Phelister morbidus, Caterino & Tishechkin, 2020

Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2020, Recognition and revision of the Phelister blairi group (Histeridae, Histerinae, Exosternini), ZooKeys 1001, pp. 1-154 : 1

26. Phelister morbidus sp. nov. Figs 17A, B , 18A, B , Map 11

Type material.

Holotype male: " Brazil: Minas Gerais, Águas Vermelhas 15°45'S, 41°28'W [-15.75, -41.4667]. Cad. de serpent. Dec 1983" / "Caterino/Tishechkin Exosternini Voucher EXO-00381" (MNHN).

Other material.

Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, Nova Friburgo, 17 km S (-22.3845, -42.5583), 750 m, 1/23/00, carrion trap, secondary montane Atlantic forest, F. Génier & S. Ide, SM0809245 (SEMC, 1ex.); Rio de Janeiro, Nova Friburgo, Sans Souci (-22.3, -42.6), 11/9/09-11/15/09, FIT, E. Grossi, DZUP 272506 (DZUP, 1ex.); Rio de Janeiro, Macaé de Cima, Nova Friburgo (-22.3816, -42.4819), 1030 m, 10/1/03-10/31/07, FIT (AKTC & CHND, 3ex.).

Diagnostic description.

Length: 1.77-2.17 mm (avg. 2.02 mm); width: 1.58-1.81 mm (avg. 1.72 mm). Body elongate oval, convex, very faintly bicolored, rufescent with elytra slightly darker than pronotum or pygidia, ground punctation inconspicuous, very fine and sparse; frons depressed along midline; supraorbital stria present, detached from sides of frontal; frontal stria complete or with central portion detached from sides (type); epistoma with sides angularly subcarinate; labrum shallowly emarginate at apex; mandibles lacking basal teeth; pronotum with semicircular prescutellar impression, slightly broader than scutellum; pronotal disk with numerous secondary punctures in lateral thirds; marginal pronotal stria complete along sides and front; submarginal striae absent; elytron with single complete epipleural stria; outer subhumeral stria present in apical 1/2, inner absent; dorsal striae 1-4 complete, 4th arched to suture, 5th present in apical 1/2, sutural stria present in apical 2/3; all dorsal striae finely impressed; propygidium with secondary punctures rather dense in basal 2/3, sparser apically; pygidium with secondary punctures only in basal 1/3; prosternal keel emarginate at base, rather broad, flat, with striae united along base and weakly convergent, meeting anteriorly; prosternal lobe short, lacking marginal stria; mesoventrite produced at middle, with complete marginal stria continued at side by postmesocoxal stria, which is short, ending freely behind outer edge of coxa; mesometaventral stria angulate at middle, reaching anterior third of mesoventrite, continued by lateral metaventral stria to middle of metacoxa; 1st abdominal ventrite impunctate, with single, incomplete lateral stria; protibia with outer margin weakly dentate, with ~ six marginal spines; outer margins of meso- and metatibiae with few fine marginal spines; all tarsi with ventral setae at least moderately flattened. Male: aedeagus very elongate, narrow; basal piece 1/4 length of tegmen; tegmen narrowed from base to apex, apices strongly hooked; medioventral process absent; median lobe ~ 1/2 tegmen length, thin.

Etymology.

With two specimen records coming from carrion traps, this species is named for its ‘morbid’ apparent interest in dead carcasses.

Distribution.

This species is only known from a couple localities in east-central Brazil (Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais).

Remarks.

This species can best be recognized by the combination of its detached central portion of the frontal stria, the relatively broad prosternal keel, and the lack of a stria along the margin of the prosternal lobe. Due to the broad distributional gap between the known localities, we restrict the type series to the single holotype specimen from Minas Gerais (from which we illustrated the male genitalia).

Figures

Map 11. Collecting records for Phelister morbidus (circles), P. annulatus (squares), and P. sphaericus (stars).

Figure 17. A, B Phelister morbidus: A dorsal habitus B ventral habitus C, D P. annulatus: C dorsal habitus D ventral habitus E, F P. sphaericus: E dorsal habitus F ventral habitus G, H P. geijskesi: G dorsal habitus H ventral habitus.

Figure 18. Male genitalia A, B Phelister morbidus: A aedeagus, dorsal B aedeagus, lateral C, D P. annulatus: C aedeagus, dorsal D aedeagus, lateral E, F P. sphaericus: E aedeagus, dorsal F aedeagus, lateral G, H P. geijskesi: G aedeagus, dorsal H aedeagus, lateral.