Mycomystes coccineus ( Lacordaire, 1842 ) Pecci-Maddalena & Skelley & Lopes-Andrade, 2021

Pecci-Maddalena, Italo S. C., Skelley, Paul & Lopes-Andrade, Cristiano, 2021, Taxonomic review of Mycomystes Gorham, 1888 (Coleoptera: Erotylidae: Tritomini), Journal of Natural History 54 (47 - 48), pp. 3075-3102 : 3087-3089

Mycomystes coccineus ( Lacordaire, 1842) , new combination

Figure 2–3, 5, 11 , 14 , 1 , 28–33 , 55

Lybas coccineus Lacordaire, 1842: 239 [description].

Mycotretus coccineus ( Lacordaire, 1842) . Crotch 1876: 458 [generic transference to Mycotretus ]; Gemminger and Harold 1876: 3692; Kuhnt 1909: 72; Kuhnt 1911: 48; Curran 1941: 286; Deelder 1942: 88; Blackwelder 1945: 466; Alvarenga 1994: 22; Skelley 1998: 18; Pecci-Maddalena and Lopes-Andrade 2020: 585; Pecci-Maddalena et al. 2020: 3.

Mycotretus unicolor Fauvel, 1860: 326 [description], new synonym. Gemminger and Harold 1876: 3695; Kuhnt 1911: 54; Blackwelder 1945: 468; Alvarenga 1994: 37.

Mycotretus sanguinosus Crotch, 1876: 458 [description], new synonym. Gemminger and Harold 1876: 3695; Gorham 1888: 68; Kuhnt 1909: 72; Kuhnt 1911: 53; Curran 1941: 286 [doubtful synonymy with L. coccineus ]; Blackwelder 1945: 467; Alvarenga 1994: 34; Skelley 1998: 18.

Type specimen

Probably in MRSN (see below).

Type specimens of synonymised species.

Mycotretus sanguinosus Crotch, 1876 , lectotype, here designated (UMZC; Figure 33 )

‘TYPE [blue label, printed]\ TYPE. [printed] sanguineus N Gran R. [handwritten]

\ LECTOTYPE [printed] Mycotretus sanguinosus Crotch 1876 [handwritten]’.

Other specimens examined (9)

1 specimen ( UMZC; Figure 31 ) ‘ Bras [handwritten]\ TYPE . [printed, crossed out] coccineus Bras Reiche [handwritten]’; 1 specimen ( RBINS; Figure 32 ) ‘ Coll . R . I. Sc. N. B . Guyane FranÇaise , Cayenne . Coll . Chapuis [printed]\ Mycotretus unicolor, Cayenne, Fauvel [handwritten] ’. 2 females ( MNRJ, dissected) ‘ ColeÇão M . Alvarenga [printed]\ Chiriqui, Panamá, Ribbe [handwritten]\B .C.A., Col ., VII. Mycotretus sanguinosus . [printed]\1874 [printed]’; 1 male ( MNRJ, dissected) ‘ Benjamin Constant, Amazonas, Brasil 18–28 .IX .1962, K. Lenko – col . [printed]\Mycotret. 500 [handwritten]’; 1 female ( MNRJ, dissected) ‘ ColeÇão M . Alvarenga [printed]\TABATINGA, Amazonas BRASIL, 22 a 24–VII–1956, M . Alvarenga legit . [printed]\1885–A [handwritten]\ Mycotretus 509 [handwritten]\Ápice tibias, dilatadas, ápice prosterno comprimido. [handwritten]’; 1 male ( MNRJ, dissected) ‘ Hansa Humboldt, Sta . Catharina , Brasilien Reitter [printed]\1B [handwritten]\mycotretus 217 [handwritten]\ Cr [?] 89 . H. 5. [handwritten]\ Mycotretus sanguinosus Crotch [handwritten]\Det . Oscar Monte [printed]’; 2 female ( FSCA, dissected) ‘Peru [printed]’; 1 male ( FSCA, dissected) ‘ Esp . Santo , Staud . 98. [printed]’. 1 ( SEMC) ‘ Peru: Junin, 840 m . Sani Beni vicinity,. 8 km. E. Satipo , Oct 1–10 1935, F . Woytkowski’ .

Diagnosis

Body shape rounded, TL = 4.35–4.86 mm (4.61 mm, n = 2), almost circular; large pentagonal mentum with subequal sides, nearly rounded outline; apex of prosternal process conspicuously wider than procoxae (> 1.5× procoxal width); metendosternite welldeveloped, laminae present, anterior tendons conspicuously widened in males; colour pattern full yellowish to reddish-brown, antennomeres VIII–XI blackish. Genitalia with penile flagellum elongate, approximately 2.09× the length of penis; flagellar head resembling a ‘fish-like’ structure. Vaginal process present, blunt swelling and elongate to the level of gonostyli.

Distribution

North and Southeast Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guiana, French Guiana, Panama, Suriname ( Alvarenga 1994) ( Figure 55 ).

Nomenclature

The species synonymised here under Mycomystes coccineus ( Mycotretus unicolor and Mycotretus sanguinosus ) are fully yellowish to reddish in colour, and are oval (almost circular) in body shape. Specimens from North and Southeast Brazil were dissected and no morphological difference was observed in their body structures, even in the penile flagellum.

Remarks

The primary type of M. coccineus is probably housed in the Brême collection, MRSN (Torino). The drawers of the collection were photographed and the specimen mentioned here is labelled as ‘Lacordaire [handwritten]’ and is kept in drawer ‘15’, in which it is handwritten ‘Erotyliens – Engidiformes 1 H–16’. Unfortunately, that information was observed after visiting the museum. As we did not have dorsal and ventral images of the specimen, we prefer not to designate the lectotype of M. coccineus here.

Curran (1941) pointed out that M. sanguinosus would be a possible synonymous of M. coccineus , although stating his act as doubtful (‘?’). However, subsequent authors ( Blackwelder 1945; Alvarenga 1994) did not recognised Curran’s synonymy of M. sanguinosus with M. coccineus . Curran examined only specimens from ‘Kartabo’ ( Guyana) with no information on individuals of different localities. Therefore, we do not recognise the validity of the Curran’s act and propose the new synonymy of M. sanguinosus with M. coccineus in the present work.

Figures

Figure 55. Geographical distribution of species of Mycomystes Gorham, 1888. Mycomystes apicalis (Lacordaire, 1842), Mycomystes coccineus (Lacordaire, 1842), (Diamond) Mycomystes melanophthalmus (Duponchel, 1825), Mycomystes nigriventris Pecci-Maddalena and Lopes-Andrade, 2020 and Mycomystes peruvianus (Kirsch, 1876).

Figures 1-12. Generic diagnostic characters of Mycomystes Gorham, 1888: (1) Head of M. peruvianus (Kirsch, 1876), arrow showing the complete clypeal marginal bead. (2) Subgenal braces of M. coccineus (Lacordaire, 1842), arrow showing the inner carina. (3) Partial view of the mouthparts of M. coccineus, big arrows showing the apical maxillary palpomeres and small arrow showing an apical labial palp. (4) Right mandible of M. nigriventris Pecci-Maddalena and Lopes-Andrade,2020, arrow showing the teeth. (5–6) Mentum plate of M. coccineus and M. melanophthalmus (Duponchel, 1825), respectively. (7) Partial view of the pronotum and elytra of M. apicalis (Lacordaire, 1842), arrows showing the basal elytral marginal bead. (8–9) Mesotibia of M. apicalis and M. melanophthalmus, respectively. (10–11) Metendosternite of M. melanophthalmus and of a male of M. coccineus, respectively,arrow in Figure 10 showing the anterior tendon. (12) Abdomen of M. peruvianus, arrows showing the coxal lines. Scale bars: 0.1 mm (2, 4–6, 10–11); 0.25 mm (8–9); 0.5 mm (3, 7).

Figures 13-18. Genitalia of Mycomystes Gorham, 1888: (13–16) Male flagellar head of M. apicalis (Lacordaire, 1842), M. coccineus (Lacordaire, 1842), M. melanophthalmus (Duponchel, 1825), M. nigriventris Pecci-Maddalena and Lopes-Andrade, 2020, respectively. (17–18) Female genitalia of M. nigriventris and M. coccineus, respectively, arrows showing the vaginal process. Scale bars: 0.1 mm (13–17).

Figures 28-33. Specimens of Mycomystes coccineus (Lacordaire, 1842): (28–29) Male specimen from Santa Catarina (Brazil) (MNRJ). (30) Female from Peru (FSCA). (31) Specimen from the Crotch collection (UMZC). (32) Topotype (from Cayenne) of Mycotretus unicolour Fauvel, 1860, new synonym (RBINS). (33) Lectotype of Mycotretus sanguinosus Crotch, 1876, new synonym (Crotch collection, UMZC). Scale bars: 1 mm (31–33); 0.5 mm (28–29).