Oxycheila alenatiki, Šafránek & Amaya, 2020

Šafránek, Ondřej & Amaya, Marcelo, 2020, A new species of the genus Oxycheila (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) from Bolivia, Zootaxa 4731 (2), pp. 263-269 : 264-265

Oxycheila alenatiki sp.nov.

( Figs 1–11 )

Type locality. Bolivia, East of Cochabamba Dept., slopes of northeastern Bolivian Andes (Yungas) south of the town Entre Rios , along the unpaved road, 400 m a.s.l.

Type material. Holotype (HT), male in MNKM labelled: “BOLIVIA- Cochabamba dept. / 10 km S of Entre Ríos , / 17°17’33’’S, 64°32’14’’W, / 400 m, 19.I.2018, / O.Šafránek et M. Amaya lgt.“ [printed] . Allotype, female and 1 paratype, male in CCOS, 1 paratype, male in CFTA with same labels as holotype.All type specimens labelled: “ HOLOTYPE (ALLOTYPE or PARATYPE respectively) / Oxycheila alenatiki sp. nov. / O. Šafránek & M. Amaya 2019“ [red, printed]

Description. Body ( Figs 1, 7 ) medium-sized, 12.9–14.0 (HT 13.7) mm long, 4.8–5.0 (HT 4.8) mm wide, dorsal surface of the head, pronotum and elytra black with more shiny elytra.

Head ( Figs 2, 8 ) narrower than body, 3.3–4.0 (HT 3.3) mm wide, concolorous with the rest of body surface, but less shiny then elytra, all parts of head glabrous except for two setae on the both left and right borders of eyes and orbital plates.

Mandibles ( Figs 4, 10 ) ochre with testaceous-black termination of each tooth, indistinct and narrow lateral stripe, almost symmetrical, and each mandible with 4 teeth.

Labrum ( Figs 3, 9 ) similar in both sexes, triangular, wider (1.6–1.9 mm) then long (1.1–1.2 mm), with three anterior teeth that are almost at the same level, 2 anterolateral and 2 basal teeth and about 8 to 10 lateral setae, ochre with dark brown-black basomedian area and basal lateral margins.

Labial and maxillary palpomeres light coloured.

Antennae long, reaching back to the last fourth of elytra, antennomeres 1–4 shiny, ochre, the antennomere 3 with brown-black apical fourth, antennomere 4 with brown-black apical third, antennomeres 5–11 ochre-brown, dull with fine setae, antennomeres 10 and 11 slightly darker.

Eyes- Longitudinal groove above the eyes shallow, eyes large and protruding.

Clypeus smooth black coloured.

Pronotum slightly longer than wide (mean: 2.69mm long, 2.55mm wide), converging posteriorly, lateral margins distinct and convex, anterior lobe distinctly wider than posterior but posterior lobe notably higher, pronotal disc with smooth almost indistinctly wrinkled surface, median line very shallow but distinct, anterior sulcus with less wrinkled groove than posterior one.

Mesepisternum with deep point depression on the dorsal third of lateral margin of the female, sharp groove from the dorsal lateral margin extended to ventral lateral margin of the male.

Elytra flattened, elongate, slightly expanded laterally, widest near the middle, declined towards apex, length 9.0– 9.6 mm (HT 9.6 mm), wide 4.8–5.0 mm (HT 5.0 mm), ratio of length to width = 1: 0.54, concoloured black, shiny, immaculate, deeply punctate, shoulders right-angled, not rounded, distinct basal and shallow preapical umbones (knob-like protuberances), disc of elytral apex ( Fig. 5, 11 ) slightly notched with lateral marginal spine and sutural angle, intermediate area strongly notched in male, straight to notched in female, the distance between the lateral margin spines 1.65–1.85 mm.

Legs ochre, femora black distally, tarsal segments and tibia slightly brown distally. Femoral surface covered with sparse irregular rows of erect ochre setae, tibial and tarsal segment surfaces covered with denser and more regular rows of erect ochre setae, mesotibia with denser setae distally.

Aedeagus ( Fig. 6 ) length 5.2 mm, width 0.9 mm, basal portion short, median portion moderately dilated distally, apical portion conically attenuated towards small, moderately ventrally directed apex.

Differential diagnosis. Oxycheila alenatiki sp.nov. is immediately distinguished from all other known Bolivian Oxycheila species by the combination of two features: lack of elytral maculation and bicoloured femora.

O. alenatiki sp.nov. is morphologically close to O. oberthueri Horn, 1896 ( Figs 18–23 ) but is clearly distin- guished by lacking the elytral maculation (very constant character within the genus), differently wrinkled anterior and posterior sulcus of the pronotum, and larger mandibles in proportion to whole body scale.

According to the monograph of the genus Oxycheila ( Wiesner, 1999) Oxycheila alenatiki sp.nov. belongs to the species-group gracillima and can be keyed out from O. gracillima using the key in Wiesner (1999: 39) with the following modification to couplet 4:

1 Femora black or brownish-black......................................................................... 2

- Femora bi-colored, yellow black “knees”.................................................................. 3

2 Elytra with central maculation................................................... O. pseudostrandi Wiesner, 1999

- Elytra immaculate................................................................. O. weyrauchi Mandl, 1967

3 Elytra immaculate..................................................................................... 4

- Elytra with central maculation.............................................................................5

4 Very small species (9.3 mm), sutural angle and lateral marginal angle of elytral apex similarly shaped to each other......................................................................................... O. howdeni Nidek, 1980

- Larger species (about 9 to 14 mm), lateral marginal spine extends further than the sutural angle...................... ..4a

4a Body length about 9 to 13 mm, labrum yellow brown to dark brown, with central tooth and 6 to 8 lateral teeth, aedeagus length 4.4 mm, narrow but slightly wider on basal part of the apical third, conically attenuated towards knob-shaped tip................................................................................ O. gracillima Bates, 1872 ( Figs 12–17 )

- Body length about 13 to 14 mm, labrum ochre with dark brown-black basomedian area and basal lateral margins, with three anterior teeth that are almost at the same level, 2 anterolateral and 2 basal teeth, aedeagus length 5.2 mm, apical third notably wider, conically attenuated towards small blunt apex................................. O. alenatiki sp. nov. ( Figs 1–11 )

Figures

FIGURES 1–11. Oxycheila alenatiki sp.nov. (1–6 male HT, 7–11 female PT). 1, 7: habitus; 2, 8: head; 3, 9: labrum; 4, 10: mandible; 5, 11: elytral apex; 6: aedeagus male PT. Bars = 3 mm

FIGURES 12–23. Characters of Oxycheila gracillima Bates, 1872, male (Figs 12–17) and Oxycheila oberthueri Horn, 1896, male (Figs 18–23). 12, 18: habitus; 13, 19: head; 14, 20: labrum; 15, 21: mandible; 16, 22: elytral apex; 17, 23: aedeagus. Bars = 3 mm