Cyclocephala melanopoda Ratcliffe, 2008

Ratcliffe, Brett C., 1821, More New Species ofCyclocephalaDejean, 1821 from South America (Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae: Cyclocephalini), The Coleopterists Bulletin 62 (2), pp. 221-241 : 221-241

Cyclocephala melanopoda Ratcliffe , new species

( Figs. 26–29 )

Type Material. Holotype male, labeled ‘‘ ECUADOR: Pichincha Prov., Sto. Domingo, Tinalandia Resort , 0 ° 13 9 S, 79 ° 09 9 W, V-18-24- 1997, 760 m, C. & K. Messenger. ’’ Allotype female labeled ‘‘ ECUADOR: Pichincha Pr., Tinalandia, 21 April 1999, F. T. Hovore/ I. P. Smith // D. C. Carlson Collection, Gift from F. T. Hovore. ’’ One paratype male with same data as allotype. One paratype male labeled ‘‘ ECUADOR, 700 9, Rio Palenque , 47 km S St. Domingo, Feb. 22–27 1976, H. & A. Howden. ’’

Holotype and allotype (property of D. Carlson) deposited at the University of Nebraska State Museum , Lincoln, NE. One paratype in the David Carlson Collection (Fair Oaks, CA) and one paratype in the Canadian Museum of Nature Collection, Ottawa, Canada .

Holotype. Male. Length 9.8 mm; width across humeri 4.2 mm. Color of clypeus, pronotum, elytra, pygidium, femora, and tibiae testaceous; frons, elytral pattern, sides of pygidium, apices of tibiae and femora, meso-and metatarsi, procoxae, venter of meso- and metathorax, and abdominal sternites black; protarsi piceous; protarsal claws black, meso- and metatarsal claws testaceous. Elytra with black, curved line extending from base either side of scutellum to suture at about middle; 3 black, short streaks on disc. Head: Surface finely shagreened, opaque. Frons between eyes moderately densely punctate, punctures small. Remainder of head vaguely punctate or roughened. Clypeus with apex parabolic, rimmed in black, weakly reflexed. Interocular width equals 3.0 transverse eye diameters. Antenna 10-segmented, club subequal in length to segments 2–7. Pronotum: Surface weakly shining, finely shagreened, punctate; punctures dense (separated by; 1–2 puncture diameters), moderate in size, becoming indistinct near lateral margins. Posterior angles narrowly rounded. Base with complete marginal bead. Elytra: Surface weakly shining (a little more so than pronotum), punctate; punctures moderate in density and size (becoming slightly larger on sides), many weakly ocellate, paired punctate striae distinct. Posterior third with sparse, minute, stout setae. Pygidium: Surface weakly shining, finely shagreened, weakly punctate; punctures moderately dense, minute, some setigerous; setae sparse, pale, small. In lateral view, surface weakly convex in basal 3/4, more strongly convex in apical fourth. Legs: Protibia bidentate. Protarsus strongly enlarged; tarsomeres 2–4 each slightly larger than preceding; 5th long, curved, concave ventrally, ventromedial edge deeply emarginate, ventrolateral edge strongly produced onto a lobe ( Fig. 29 ); median claw enlarged, strongly curved, apex obliquely truncate, entire. Metatarsus nearly twice as long as metatibia. Venter: Prosternal process short, stout; apex transversely oval with raised, transverse ‘‘button’’ on anterior half. Last sternite very deeply emarginate. Parameres: Figs. 27–28 .

Allotype. Female. Length 9.3 mm; width across humeri 4.9 mm. As holotype except in the following respects: Color of clypeus dark brownish yellow; elytra with curved, black line interrupted at base either side of scutellum; subapical swelling on lateral margin black. Head: Clypeus weakly shining (not opaque), surface densely, finely rugopunctate. Elytra: In ventral view, epipleuron abruptly narrowed at level of sternite 2; lateral margin just above this slightly swollen. Minute setae sparser. Pygidium: Setae sparse, minute. In lateral view, surface nearly flat. Legs: Protibia tridentate. Protarsus not enlarged.

Variation. Males (2 paratypes). Length 9.8–10.0 mm; width across humeri 4.6– 4.7 mm. As holotype except in the following respects: In one specimen, color of clypeus and sides of pygidium dark brownish yellow; pronotum with trace of light brown, longitudinal macula either side of midline on basal half; elytra with posterior 2 discal spots connected.

Etymology. The name is derived from the Greek words melos, for black, and pous, for foot, in reference to the black tarsomeres.

Distribution. Cyclocephala melanopoda is known from the southeast and southwest of Santo Domingo de los Colorados on the west side of the Andes (Tinalandia Resort on Hwy 30; Pichincha Province and Rio Palenque Research Center off of Hwy 25; Los Rios Province, respectively). The specimens were taken at lights.

Diagnosis. The parameres are similar to those of C. herteli Endrödi and C. santaritae Ratcliffe (both from Panama). Cyclocephala melanopoda resembles C. herteli in most external characteristics, except that in C. melanopoda the frons and most of the venter is black (testaceous or light brown in C. herteli ), the male pygidium is setose (glabrous in C. herteli ), and the tarsomeres are black (testaceous in C. herteli ). In females, C. melanopoda has the elytral margin slightly swollen just above the abrupt constriction of the epipleuron, but in C. herteli the elytral margin is slightly swollen but also bi-emarginate. The most distinctive difference is the form of the male 5th protarsomere. In C. melanopoda , it is concave ventrally with the ventromedial edge deeply emarginate, and the 236 (caudal and lateral views).

ventrolateral edge strongly produced onto a lobe ( Fig. 29 ). In C. herteli , conversely, the ventral edges either side of the concavity each have a small ‘‘tooth’’ near the base, and the teeth are subequal in size to one another ( Fig. 30 ).

Although the parameres of C. melanopoda and C. santaritae are similar, the similarities end there. Cyclocephala melanopoda is extensively black on the frons, elytral pattern, either side of the pygidium, legs, and venter, but C. santaritae has only a faint and different pattern on the elytra. In addition, the pygidium in C. melanopoda has sparse, small setae, whereas the pygidium in C. santaritae has dense, long setae. In the females, the swelling on the lateral margin of the elytra is small in C. melanopoda , but in C. santaritae it is developed into a distinct lobe.

Cyclocephala melanopoda superficially resembles C. quadripunctata Höhne and C. peruana Endrödi , but in these two latter species there are short setae on the clypeus and/or pronotum, and the parameres are of different form and more robust than those of C. melanopoda . This species will key as far as couplet 190 ( C. herteli ) in the key to male Cyclocephala species in Endrödi (1985).

Figures

Figs. 26–30. Cyclocephala melanopoda: 26) dorsal view of paratype; 27–28) parameres (caudal and lateral views); 29–30) right protarsus, median view, of male of 29) C. melanopoda and 30) C. herteli.