Yumtaax cameliae Beza-Beza, Reyes-Castillo & Jameson

Beza-Beza, Cristian Fernando, Beck, James, Reyes-Castillo, Pedro & Jameson, Mary Liz, 2017, Phylogeny of the genus Yumtaax Boucher (Coleoptera, Passalidae, Proculini): Taxonomic and evolutionary implications with descriptions of three new species, ZooKeys 667, pp. 95-129 : 116-119

Yumtaax cameliae Beza-Beza, Reyes-Castillo & Jameson sp. n.

Material examined.

22 type specimens.

Holotype ♀. MEXICO: Veracruz, Acultzingo, Puerto del Aire, 2400 msnm, bosque mesófilo de montaña, encinar tronco 4, VII-16-80 (C. Castillo) (IEXA).

Paratypes (21 total). 1 ♂, 7 ♀ with same label data as holotype. MEXICO: 3 ♀, Veracruz, Acultzingo, VI-I-1963 (G. Halffter) (IEXA). 1 ♀, Acultzingo, Puerto del Aire, 2400 msnm, bosque mesófilo de montaña, encinar tronco 4, VII-17-80 (C. Castillo) (IEXA, CFBB). 2 ♂, 3 ♀, Acultzingo, Puerto del Aire, 2400 msnm, bosque mesófilo de montaña, encinar tronco 4, VIII-16-80 (C. Castillo) (IEXA, CFBB). 4 ♀, Acultzingo, Puerto del Aire, 2400 msnm, bosque mesófilo de montaña, encinar tronco 4, VIII-17-80 (C. Castillo) (IEXA, CFBB).

Diagnosis.

Yumtaax cameliae is a medium sized (22.5-25.5 mm), macropterous species that is part of the Y. laticornis clade (Fig. 4). This species is diagnosed by the following character combination: the clypeus is vertical (shared with Y. laticornis , Y. veracrucensis ; inclined in other members of Yumtaax ) and with the anterior border straight (shared with other members of Yumtaax except for Y. recticornis and Y. olmecae with concave anterior border of clypeus); mesofrontal structure (MFS) of the “striatopunctatus” type (see Reyes-Castillo 1970) (MFS of the “falsus” type in other members of Yumtaax ), with the central tooth largely free (shared with Y. recticornis , Y. laticornis , Y. veracrucensis , Y. mazatecus ; fused with frontal ridges in Y. jimenezi , Y. imbellis , Y. nebulosus , Y. olmecae ), elevated in the posterior half and bending abruptly forward in the anterior half (directed dorsally Y. recticornis , Y. imbellis , Y. nebulosus , Y. olmecae ; directed dorsally and anteriorly in Y. jimenezi , Y. mazatecus ; directed anteriorly in Y. veracrucensis , Y. laticornis ), reaching the clypeus (shared with Y. veracrucensis , Y. cameliae ; not reaching the clypeus in other members of Yumtaax ); and moderately reduced eyes (shared with Y. veracrucensis , Y. jimenezi , Y. nebulosus , Y. olmecae ; large in Y. recticornis , Y. imbellis ; strongly reduced in Y. laticornis , Y. mazatecus ).

Dimensions

(mm) (n = 4). Total length 22.5-25.5 ( χ = 24.0); elytral length 13.5-14.0 ( χ = 14.5); pronotal length 6.0-7.0 ( χ = 6.5); pronotal width 7.0-9.5 ( χ = 8.5); humeral width 7.0-8.0 ( χ = 7.5).

Description of holotype

(Fig. 8). Head (Fig. 8C). Labrum: anterior border concave, dorsal surface smooth and glabrous medially, punctate and setose apicolaterally, apically, and, basally; anterior edge excavated. Clypeus: vertical, rectangular, flat, shiny, and smooth. Frontoclypeal suture: straight, and shiny; external tubercles rounded, weak, directed dorsally and anteriorly. Frontal area: inclined, flat, smooth, and shiny; frontal ridges absent without inner tubercles. Frontal fossae: impunctate and glabrous. Mesofrontal structure (MFS): of the “striatopunctatus” type (see Reyes-Castillo 1970); base subparallel and narrower than MFS’ lateral ridge; center horn long with apex acute, largely free elevated in the posterior half bending abruptly forward in the anterior half (Fig. 8D), reaching the posterior margin of clypeus, dorsally without micro- punctures; base of center horn wide, not narrowing in the posterior half and narrowing abruptly in the anterior half until apex; dorsal fossa present at base of MFS. Occipital fossa: shallow posteriorly and deeper laterally connected with the frontal fossae. Posterior occipital sulcus concave. Supraorbital ridge: bituberculate, tubercles of similar size; posterior half of supraorbital ridge not bifurcated. Canthus: with apex rounded, covering less than 1/3 of the eye, not expanded distally. Eyes moderately reduced (distal edge of the eye more or less at the distal edge of the canthus), width = 0.6 mm (each eye). Head width (between posterior tubercles of the supraorbital ridge) = 4.3 mm. Ratio of sums of both eyes widths/total head width = 0.27; postocular area punctate and setose. Ligula: tridentate, central tooth surpassing apex of lateral teeth; lateral teeth rounded; glabrous punctures present in discal area; posterior border straight. Mentum: lateral lobes rectangular and wide, with setose punctures. Basomedial portion protruding ventrally; anterior border at middle convex; basal fossae present. Hypostomal process: without lateral depression; separated from mentum by a distance shorter than the width of the anterior width of hypostomal process. Infraocular ridge (Fig. 3): short and wide anteriorly, narrow posteriorly. Mandible: with 3 apical teeth; internal tooth of left mandible bidentate; dorsal tooth occupies half of length of the mandible. Pronotum: anterior angles rounded. Anterior fossae of marginal sulcus punctate. Lateral fossae impunctate. Marginal groove lacking punctures. Prosternum: opaque; prosternellum with anterior half and lateral edges opaque and posterior half and middle area shiny. Scutellum: smooth and glabrous. Mesosternum: with anterolateral areas opaque. Metasternum: with setae anterolaterally, lacking punctures in lateral margins of metasternal disc. Lateral fossae wide posteriorly with setose punctures. Elytra: anterior border straight. Meeting point of striae 1-10 (see Reyes-Castillo 1970) with one line of punctures. Wings: well developed. Legs: femur I with longitudinal anteroventral groove strongly developed, reaching distal end of femur, posteroventral half pubescent; setae long, sparse, reddish. Abdomen: last sternite with marginal groove complete and opaque laterally (Fig. 8B). Aedeagus (Fig. 8E, F, G) (based on male paratype): in dorsal view phallus globose (wider than long). In ventral view distal edges of phallus surpassing the distal edge of the parameres.

Variation.

Paratypes vary from the holotype in the following characters: internal tubercles obsolete to strongly developed; frontal ridges obsolete to strongly developed; frontal area glabrous to setose; ratio of eyes versus head width varies from 0.19-0.31; central area of the ligula always punctate, occasionally setose; pronotum with lateral fossae with or without strong punctures, even at the individual level (right vs left side of the pronotum); prosternellum shiny (one specimen of the type series) or opaque in anterior half; terminal sternite with lateral areas of the marginal groove opaque or not.

Etymology.

The species is named Y. cameliae , honoring Passalidae researcher Camelia Castillo whose research ( Castillo and Reyes-Castillo 1984) provided a better understanding of Yumtaax .

Distribution.

This species is known only from the type locality in Veracruz, Mexico. It was collected in a small patch of oak forest (bosque mesófilo de montaña) surrounding the Puerto del Aire village at 2400 m elevation.

Remarks.

Specimens of Y. cameliae were originally identified as Y. laticornis (9A in Castillo and Reyes-Castillo 1984). Close examination of the Y. laticornis holotype (see “Remarks” for Y. laticornis ) and distribution of the holotype suggested that Y. laticornis sensu Castillo and Reyes-Castillo and Y. laticornis Truqui do not correspond to the same species.