Copelatus yaguarete, Scheers & Hájek & Bergsten & Hájek, 2017

Scheers, Kevin, 2017, Copelatus yaguarete sp. nov. a new species of the Copelatus erichsoni group from Central America (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae), Belgian Journal of Entomology 66, pp. 1-11 : 1-11

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.13691427
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/0F4E87C9-046C-494A-9611-914B61141008
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Copelatus yaguarete
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Copelatus yaguarete View in CoL sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:BB932F05-F35D-4231-B696-EA04BF3EB06D

( Figs 1-3 View Fig View Fig View Fig )

TYPE LOCALITY. Tiger Fern waterfall [16°46'50,44"N, 88°26'28,6"W], Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary , Stann Creek, Belize GoogleMaps .

TYPE MATERIAL. Holotype, ♂ Tiger Fern waterfall/ Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary / small puddle on rock next to waterfall/ 16°46'50,44"N; 88°26'28,6"W, 06.V.2015 / Leg. K. Scheers & A. Thomaes [white label, printed]// Holotype / Copelatus yaguarete sp. nov. Scheers det. 2018 [red label, printed] (RBINS, I.G.: 33.687). Paratypes: 7♂♂ and 5♀♀ GoogleMaps , Tiger Fern waterfall/ Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary / small puddle on rock next to waterfall/ 16°46'50,44"N; 88°26'28,6"W, 06.V.2015 / Leg. K. Scheers & A. Thomaes [white label, printed]// Paratype / Copelatus yaguarete sp. nov. Scheers det. 2018 [red label, printed]; 12♂♂ and 31♀♀ GoogleMaps , Trail to Ben’s Bluff / Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary / small puddles on rockface/ 16°46'22,8"N, 88°27'3,3"W, 07.V.2015, Leg. K. Scheers & A. Thomaes [white label, printed]// Paratype / Copelatus yaguarete sp. nov. Scheers det. 2018 [red label, printed] (1♂ and 2♀♀ BMNH, 14♂♂ and 29♀♀ CKS, 1♂ and 1♀ NMPC, 1♀ NMW, 1♂ and 2♀ RBINS (I.G.: 33.687), 1♂ and 1♀ ZSM) GoogleMaps .

4 DESCRIPTION.

Size: holotype TL: 5.9 mm, MW: 2.95 mm. paratypes TL: 5.55 – 5.90 mm, MW: 2.70 – 2.95 mm.

Colour: Head completely testaceous with exception of a dark brown to pitch-coloured area behind the eyes, extending narrowly along the eyes. Pronotum testaceous, narrowly darkened along the base, broadly pale at the lateral portions reaching inwards anteriorly. Scutellum dark brown to pitchy. Elytra pitchy brown, slightly paler along the suture. Each elytra with a three yellow fascia: a basal one which extends from the suture to just before the tenth discal stria, reaching the anterior edge of the elytra and protruding posteriorly at the sutural interstice and the fourth and fifth interstice giving this fascia a sinuate appearance; a second transverse one on the middle of the elytra extending from the area between the tenth discal stria and the sublateral stria inwards to the first discal stria and is broadest from the lateral part to the eight interstice and at the fourth interstice and narrowing towards the sixth and first interstice; and a third apical one extending anteriorly 1/5 th of the elytral length, just reaching the ends of the first, third, fifth, seventh and ninth discal striae ( Figs 1-2 View Fig View Fig ). Epipleura dark pitchy brown, distinctly paler near the shoulder. Antennae with all segments uniformly pale testaceous. Legs and tarsi completely and uniformly pale testaceous. Venter clear orange-testaceous.

Head: Upper surface shining, microreticulation fine but distinct throughout and slightly more prominent behind the eyes. Finely and evenly punctate, posterior half with distinct elongate strioles. Antennae filiform but slightly flattened.

Pronotum: Maximum width at the base, sides evenly curved with a sublateral depression parallel to lateral margins. Lateral rim distinct, disappearing just before anterior angle. Transverse row of coarser punctures along base distinct, in the middle portion bearing short setae the rest bearing rather long setae (in most material these setae are partly missing, which is also the case in the holotype). Upper surface shining, microreticulation fine but distinct. Punctation fine and evenly distributed. Pronotum almost completely covered with distinct elongated, rather deeply impressed strioles, absent near the lateral sides and narrowly along the base. Longitudinal strioles very variable in length, some short, others reaching more than half of length of pronotum.

Scutellum : Microreticulation same as on the pronotum.

Elytra: Each elytra with a sublateral stria and ten longitudinal discal striae. The sublateral stria very short but distinct, the discal stria distinct, rather deeply impressed. All striae starting near the base of the elytra with the first, third, fifth, seventh and ninth striae continuing down to about 4/5 th of the elytra, the second, fourth, sixth, eight and tenth shortened posteriorly. The

6 discal striae run subparallel to each other having their greatest width at about 2/5 th of their length and narrow down only slightly towards the apex and base. Punctation rather fine and sparsely but evenly distributed. A longitudinal series of larger punctures bearing setae is present at the third and seventh discal striae, also in the fifth, ninth and tenth striae and in the subapical some larger setae-bearing punctures are present.

Venter: completely shallow but distinctly microreticulated. Metacoxa with distinct longitudinal strioles. Sternite 1 to 4 laterally broadly with longitudinal strioles, strongly curving inwards on sternite 3 and 4. All sternites medially finely punctated.

Legs: protibia simple, without ventrobasal emarginations in both sexes. Mesotibia simple. Mesotarsal claws unmodified and equal in length. Protarsal claws sexual dimorphic (see male and female sexual characters).

Aedeagus: median lobe in ventral view with the left side with the left margin serrated from near the apex to about 2/5 of the total length ( Fig. 3A View Fig ), in lateral view with the inner margin evenly curved and the outer margin straigtened near the base ( Fig. 3B View Fig ). Parameres rather narrow, inner margin with long setae along the apical half ( Fig. 3C View Fig ).

Male sexual characters: pro- and mesotarsomeres 1–3 distinctly widened, with sucker-like setae. Protarsal claws long and slender, rather strongly curved near the base, then straight for the apical 5/6 th. Head and pronotum with strioles as described above ( Fig. 1B View Fig ). Elytra in between discal striae smooth and finely puntctated, without anastomosing strioles ( Fig. 1C View Fig ).

Female sexual characters: Pro- and mesotarsomeres 1–3 unmodified. Head with strioles more numerous and much denser behind the eyes. Pronotum of females with strioles more numerous, much denser frontolaterally, on disc with very small, short strioles in between the large strioles ( Fig. 2B View Fig ). Elytra in between the discal striae with complex elongate anastomosing strioles on anterior 4/5 of elytra ( Fig. 2A, 2C View Fig ).

Variability: Although the strioles on pronotum are consistently longer in females than in males, the length of these strioles is very variable between individuals of the same sex. In some males strioles are present reaching more than 4/5 th of the length of pronotum while other specimens have the longest strioles on the pronotum less than 1/3 rd of the pronotal length. The

7 yellow transverse fascia in the middle of the elytra shows a great deal of variation in extant, both intersexual as intrasexual. In the females the central transverse fascia is typically more reduced than in the males, broken up in two spots. In one female paratype the central transverse fascia is nearly completely absent and only one very indistinct, poorly delimited spot is distinguishable at the eight interstice.

DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS: Superficially this species resembles C. terminalis in size and coloration, but it is easily distinguished by both the male and female sexual features and the male genitalia. In the male C. yaguarete sp. nov. the frontal claws are long and straightened and the pronotum is densely covered with rather deep and long stioles. Also on the base of the head some distinct strioles are present. In C. terminalis the male frontal claws are short and distinctly bend inwards, the strioles on the pronotum are sparser, shorter and less deep, especially on the disc while the base of head is free of strioles. The female of C. terminalis lacks the complex elongate anastomosing strioles on the elytra which are very prominent in C. yaguarete . Furthermore the testaceous pattern on the elytra in both species is variable but consistently different. The median lobe of the male genitalia is very similar with that of Copelatus integer Sharp, 1882 in general shape and in the form and extant of the serrated margin, but the species is readily distinguished from it by means of its coloration, striolation. Furthermore the median lobe is less curved and the parameres are distinctly narrower in C. integer than in C. yaguarete sp. nov.

DISTRIBUTION.

To date known only from two localities in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize. This reserve is located at the base of the Maya mountains . The two known sites are located in the eastern part of the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary and lay within the South Stann Creek river catchment. At the type locality at the Tiger Fern double waterfall the species was found in a small isolated puddle on the plateau between the two waterfalls at approximately 140m a.s.l. ( Figs 4-5 View Fig View Fig ) . At the second site it was common in small puddles on a sloping rock face next to a rapid in the stream some meters downstream of the waterfall at the trail to Ben’s Bluff at approximately 100m a.s.l..

ECOLOGY.

At both known sites C. yaguarete sp. nov. was restricted to small puddles on bare granite rock faces next to a waterfall and nearby rapids ( Figs 4-5 View Fig View Fig ). These puddles were about 4-7cm deep and filled with decaying leaves. These puddles are at least partly filled by misted water from the waterfall and rapids and during the rainy season by rainwater. It is possible that some of these puddles are also very briefly flooded by the stream after heavy rain during the rainy season. In these puddles C. yaguarete sp. nov. was the dominant species and co-occurred here with C. integer and C. posticatus (Fabricius, 1801) . The surrounding area consists of tropical forest, meanly of secondary growth, on poor soil. No specimens were found in the stream itself nor in any of the other lotic and lentic habitats sampled in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Preserve or Belize as a whole.

ETYMOLOGY.

The specific epithet yaguarete derives from the Tupian specific word for jaguar, in which yaguara stands for “beast” and the suffix - eté means "real" or "true" and is a latinised noun in apposition. This name refers to the type locality which is located in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary which is internationally recognized as the world’s first jaguar preserve.