Phelister parecis, Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2019

Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2019, A revision of the Phelisterhaemorrhous species group (Coleoptera, Histeridae, Exosternini), ZooKeys 854, pp. 41-88 : 71

Phelister parecis sp. nov. Figs 2, 8; Map 5

Type material.

Holotype male: "BRASIL: Mato Grosso, Chapada dos Parecis, 14°15.85'S, 59°14.03'W, 25.xi-16.xii.2000" / "Caterino Tischechkin Exosternini Voucher EXO-00146", deposited in DZUP. Paratypes (5): 2: Same data as type (CHND, FMNH); 1: PARAGUAY: Paraguari, Compañía Naranjo, 5 November 2000, C. Aguilar" / "Caterino Tischechkin Exosternini Voucher EXO-00147"; 2: PARAGUAY: Cordillera, Naranjo, 3.xi.2000, C. Aguilar" (CHND, MSCC).

Diagnostic description.

Length: 1.34-1.62 mm (avg. 1.48 mm); width: 1.14-1.30 mm (avg. 1.26 mm). Body elongate oval, dark rufescent to piceous, the elytra more distinctly rufescent; frons depressed along midline, lacking secondary punctures, with complete frontal stria; labrum weakly emarginate; both mandibles with strong inner marginal tooth; pronotum with fine but distinct ground punctation, with coarser punctures in the lateral thirds, as well as along the basal margin; prescutellar impression distinct; marginal pronotal stria complete around sides and front; lateral submarginal pronotal stria complete along sides, very close to marginal stria, curving inward at front, nearly merging with marginal stria behind eye, strongly crenulate; elytra with single, complete epipleural stria, outer subhumeral stria present in posterior one-half, inner absent, dorsal striae 1-5 complete, the 5th hooked weakly at base, sutural stria present in apical two-thirds; propygidium with conspicuous, round secondary punctures separated by ca. their diameters, only slightly smaller and sparser in apical half; pygidium with very small, sparse secondary punctures throughout; prosternal lobe bluntly rounded, with complete marginal stria; prosternal keel with complete striae, sinuate, united anteriorly, with denser intervening punctures in the male; mesoventrite moderately produced, with complete marginal stria close to margin, continued at sides by long postmesocoxal stria that extends two-thirds of the distance to the posterior corner of the metepisternum; mesometaventral stria weakly arched onto base of mesoventrite, angulate at sides, lateral metaventral stria extending nearly to middle of front edge of metacoxa; 1st abdominal ventrite with complete inner lateral stria and fragments of outer behind metacoxa; protibia with outer edge rounded, bearing four moderately strong teeth, with prominent spines, apex obliquely truncate; protarsal claws unmodified; meso- and metatibiae weakly expanded to apices, bearing marginal spines, principally in the apical half on the metatibia; basal piece ca. one-fourth aedeagus length; tegmen narrow, only weakly expanded to apex, not very dorsoventrally flattened, rather thick in apical half; median lobe over half tegmen length, proximal apodemes differentiated with thin basal portions long.

Remarks.

This species is very closely related to the P. rufinotus complex, and we considered the possibility that it represented a variant of one of these. But it is consistently distinct, over several localities, in the complete lateral submarginal pronotal stria, the complete 5th dorsal stria, and the complete frontal stria. Its aedeagus (from only one available male) is narrower than others in this complex, as well.

Biology.

Nothing is known of the biology of this species.

Distribution.

This species is known from only three locations, from Mato Grosso, Brazil to southern Paraguay.