band is discally sometimes almost in touch with the base of elytron. The subapical patch is isolated. These patches are not contrasting and sometimes rather obscure. Specimens from Puerto Ayacucho share a much paler colouration than those from Guyana. Body appendages orange to yellowish. Ventral side of head, prosternum and epipleuron mainly orange to yellowish; metaventrite, metacoxa and metacoxal process mainly brownish; abdomen orange or dark yellowish.

Sculpture. The entire dorsal and ventral surface of the beetle with a faint MR. No obvious puncturation visible, not even on metaventrite. No longitudinal lines or longish meshes visible. A series of transverse shallow grooves is visible at about the anterior third of metacoxal plates.

Structures. Pronotum with narrow lateral bead; posterior angle rounded. Prosternum and prosternal process with small ridge; prosternal process broadly carinate and with a moderately long, needle-like, acute tip. Epipleuron broad up to level of sternite 6 or 7. Fore and middle legs very long and slender. Metatarsomeres 1–4 with apicolateral angle slightly lobed. Hind lobes of metacoxal process almost straight, with a small V-shaped notch between.

Male. Pro- and mesotarsi not dilated. Hind margin of sternite 7 rounded or very slightly tectiform ( Fig. 60 ). Aedeagus ( Fig. 50 ): median lobe elongate. In lateral view similar as in the preceding species but visibly flattened and twisted near the base; in dorsal view flat and moderately elongate, with tip slightly acute. Parameres very similar to those of L. neblinae , but the right one broader.

Female. Sternite 7 ( Fig. 60 ) normally rounded on both sides, hind margin with a V-shaped emargination in the middle, but less deep and more gently rounded at vertex than the preceding species.

Distribution ( Fig. 62). Northwestern Guyana, southern Venezuela.

Biology. Collected from Berlese funnles of leaf packs from a rocky stream.

Derivatio nominis. Species dedicated to the memory of Mario Toledo’s friend, Filippo Bassignani, recently deceased in Mozambique in the course of field studies.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 2. Habitus of: 1) Laccodytes rondonia sp. n.; 2) L. bassignanii sp. n.

FIGURES 28 – 39. Subschematic body shape and colour patterns: 28) Laccodytes apalodes; 29) L. rondonia; 30) L. americanus; 31) L. phalacroides; 32) L. takutuanus; 33 a – 33 b) L. neblinae (variation of elytral patterns); 34) L. bassignanii; 35) L. obscuratus; 36) L. olibroides; 37) L. androginus; 38) Laccodytes sp. 1.; 39) Laccodytes sp. 2.

FIGURES 54 – 61. Last abdominal segment (left male; right female) in Laccodytes species: 54) L. apalodes; 55) L. rondonia; 56) L. americanus; 57) L. phalacroides; 58) L. takutuanus; 59) L. neblinae; 60) L. bassignanii; 61) Laccodytes sp. 1 female.

FIGURES 48 – 53. Male genitals in Laccodytes species: 48) L. takutuanus: a) median lobe of aedeagus in dorsal view, b) in lateral view, c-d) right and left parameres; 49) L. neblinae: a) median lobe of aedeagus in dorsal view, b) in lateral view, c-d) right and left parameres; 50) L. bassignanii: a) median lobe of aedeagus in dorsal view, b-c) in dorsal-lateral and lateral view, d-e) right and left parameres; 51) L. obscuratus: a) median lobe of aedeagus in dorsal view, b) in lateral view, c-d) right and left parameres; 52) L. olibroides: a) median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view, b-c) right an left parameres; 53) L. androginus: a) median lobe of aedeagus in dorsal view, b) in lateral view, c-d) right and left parameres.