Scolytodes tristis Jordal and Smith, 2020

Jordal, Bjarte H. & Smith, Sarah M., 2020, Scolytodes Ferrari (Coleoptera, Scolytinae) from Ecuador: 40 new species, and a molecular phylogenetic guide to infer species differences, Zootaxa 4813 (1), pp. 1-67 : 47

Scolytodes tristis Jordal and Smith , sp. nov.

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( Figs 92, 95, 98 )

Type material. Holotype, female: Ecuador: Napo Prov., Res. Ethnica Waorani, 1km S Onkone Gare Camp., Trans. Et. , 00°39’10’’S, 76°26’W, 220m elev., January 1996, T.L. Erwin et al. collectors, indiv #000630 . Paratype: same data as holotype, except July 1994 (indiv #000966) . Holotype and one paratype temporarily held in trust at USNM for MECN .

Diagnosis. Interstriae 10 sharply elevated to apex. Protibiae without an additional mesal tooth. Pronotum lightly asperate on anterior third. The combination a small tuft of setae only on lower female frons, and punctures on the pronotum reaching the frontal margin in between distinct asperities, makes this species unrelated to the other known species which have long interstriae 10 and a smooth posterior face of the protibiae. It is closely related to S. peniculus , but differs by the lack of an additional mesal tooth on protibiae, more confused interstrial punctures, the narrowly separated eyes, and a smaller tuft of setae in the female frons. It is also similar to S. parallelus (Schedl, 1962) , but the new species has a less elongated body, and some erect setae are present on the elytra.

Description, female. Length 1.8–1.9 mm, 2.5 × as long as wide; colour dark brown. Head. Eyes entire, separated above by 1.1 × their width. Frons flattened on a triangular area from epistoma to just below upper level of eyes, lightly punctured and reticulate above, flattened area covered by protruding, thick, curved setae. Antennal club pilose, sutures barely indicated, strongly procurved, segment 1 partly corneous. Funiculus possibly 5-segmented. Pronotum strongly reticulate, punctures barely reaching anterior margin, on basal two-thirds spaced by their diameter, on anterior third smaller, surface with distinct asperities. Vestiture consisting of 4 long, erect setae (2-0-2). Elytra smooth, shiny; striae more or less regular, not impressed, punctures small, shallow, spaced by 1.5–2.0 × their diameter; interstrial punctures similar to striae, slightly more spaced, increasingly confused posteriorly. Interstriae 10 sharply raised to apex. Vestiture consisting of 20–30 erect setae, mainly posteriorly on interstriae 9, a few near basal margin and on declivity. Legs. Procoxae separated by 0.1 × the width of one procoxa. Mesocoxae separated by 0.4 × the width of a procoxa. Protibiae narrow, distal teeth 1 slightly longer than 2, with 4–5 lateral spines or granules decreasing in size towards tibial base; protibial mucro short, curved posterio-laterally. Meso- and metatibiae with 7 and 6 socketed teeth on distal half and third, respectively. Ventral vestiture. Setae on mesanepisternum plumose, on metasternum and metanepisternum simple.

Male. Unknown.

Key ( Wood 2007). Keys to couplet 23 (ambiguous), and then to couplet 33, S. ovalis (Eggers, 1940) , which is a very different species. Because the holotype of S. parallelus is likely a male, and not a female, one could possibly navigate to couplet 24 with a male.

Etymology. The Latin name tristis is a masculine-feminine nominative adjective meaning sad or gloomy, referring to the dark-coloured frons with narrowly separated eyes.

Biology and distribution. Known only from the lowland type locality in Ecuador. It was collected by canopy fogging .

Figures

FIGURES 91–99. Dorsal, lateral and frontal views of the female holotype of Scolytodes peniculus (91, 94, 97), Scolytodes tristis (92, 95, 98), and Scolytodes chrysifrons (93, 96, 99).