Agyrtodes ovatus Portevin, 1907

Seago, Ainsley E., 2009, Revision Of Agyrtodes Portevin (Coleoptera: Leiodidae), The Coleopterists Bulletin (mo 7) 63, pp. 1-73 : 18-20

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.1649/0010-065x-63.sp7.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B58B2216-0CFA-41C6-8141-7024E65ECF85
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/039887BA-FFF6-C05E-92C1-8082EC03917A
treatment provided by	Carolina
scientific name	Agyrtodes ovatus Portevin
status

Treatment

Agyrtodes ovatus Portevin View in CoL

(Figs. 1, 29–36, 38, 58, 78, 98)

Agyrtodes ovatus Portevin 1907: 75 View in CoL . Holotype: male, labeled ‘‘ Chili / Germain’ ’

(MNHN). Jeannel (1936: 107).

Distribution. Wet temperate forests throughout southern Chile: Quillota, Talca, Concepcíon, Arauco, Ñuble, Cautín, Malleco, Valdivia, Llanquihue, Chiloe´, and Osorno provinces (Reg. V, VII–X, XIV) ( Fig. 98 View Fig ). Material examined listed in Appendix 1.

Diagnosis. Easily recognized, being the only species of Agyrtodes known from South America as well as one of the largest members of the genus. Agyrtodes ovatus can be distinguished from other Chilean agyrtodines by its transversely strigose elytra, dark-colored pronotum with hind angles weakly produced, dense dorsal vestiture of long golden pubescence, and smoothly, elongately ovate body shape in dorsal view. Agyrtodes ovatus differs most conspicuously from other Agyrtodes in its large body size, robust antennae, long, wavy dorsal vestiture, and the following male characters: very broadly dilated protarsomeres 1–3 (markedly wider than tibial apex); short, triangular penis; genital segment with tergite incompletely fused to pleurites and segment base deeply emarginate both dorsally and ventrally.

Redescription. TBL 5 3.20 mm, EW 5 1.70 mm, PNW 5 1.40 mm, HW 5 0.65 mm. (TBL variation: 2.80 mm – 3.40 mm).

Body (Fig. 1) large, elongately oval, elytra dark reddish-brown, head and peripheral margins of pronotum light reddish-brown to orange, pronotum with broad medial patch of dark fuscous brown. Dorsal vestiture long, recumbent, reddish-gold, arranged sinuously on pronotum and elytra.

Head quadrate, eyes extremely large, hemispherical, narrowly emarginate ventrally. Integument shining, finely punctate, with loose vestiture of minute, erect light golden setae. Epistomal suture absent. Clypeus short, transverse; labrum rectangular, transverse, weakly emarginate distally. Mandibles large, outer margins smoothly curved. Maxilla with long, slender, hyaline galea with very small, pointed apical brush of minute hairs; lacinia with very large, broad, transverse spore-brush of small, closely packed spines. Maxillary palpi with terminal segment slender, acuminate, more than twice as long as penultimate segment. Ligula with four slender, pointed digitiform sensillae, two medially, on anterior margin, and two submarginal sensillae laterally. Labial palpi stout, with terminal segment short, rounded basally, very weakly attenuate distally, bluntly truncate apically; each terminal palpomere with large cluster of minute, blunt, digitiform sensillae on outer face. Penultimate palpomeres half as long as terminal segments, sparsely setose. Antennae ( Fig. 38 View Figs ) robust, light golden brown at base, gradually darkening to dark reddish-brown at apex. Segment 1 cylindrical, gently arched; segment 2 broader, expanded medially, subovoid. Segments 3–6 markedly decreasing in length and increasing in width; segment 3 at least 3 3 as long as wide, segment 6 nearly twice as wide as 3 and approximately 2/3 as long. Segment 7 broader than all preceding segments, of subequal length to segment 3. Segment 8 longer than wide, not much reduced, over half as long as 7 or 9 and of equal width to base of 9. Segments 9 and 10 of approximately identical size and dimensions, 10 very slightly wider at apex. Segment 11 elongate, ovate, dark brown, bluntly rounded at apex, not attenuate or produced distally.

Pronotum broad, convex, transverse, lateral margins strongly arched; pronotal vestiture sleek, dense, integument matte, with fine, shallow punctures. Hind angles square, very weakly produced posteriad. Posterior margin very shallowly trilobed.

Elytra uniformly dark reddish-brown, matte, convex, narrow, smoothly tapering to elongate, slender, bluntly pointed apices. Elytra with very fine, distinct, closely spaced transverse strigae, disc without trace of longitudinal strial impressions. Scutellum large, dark brown, without vestiture.

Hypomeron bright yellow, strongly concave adjacent to procoxal insertions. Meso- and metasterna dark brown. Mesosternum with low median carina, highest at mesocoxal separation, effaced anteriorly, smoothly curved in lateral view. Mesocoxal cavities transversely oval. Mesepimera broadly rectangular, roundly truncate at coxal articulations, integument deeply strigulose. Metasternum bulging and setose medially, flattened laterally. Metepisterna elongate, slender, rectangular.

Abdominal sterna III–VI normal, male sternum VII with deep medial cleft, male sternum VIII almost completely cleft medially, connate only at basal margin. Male tergum VII long, scoop-shaped, apex rounded and bearing abundant short setae and minute sensillae, of similar shape in females but less sclerotized.

Legs reddish-brown, tibiae slender, male protarsi with first three segments cordate, broadly expanded, with thick ventral pads of tenent setae; first segment wider than tibial apex and larger than following segments. Male mesotibia gently curved in distal half; male mesotarsomeres 1 and 3 bearing tenent setae, not laterally expanded. Female tarsi simple.

Male genital segment ( Fig. 58 View Figs ) mitre-shaped, with deep apical cleft ventrally and deep basal notch dorsally, pleurites weakly fused to reduced, diamondshaped tergite. Sternum X present as a small, distally rounded, proximally attenuate sclerite fused to interior junction of pleurites. Anterior apophysis extremely long, flared and spoon-shaped apically, constricted basally. Aedeagus ( Fig. 78 View Figs ) with median lobe short, broadly cylindrical at base, tapering to sharply pointed, triangular apex. Basal piece much longer than penis, enclosed ventrally by slender, furcal sclerite not apparent in males of other species. Parameres short, bladelike, constricted basally, expanded medially and extending well past apex of penis; interior face of each paramere apex with a single longitudinal row of robust spines in center and a similar row of longer, stiff setae along ventral margin. Endophallus armed with 4–6 eversible ‘‘lobes’’ covered with stout, curving, sharply pointed, heavily sclerotized spines apically, and several large, melanized amorphous sac-like structures. Female genitalia normal, coxites robust, weakly curved laterad; styli short, cylindrical, weakly fusiform, each bearing long terminal seta approximately twice as long as stylus.

Natural History. Collected by peeling bark, flight-intercept traps, on bracket fungi, in dung traps, fogging fungusy or mossy logs, and by sifting and berleseing litter from older temperate rainforests in southern South America. Agyrtodes ovatus is the most variable in size among Agyrtodes , but there are no apparent morphological indicators of fixed population structure across this species’ considerable range. Fungal spores have been observed in gut contents of dissected specimens.