Galerita procera capelai Serrano, 2017

Serrano, Artur R. M., Capela, Rúben A. & Santos, Carmen Van-Dúnem Neto, 2017, Biodiversity and notes on carabid beetles from Angola with description of new taxa (Coleoptera: Carabidae), Zootaxa 4353 (2), pp. 201-256 : 243-246

Galerita procera capelai Serrano ssp. n.

( Figs 7a, 7c , 8a, 8b, 8c )

Type series. Holotype, ♂; Angola (Kwanza Sul), Calulo-Cabuta (9° 53´59´´ S, 14° 54´26´´ E, 831 m alt., 128) (KWANZA SUL), 29.XI‒6.XII.2015, PF , A. Serrano & R. Capela leg., ASC . Allotype 1♀: Mussende ( Calulo ) (9° 57´00´´ S, 14° 47´36´´ E, 905 m alt., 128) (KWANZA SUL), 28.XI‒5.XII.2015, PF , A. Serrano & R. Capela leg., ASC; Paratypes, 2♂, same locality and date as Holotype , A. Serrano & R. Capela leg., ASC, PSC; 1♀, same locality and date as Allotype , A. Serrano & R. Capela leg., ASC .

Derivatio nominis. This subspecies is named in honour of Rúben Capela, a specialist on Diptera Culicidae and Ceratopogonidae , which has collaborated with the first author ( AS) in the Angola entomological trips.

Diagnosis. Similar in form and color to G. procera Gerstaecker, 1867 ; five pairs of impar elytral carinae well developed, the 2nd par carinae (4th carinae) only slightly distinct in the first quarter, 3rd par carinae (6th carinae) distinct in the first and last thirds of elytrae, remaining par carinae almost indistinct, scutellar carina almost indistinct joining the first carina; median lobe of aedeagus with a hooked apex ventraly backwards ( Figs 8a, 8b ).

Description. Length of Holotype: 25.5 mm. Length of paratypes (without labrum): 25.32‒25.33 mm (males), 25.89‒26.30 mm (females).

Head (Fig, 7a) 1.2‒1.3 times longer than wide [length: 4.62 mm (holotype and male paratypes), 4.62‒4.82 mm (female allotype and paratype), width: 3.68 mm (holotype), 3.62‒3.68 mm (male paratypes), 3.71‒3.81 mm (female allotype and paratype)], black, eyes small, slightly wider than temples; front longitudinaly protruded in the median region, almost smooth, two short deeply furrows lateraly; occiput surface largely rugose-punctate, covered with very sparce blackish semierected pubescence, surface intervals smooth; mandibles and labrum blackish; palpi blackish, apical region of the last articles brownish, last article of both palpi strongly securiform; labrum with anterior margin straight or slightly arcuate; antennae proeminent, densely pubescent, decreasing in thickness towards apex, first four antennomers blackish, gradually brown dark to lighter brown since the 5th to the 11th, reaching or slightly surpassing the middle of elytra; Cephalic chaetotaxy (large setae, all brownyellowish): Labrum with three submarginal pairs of long setae, two pairs of long setae in a transversal middle line throughout the first half of clypeus disk, one pair on sides behind this anterior series and two pairs of very long supraocular setae present over each eye; some other not so long setae dispersed over the sides of clypeus and frons.

Thorax ( Fig. 7a ) Pronotum 1.13‒1.21 times longer than wide [length: 5.68 mm (holotype), 5.71‒5.74 mm (male paratypes), 5.68‒5.87 mm (female allotype and paratype), width: 5.02 mm (holotype), 4.82‒4.95 mm (male paratypes), 4.69‒4.88 mm (female allotype and paratype)], black, wider than head, barely subcordiform, widest near the middle; lateral margins slightly raised, narrow, regularly round in the first two thirds, slightly subparallel or sinuate before the rectangular basal angles, round at tip; apical angles roundly acute, slightly protruded; apex and base finely margined, the former arcuate, the latter almost straight; disk gently convex; median line in middle slightly more impressed than anteriorly and posteriorly, neither reaching apex nor base; anterior transverse sulcus indistinct, posterior transverse sulcus slightly conspicuous in males, absent in females; basal grooves barely indicated; lateral margin with two elongate setae, one situated slightly before the middle, the other before the basal angle, two‒three short setae near the anterior angles, a fringe of brown-reddish hairs at anterior and posterior margins (shorter in the former); surface strongly transversely punctate-rugose in sides and base, slighter in the disk, covered with sparce blackish semierected pubescence, microreticulation distinct, extremely fine, consisting of transverse meshes, shiny.

Elytra ( Fig. 7a ) 1.66‒1.79 times longer than wide [length:, 14.36 mm (holotype), 14.23‒14.36 mm (male paratypes), 14.90‒15.30 mm (female allotype and paratype), width: 8.65 mm (holotype), 8.05‒8.11 mm (male paratypes), 8.31‒8.91 mm (female allotype and paratype)], blackish, shiny, sometimes with violet reflections; wider than pronotum, broadly elongate-ovate, humeral angles not distinct, widest point behind the middle; dorsally very slightly convex, truncated obliquely at apex; each elytron with five distinct impair carinae, the 2nd par carinae (4th carinae) only slightly distinct in the first quarter, 3rd par carinae (6th carinae) distinct in the first and last thirds of elytrae, remaining par carinae almost indistinct, scutellar carina almost indistinct joining the first carina; intervals between two consecutive impair carinae with two longitudinal deep punctate rows, each flanked lateraly by a row of brownish setae from base to apex, totalizing three rows; 4th interval narrower than others, by this with only one longitudinal punctate row flanked lateraly by a row of brownish setae from base to apex; apical truncature with blackish pubescence; surface intervals covered with distinct, dense, transversely punctate-granulate meshes ( Fig. 7c ); hind wings absent.

Ventral surface. Blach to brown dark, shiny in the head and thorax, dull in abdomen; genae sparsely punctate, sides covered with sparse black semierected setae; proepisterna smooth, not punctate in the upper sides, becoming sparsely punctate towards the ventral region; metaepisterna, pro, meso and metasterna densely punctate and pubescent (brownish color); elytral epipleura moderately punctate; abdominal segments densely punctate and pubescent like thoracic sterna; posterior margin of last segment deeply (males) or slightly (females) truncate in the middle region, one pair (males and females) of setae near the posterior margin.

Legs are conformed to the genus morphological pattern. Male forelegs with the three basal tarsomeres of tarsi more dilated in the inner region than in the outer (asymmetrical dilated), the 4th lesser asymmetrical, bilobated, presenting two rows of elongate, sensorial phaneres beneath.

Aedeagus ( Figs 8a, 8b, 8c ). Median lobe short, robust, apex hooked ventraly backwards ( Fig. 8b ). Endophalous with a large postero-latero-dorsal scaly plate. Left paramere large, round at apex, right atrophied.

Intraspecific variation. The range of variability observed in G. procera capelai ssp. n. (5 specimens) affects the median region of frons, more or less longitudinaly protruded and the pronotum shape (more or less subcordiform). Asymmetries in the length of left and right elytron are common too. The pronotum is partially pubescent or almost glabrous, accordingly with the presence/absence of decumbent setae.

Remarks. The subspecies of G. procera , including the nominal one, are easily segregated by the apical conformation of the median lobe of aedeagus than by external morphological characters (see Basilewsky1963). The representants of this complex (eight subspecies including the nominal one) are distributed from Angola to Kenya and Tanzania, throughtout D. R. of the Congo, Zambia, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. Galerita procera angolana Basilewsky, 1963 was the unique subspecies known until now from Angola. By the recorded localities given ( Basilewsky 1963, Ferreira 1965) it seems distributed in the central and eastern territories of Angola (Huambo, Lunda Norte and Moxico Provinces). Interestingly, G. procera capelai ssp. n. by the external morphological characters and shape of apical median lobe of aedeagus seems closer to the nominal subspecies than the already known Angolan subspecies. The nominal subspecies is proper of eastern Africa ( Kenya and Tanzania), very faraway of the new subspecies locality. The other seven subspecies are distributed between the two taxa. In southern Africa this singular relationship in which species closer morphologicaly are strongly allopatric (western vs eastern) seems more common than expected (e.g. Serrano 1995). The new subspecies by the singular apical shape of median lobe (ventraly hooked backwards) ( Fig. 8b ) is easily segregate from the remaining subspecies (see Fig. 20, in Basilewsky 1963). Galerita procera capelai ssp. n. can be separated also from G. procera angolana , the subspecies closer territorialy of the new subspecies, by a very different shape of the median lobe apex (cf Figs 8b vs 8e) and further by the elytral carinae less elevated, the intervals slightly larger and less excavated, the rows between impair carinae shallower punctate and surface intervals covered with more distinct and dense transversely punctate-granulate meshes.

Ecological notes. Adult specimens were collected by means of pitfall trapping within secondary rainforest patches with moist soils, covered with dense and high litter ( Fig. 9c ), together with adults of some tiger and ground beetles [ Dromica (Foveodromica) sp., A. optimus , A. distinctus , D. tarsalis , C. magnicollis discrepans , O. gilvipes and O. patroboides ]. As happens with some carabid species living mainly at moist habitats (e.g. Rossi & Santamaria 2001) the adult specimens of the new species were more or less infected with ectoparasitic fungi of the order Laboulbeniales on pronotum as well on elytra. Some study cases were already reported to other African carabid species (e.g. Santamaria & Faille 2009).

Figures

FIGURE 7. Facies of: a) Galerita procera capelai ssp. n., male holotype and, b) Galerita procera angolana, Caconda-Cuima. Galerita procera capelai ssp. n., male holotype:c) magnification of discal third region of right elytron.

FIGURE 9. Habitats of: a) Perigona liboloensis sp. n., Alto Ventura, Kwanza Sul, b) Lasiocera schuelei sp. n., Cambamba, Malanje, c) Galerita procera capelai ssp. n, Calulo-Cabuta, Kwanza Sul, d) Habrodera nilotica and Lophyra neglecta intermediola destroyed by sand removal (arrow) before Cambambe dan, Kwanza Sul, e) and f) Dromica fredericoi and Trichotaeniapepetela inNovember 2014 and 2015, well perserved and destroyed by fire, respectively, Catota, Bié.

FIGURE8. Median lobe of aedeagusand left paramere (lateral view), medianlobe apex in higher magnification (lateral view) and median lobe apex (dorsal view), respectively:a), b) and c) Galeritaprocera capelai ssp. n, male holotype and, d), e)and f) Galerita procera angolana, male, Caconda-Cuima.