Tomarus maracaiboensis, Lopez-Garcia & Deloya, 2019

López-García, Margarita M. & Deloya, Cuauhtémoc, 2019, Five New Species of the Dynastine Genus Tomarus Erichson (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), with an Illustrated Key to Species, The Coleopterists Bulletin 73 (1), pp. 127-141 : 130

Tomarus maracaiboensis López-Garc´ıa and Deloya, new species

Zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:10BCDC71-EA26-4D32-9CAC-BABC1468FE9F ( Figs. 7–9 )

Type Material. 36. Holotype labeled “Maracaibo” (16 USNM) . Paratypes: Same label data as holotype (16 USNM, 16 UNSM) .

Description. Holotype. Habitus as in Fig. 7 . Length 23.3 mm; width across humeri 2.2 mm. Color brown to black, venter slightly lighter. Head: Frons coarsely rugose. Frontoclypeal region with 2 triangular tubercles separated by about 7 tubercle diameters. Clypeus narrowed towards apex, base 3 times as wide as apex. Clypeal teeth triangular, separated by 1 tooth diameter. Mandibles with 2 apical, acute teeth and a rounded basal lobe. Interocular distance equal to 3.3 times eye width. Antennal club short, subequal in length to antennomeres 2–7. Pronotum: Surface smooth on disc, with minute punctures on lateral margins. Apical tubercle small and rounded. Fovea shallow, striate, and about half as wide as interocular distance. Elytra: First interval punctate, punctures smaller than on other intervals. Pygidium: Surface rugose on basal fourth and lateral angles, disc with minute punctures. Slightly convex in lateral view. Apex regularly rounded. Legs: Protibia tridentate with an additional small basal tooth. Protarsus subcylindrical, not enlarged; inner claw entire. Metatibia not narrowed before apex, sides nearly parallel. Apex of metatibia crenulate, with 8 spinules. Parameres: With 2 pairs of dorsal lateral teeth, both long and upwardly arched ( Figs. 8–9 ).

Variation. Male (2 paratypes): Length 20.9–21.1 mm; width across humeri 10.0– 12.3 mm. Apex of metatibia with 8–9 spinules.

Etymology. The name maracaiboensis refers to the type locality.

Distribution. Tomarus maracaiboensis is known only from Maracaibo, a municipality in northwestern Venezuela ( Fig. 23 ).

Diagnosis. This species can be recognized by the nearly impunctate pronotum, small pronotal tubercle and fovea, and tridentate protibia with an additional fourth basal tooth. It is similar to T. laevicollis , T. colombianus , and T. laticaudus but can be differentiated by the parameres with a very short apex and the apical teeth similar in shape and as long as the basal tooth.

Comments. Tomarus laticaudus , T. colombianus , and T. maracaiboensis are found at elevations below 100 m. In particular, T. colombianus and T. maracaiboensis , which are the most similar in external appearance, are from coastal areas in South America. However, they occur in very distinct regions. Tomarus colombianus lives in moist forest in the Biogeographic Chocó with extremely high levels of precipitation, whereas T. maracaiboensis is from dry forest in northern Venezuela.

Figures

Figs. 7–9. Tomarus maracaiboensis. 7) Habitus; 8) Parameres, frontal view; 9) Parameres, lateral view. Scale bars = 2 mm (Fig. 7), 0.5 mm (Figs. 8–9).

Fig. 23. Known localities of five newly described species of Tomarus from Central and South America.