Liogenys tibialis Moser, 1918

Cherman, Mariana Alejandra, Mise, Kleber Makoto, Moron †, Miguel Angel, Vaz-de-Mello, Fernando Z. & Almeida, Lucia Massutti de, 2017, A taxonomic revision of Liogenys occurring in Brazil with an interactive key and remarks on New World Diplotaxini (Coleoptera, Melolonthidae), ZooKeys 699, pp. 1-120 : 70-74

Liogenys tibialis Moser, 1918 Figs 77, 90

Liogenys tibialis Moser, 1918: 107 (orig. desc.); Blackwelder 1944: 228 (check.); Frey 1969: 40 (junior syn. of L. palmata ). Stat. Rest.

Type material.

Liogenys tibialis male syntype (ZMHB): [white printed] "Brasilia/ [handwritten] Theresopolis", [white handwritten] " Liogenys / tibialis Mos/Typen", [red printed] “Typus”, [white printed] "CUM TYPO/COMPARATUM", [white handwritten] " Liogenys / palmatus /Burm/[printed] det. G. Frey 1968". Genitalia mounted. As it is the unique primary type, it is considered the holotype.

Non-type material.

BRAZIL. MG: Passa Quatro, 19/IX/1922, 915 m, J. Zikan col., 1 ex.(CEIOC); RJ: Bomsucesso, VIII/1922, Barros col., 1 ex. (CEIOC); Petrópolis, Mosela, 24/I/1956, D’Albuquerque col., 1 ex. (MNRJ); Itatiaia, XI/1947, 900 m, Nick col., 1 ex. (CMNC); 1/I/1927, Ohaus col., 2 ex. (SDEI); I/1968, Dirings col., 1 ex. (MZSP); 1/X/1926, 700 m, J. Zikan col., 1 ex.; 9/I/1929, 700 m, J. Zikan col., 1 ex.; 20/IX/1929, 700 m, J. Zikan col., 1 ex.; 14/X/1937, W. Zikan col., 1 ex. (CEIOC); X/1962, 900 m, L. Almeida and O. Mielke cols., 1 ex. (MNRJ); 18/IX/1935, without collector, 1 ex.; 19/X/1944, 700 m, without collector, 2 ex.; XI/1947, 700 m, without collector, 1 ex. (MNRJ); "Fazenda Penedo", 19/XI/1942, Rygod col., 1 ex. (MNRJ); "Lago azul", 19/VI/1954, Daicy, Barros, Pearson cols., 4 ex. (MNRJ); 1 ex. (ZMHB); Theresopolis, without date and collector, 1 ex. (ZMHB); “Soberbo”, 15/X/1978, Becker, 1 ex. (MCNZ); SP: without date, M. Melzer col., 1 ex.; without date, J Metz col., 1 ex. (SDEI); São Paulo, without date and collector, 3 ex. (MNRJ); 21/IX/1914, without collector, 1 ex. (CEIOC); Alto da Serra, without date and collector, 1 ex. (DZUP); without date and collector, 1 ex. (ZMHB); “Paranapiacaba”, 30/III/1924, R. Spitz col., 1 ex. (MNRJ); I/1928, without collector, 1 ex. (MZSP); without date and collector, 1 ex. (CMNC); Ipiranga, without date and collector, 1 ex. (MZSP); 12/V/1983, without collector, 1 ex. (CMNC); 29/IX/1926, Ohaus col., 1 ex.; 15/X/1926, Ohaus col., 1 ex. (SDEI); 24/IX/1926, Ohaus col., 1 ex. (NHMB); 23/IX/1937, Lange de Morretes col., 1 ex. (MZSP); Santo Amaro, XII/1958, J. Lane, 2 ex.; X/1958, J. Lane, 1 ex. (IBSP); Salesópolis, Boracéia, 17/X/1960, Lenko col. 1 ex. (MZSP); Campos do Jordão, "Par que Estadual Campos do Jordão”, 15/X/1992, Exp. MZSP col., 1 ex. (MZSP); PR: Curitiba, XI/1938, without collector, 1 ex. (IBSP); Piraquara, Manancial da serra do Mar, 25°29'46"S, 48°58'54"W, 16/XII/2006, 1000 m, Rafael and Melo cols., 1 ex. (INPA); Campo Largo/ Estr. de Cerne Km 45, 22/XI/1979, without collector, 1 ex.; Campo tenente, 10/X/1973, Buzzi col., 1 ex.; Morretes, “Marumbi”, 14/I/1967, 500 m, Laroca and Nigro cols., 1 ex.; 15-16/X/1966, 500 m, Mielke and Laroca cols., 2 ex.; 6/X/1967, 500 m, Laroca and Giacomel cols., 1 ex.; 14/II/1967, 500 m, without collector, 1 ex.; 16-17/I/1970, Laroca and Becker cols., 1 ex. (DZUP); Ponta Grossa, XI/1954, without collector, 1 ex.; X/1957, without collector, 1 ex. (DZUP); Guaratuba, Estr. Dos Castelhanos, 9/IX/2007, JA Rafael and P Grossi cols., 6 ex. (EPGC); SC: Rancho Queimado, 15-18/XI/1995, Bonaldo col., 1 ex. (MCNZ), Hansa Humboldt [ Corupá], III/1954, 60 m, without collector, 1 ex. (DZUP).

Diagnosis.

Body brownish; elongate; elytra testaceous to brownish, pronotum darker, reddish brown in males and dark brown in females; clypeal emargination sub-angled and wide; outer sides of anterior teeth sub-parallel; clypeal lateral margin slightly convex in males and straight in females; male mesotibia quadrate in cross section, sub-quadrate to cylindrical in females; male metafemur medially produced on posterior margin; inner margin of male metatibia medially produced towards apex; pygidium varies from flat to convex, as wide as it is long; pygidial disc bristled only on apex; male ventrites slightly elevated along the midline from ventrite I to V; genitalia, parameral split on third portion; total length of parameres near three times the length of their apex; inner margins straight or slightly convergent; apex harpoon-like with lateral angle projecting straight downward (Fig. 77F).

Redescription.

Length: 13.5-14.5 mm; width: 6.4-7.3 mm. Brownish. Head: distance between eyes nearly twice the width of one eye; frons equal in length to clypeus; clypeal emargination sub-angled, shallow and wide; outer sides of anterior teeth sub-parallel; outer margin of anterior tooth shorter than the eye; clypeal lateral margin slightly convex in males and straight in females; canthus not exceeding the outer margin of the eye; distal maxillary palpomere, maximum width less than twice the width of apex; fovea shallow, extending past the transverse midline of the palpomere; labium transversely carinated, as wide as it is long; antenna 10-articulated, lamellae lighter in color and longer than flagellum. Thorax: anterior margin of pronotum slightly produced medially; maximum length of pronotum exceeding the length of tarsomeres I, II and III together; disc glabrous, punctures sparse and coarse; pronotal posterior corners sharp, almost right-angled; proepisternum with short bristles; mesepisternum scaly; sides of metasternum scaly and bristled, few long bristles on the anterior margin; distance between meso- and metacoxae up to twice longer than the metacoxa; scutellum ogival, finely punctured at the sides. Elytra: shiny, glabrous, slightly pruinose in females; uniform brownish to testaceous, lighter in color than pronotum; elytra more than three times longer than the pronotum; elytral suture slightly darker than elytron and distinctly elevated; two pairs of inner ridges more noticeable than the two outer pairs. Legs: procoxa scaly on infra-carinal and outer surface; punctures visible at 12 × magnification; three protibial teeth, middle and apical equal in size, the three teeth equally spaced; protibial inner apical spur present; mesofemural disc setose, with a row of long bristles on anterior and posterior margins; mesotibia quadrate in cross section in males, sub-quadrate to cylindrical in females; disc coarsely sculptured, mesotibial apical transverse carina in males partial or complete, in females always complete; basal apophysis of metacoxa produced beyond the outer margin of trochanter; male metafemur medially produced on posterior margin; inner margin of male metatibia carinated and medially produced towards apex, apical inner surface setose; metatibial disc finely sculptured; two metatibial transverse carinae present posteriorly and posterior discontinuous longitudinal carina; metatibial apical spurs equal in length, length equal to the diameter of the tibial apex, protarsomere II long; basal metatarsomere equal to tarsomere II in length and width; in males pro- and mesotarsomeres I to IV enlarged, protarsomeres slightly wider than the mesotarsomeres and more than twice as wide as metatarsi; claw bifid, symmetrical, superior tooth longer and as wide as the inferior; distance between teeth shorter than the inferior tooth. Abdomen: ventrites bristled on disc, in males ventrite I to V slightly elevated along the midline; propygidium visible, glabrous; pygidium flat or convex, sub-trapezoidal, as wide as it is long; pygidial width not exceeding distance between spiracles of propygidium, pygidial disc bristled only on apex; pygidial apex in males quadrate. Parameres: width of basal region equal to the parameres together at its transverse midline, parameral split at the third portion; total length of parameres near three times the length of their apex; inner margins straight or slightly convergent; apex harpoon-like with lateral angle projecting straight downward (Fig. 77F). In lateral view, parameres strongly concave (Fig. 77G).

Type-locality.

BRAZIL. Teresópolis, Rio de Janeiro.

Geographical distribution.

BRAZIL (MG, RJ, SP, PR, SC, RS).

Remarks.

Liogenys tibialis resembles L. punctaticollis (Fig. 69A), L. spiniventris (Fig. 73A) and L. testaceipennis (Fig. 76A) in color, size, elongate body, sides almost parallel and metatibiae flattened, among other several characters that relate them, as seen in Cherman et al. (2016). The most closely related species of L. tibialis is L. punctaticollis which also show ventrites not furnished with projections and, thus, they both differ from the other two species of the clade. Frey (1969) synonymized Liogenys tibialis with L. palmata and later the same author ( Frey 1974) synonymized L. palmata with L. punctaticollis , being the last one the senior synonym of the other two. After studying the primary types of the all three species, we verified that L. punctaticollis and L. palmata are indeed conspecific, but it differs in that L. tibialis has the clypeal lateral margin slightly convex in males, metatibial disc more coarsely sculptured; the elytra more shiny in females and parameres are also distinctive. Liogenys tibialis parameres are near three times the length of their apex, and the apex has the lateral angle projecting straight downward. Instead, Liogenys punctaticollis parameres are near five times the length of their apex, inner margins more separated and apex with lateral angle curved projecting almost perpendicular to parameres. Also, in males of L. tibialis the abdomen, although not produced, it is slightly elevated along the midline from ventrite I to V. We concluded that L. tibialis is a valid name. When Frey (1969) synonymized L. tibialis with L. palmata , he put an additional label under L. tibialis primary type: "CUM TYPO/COMPARATUM". As this type specimen bears the labels written by Moser (1918), including the type-locality “Theresópolis” and Moser described the species based only on one specimen, this one is considered the holotype.