Pocadius ephite Leschen and Carlton, 1994

Cline, Andrew R., 2008, Revision of the sap beetle genus Pocadius Erichson, 1843 (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae: Nitidulinae, Zootaxa 1799 (1), pp. 1-120 : 58-59

Pocadius ephite Leschen and Carlton, 1994

(Figs. 16, 57, 100, 143, 185)

Specimens examined. HOLOTYPE ♂ ( SNEC): COSTA RICA: Alajuela; Peñas Blancas 875m; 19 May 1989, J. Ashe,; R. Brooks, R. Leschen; ex., flight intercept / Snow Entomol. Mus.; Costa Rica Exped. #267 / HOLOTYPE; Pocadius ephite ; R. Leschen & C. Carlton .

Diagnosis. Leschen and Carlton (1994) suggested similarities to P. fumatus , with notable deviations in elytral vestiture and protibial armature, and briefly diagnosed P. ephite from P. jelineki and P. maquipucunensis , by “the structure of the rods in the ejaculatory duct of the aedeagus, protibial morphology, and vestiture without curved ends.” Other Pocadius have vestiture without curved ends and details of protibial structure/ morphology and ejaculatory rods were not fully discussed. Pocadius ephite can be diagnosed by: body compact with low L:W ratio (1.38:1); large robust asymmetrical antennal club; evenly rounded anterior margin of pronotum; broadly rounded apex of abdominal process; large umbilicate punctures with smooth shining interspaces on metasternal disc; apical fossa of tegmen attaining tegminal apex; sausage-shaped median lobe; basal piece of internal sac sclerite globular.

Description. Length 2.9mm, Width 2.1mm, Depth 1.2mm. Body moderately convex, shining, light brown to reddish brown. Pronotum and elytra with moderately long fimbriae. Dorsal and ventral pubescence, golden, moderate in length, fine and relatively sparsely distributed.

Head surface irregularly punctate, punctures larger on vertex, becoming smaller laterally and posteriorly, minute punctures on clypeal-labral region. Large punctures 4X diameter eye facet, small punctures 3X diameter, minute punctures 1 diameter; interspaces smooth to alutaceous. Pronotal surface with large punctures 1.3X diameter of large punctures on head, interspersed with small punctures, equal to large head punctures; interspaces smooth to finely alutaceous, 0.25–0.5 diameter apart. Scutellar surface with few shallowly impressed large punctures, interspaces alutaceous, impunctate in apical 0.33. Elytral surface with serial rows of punctures equal to large and small punctures on pronotum, small punctures giving rise to erect setae, large punctures giving rise to semi-erect setae; interspaces wide between punctures of a row and between different rows. Within a row, small punctures separated by 1–1.5 diameter, large punctures by 0.75–1 diameter. Rows separated by 1 large puncture diameter; interspaces smooth to finely alutaceous. Pygidium densely punctate, punctures equal to large ones on pronotum; interspaces narrow, 0.25–0.5 diameters apart.

Venter with shorter more sparsely distributed pubescence than dorsum. Mentum with shallow small punctures, equal to small punctures on head; interspaces granular to alutaceous. Prosternum and epimeron deeply irregularly punctate, punctures larger than those on mentum, interspaces alutaceous, prosternal punctures separated by 0.5 diameter, those on epimeron by 0.5–1 diameter. Mesoventrite with large shallow punctures, 2– 3X diameter of those on prosternum, interspaces alutaceous, separated by 1 diameter. Metaventrite irregularly punctate with large punctures on disc similar to those on mesoventrite, interspaces alutaceous to granular. Abdominal sternite 1 with faint punctures, punctures 0.5–0.75 diameter of metasternal punctures, interspaces alutaceous, separated by 1 diameter. Hypopygidium with moderately deep punctures, similar to those on sternites 2–4, interspaces alutaceous, punctures separated by 1–2 diameters.

Head wider than long (W:L = 2:1). Antennal club compact, globular, asymmetrical with terminal antennomere larger than 9–10 combined. Antennomeres 4–6 compact and cuboidal, 7–8 disc-like. Antennal scape moderately asymmetrical, hemispherical, 2X length of pedicel. Pedicel subcylindrical. Antennal segment 3 equal to pedicel. Antennal club large, 0.95 length of segments 1–8 combined. Elevated region of mentum with anterior angles obsolete, anterior margin broadly rounded, overall hemispherical, convex in lateral view.

Pronotum widest near middle (L:W = 1:1.8), anterior margin broadly shallowly trapezoidal, lateral margins less arcuate posteriorly. Scutellum large, obtusely triangular, apex broadly rounded. Prosternal process in lateral view with anterior and posterior ends moderately prominent and slight medial convexity; posterior face slightly oblique. Mesoventrite extending to midway between mesocoxae, evenly deeply concave for reception of metaventrite. Metaventrite wider than long (W:L = 2.5:1). Metepisternum with medial margin angulate, oblique line dividing anterior 0.125. First abdominal sternite with narrow acuminate process between metacoxae. First sternite 2X longer than sternite 2. Sternites 2–3 subequal, 4 slightly larger than 2 or 3. Hypopygidium subequal to sternite 1.

Protibia with apical tooth prominent, equal to tarsomere 1 and half of 2 combined. Outer apical notch with 90° angle, notch depth deep, equal tarsomere 1 and part of 2 combined. Inner apical spine subequal to tarsomere 1 and half of 2 combined. Mesotibia more heavily armed than protibia with dense stiff setae and slender spines along lateral edge. Outer apical process elongate and robust, slightly larger than protibial process. Inner apical spine equal to tarsomere 1 and half of 2 combined. Metatibia with outer apical process and spines longer.

Male genitalia well-sclerotized. Anal sclerite apex somewhat fimbriate (Fig. 16). Spiculum gastrale with wide elongate lateral flanges, medial margins concave (Fig. 57). Tegmen evenly rounded (Fig. 100), longer than wide (w:l = 1:2.75), lateral row of setae visible from apex of median fossa around tegminal apex, large broad shallow concavity in apical 0.5. Median lobe elongate oval, 0.45 length of tegmen, apex broadly rounded, apical opening well-developed (Fig. 143). Ejaculatory rods not fused to basal piece, straight with medially projecting apical prominence. Basal piece with shallow medial concavity extending 0.25 length, evenly rounded proximally (Fig. 185).

Variation. No variation observed.

Seasonality/Habitat. Collected in mid-May from wet forest.

Distribution. Known from type locality in Costa Rica.

Notes. Holotype with abdomen disarticulated from body, left protarsi and mesotarsi missing. Two vials under specimen, first contains abdomen, anal sclerite and spiculum gastrale, second contains rest of male genitalia. No specimens outside the type locality have been collected, suggesting this species is a cloud forest endemic as suggested by Leschen and Carlton (1994). Cloud forest endemics are common in other Central and South American Nitidulidae , i.e. Stelidota (Cline unpub. data) and Psilotus ( Cline 2004) .