Brachiacantha angulata, Nestor-Arriola & Toledo-Hernández, 2017

Nestor-Arriola, Jorge Ismael & Toledo-Hernández, Víctor Hugo, 2017, New species of Brachiacantha Dejean, 1837 (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) from Mexico and Central America, Zootaxa 4365 (1) : -

Brachiacantha angulata sp. nov.

( Figs. 5‒8 )

Diagnosis. Male with four spots on each elytron, female with three spots on each elytron. Male with a triangular cusp on each side of the midline of the third ventrite, cusps rounded at apeX. Basal lobe of male genitalia almost as long as the paramere, angulate and acute at apeX but without forming an apical hook ( Fig. 6 ).

Description. Holotype: Male: Length 3.5 mm, width 2.8 mm; body oval. Color black eXcept head pale yellow; pronotum with anterolateral angles and the anterior border pale yellow; each elytron with four orange spots: humeral spot very small and triangular; a rounded middle-lateral spot, a rounded discal spot and a subapical oval spot ( Fig. 5 ). Ventral surface with head, prosternum, metaventrite and abdomen black; mouthparts yellow, antenna yellow with the two apical articles dark brown. Legs yellow. Head punctures small, separated by one and a half diameters, each puncture as large as an eye facet; pronotal punctures as large as head punctures, separated by one and a half diameters; elytral punctures larger than pronotal punctures, separated by one diameter to one and a half diameters; metaventral punctures larger than pronotal puntures, separated by two diameters. Clypeus not emarginate, curved, lateral angles slightly emarginate. Pronotum narrowed from base to apeX, sides curved. Protibial tooth large, protibia flanged. Prosternal carinae almost as long as half of prosternum, straight, convergent to prosternal anterior part, not joined. Epipleuron narrow, emarginate for reception of femoral apices. Abdomen with postcoXal line on basal ventrite slightly flattened along posterior ventrite margin, ventrite with sparse, short pubescence and dense, small punctures; ventrites 2‒6 pubescent throughout, punctures dense and fine; ventrite 3 with large, apically rounded cusp on each side of middle; ventrites 4, 5 and 6 emarginate and depressed. Genitalia with the basal lobe slightly shorter than the paramere, asymmetrical, sides almost parallel, slightly narrowed at the second half, angled about 45° to a side at apeX, accute at apeX but not forming an apical hook ( Fig. 6 ); paramere scimitar shaped, wide, curved, long, rounded at apeX, with a small tooth on the concave margin and abundant long bristles on the conveX and apical margins, shorter bristles on the apical half of the concave margin ( Fig. 7 ); sipho with lateral, short, rounded alae at apeX; siphonal capsule shortly crested, inner arm wide and rounded at apeX, almost as big as the remainder of capsule ( Fig. 8 ).

Female. Length 4.0 to 4.5 mm, width 3.1 to 3.4 mm. Similar to male eXcept head black with an orange spot on front, pronotum without the yellow anterior margin, elytra without humeral spot; abdomen without modifications. Genitalia with two sclerotized arms at the bursa copulatriX; apical strut long, laterally flattened. Spermatheca not eXamined, lost.

Variation. Length 3.1 to 4.1 mm, width 2.5 to 3.1 mm in males. The mid-lateral and the discal spots can be joined in a transverse band.

Distribution. MeXico; states of Jalisco, Guerrero and Morelos.

Type material. Holotype: MEXICO: “ Guerrero, TaXco de Alarcón, Cacalotenango, La Cascada, 18°33'21.6" N, 99°39'36.8" W, 1882 m, 17-VIII-2 0 12, 16:09, col. E. Aguilar, en hierba, bosque de pino-encino, JFTH 0427” ( CCFES-Z) (1♂).

Paratypes: MEXICO: “ Guerrero, Chilpancingo, 30-VII-1962, col. F. Pacheco M., cat. 0523” ( CEAM) (4♀, 3♂); same data, without catalogue number ( CEAM) (2♂); “ Jalisco, Ejido Benito Juárez, Carr. Barra de Navidad- Pto. Vallarta Km. 134, 15-XII-1985, col. M. Sánchez ” (EBCh) (1♂); “ Morelos, Cuautlixco, 1291 m, 14-VIII-1990, col. Sánchez, R. G., N35” ( CEAM) (1♂); “ Morelos, Cuernavaca, junio 1909, H. H. S., B. C. A. Duplicates Pres. 1909, F. D. Godman, det. as B. bistripustulata (Fabricius, 1801) ” ( OUMNH) (1♂); “ Morelos, Cuernavaca, 01-VII- 1959, col. N. L. H. Krauss ” ( USNM) (2♀, 1♂); “ Morelos, Ocuituco, Ocoxaltepec, 2450 m, 1-III- 2 0 0 3, col. F. Bustamante, atraído a alcohol etílico” ( CEAM) (1♂); “ Morelos, Tepoztlán, San Andrés de la Cal, 12-VIII-2015, col. J. I. Nestor and A. Reyes, redeo, hierbas y arbustos” ( CIUM) (1♀, 3♂); “ Morelos, Tetela del Volcán, C. Tetela , 18°54'33.3" N, 98°43'13" W, 2400 msnm, 20-III-2003, 17:20, col. Y. Mora, durazno, bosque miXto, SHCO8672 ” ( CCFES-Z) (1♂); “ Morelos, Tlaquiltenango, 5.8 km north of Huautla , 18º37'52" N, 1005 m, 24-VI-2000, col. A. Burgos” (CEAM) (1♂).

Type locality. TaXco de Alarcón , Guerrero, MeXico.

Remarks. This species is very similar to Brachiacantha bistripustulata (Fabricius) , but the cusps in the third ventrite of the male are bigger and the male genitalia are different. Based on the cusps on the third ventrite and the asymmetrical genitalia this species belongs to the dentipes group.

Etymology. From the Latin “angulatus” (with angles). The name refers to the angulated apeX of the basal lobe of the male genitalia.

Figures

FIGURES 5‒8. Brachiacantha angulata. 5) dorsal habitus; 6) tegmen, concave side vieW; 7) tegmen, lateral vieW; 8) sipho.