Madecorphnus grandis Frolov, Smith

Frolov, Andrey V., Smith, Andrew B. T. & Akhmetova, Lilia A., 2017, A new species of the genus Madecorphnus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Orphninae) from Madagascar, Zootaxa 4341 (2) : -

Madecorphnus grandis Frolov, Smith , and Akhmetova, new species ( Figures 1–5 .)

Type material. Holotype: male at FMNH labeled “ MADAGASCAR: Befin- / gotra (11.0 km WSW), / Rés Anjanaharibe-Sud, / 14º45’S, 49º27’E, / 1565m, montane rain- / forest, 16.XI.1994 // FMHD #94-58, Winkler / extraction of sifted litter / (leaf mold, rotten wood) / B. L. Fisher #1232 (1-50) / FIELD MUS. NAT.”.

Description. Holotype, male ( Figs. 1–5 ). Body length 7.5 mm (without mandibles). Color uniformly dark brown, almost black, legs and underside of body somewhat paler.

Right mandible 2 times longer than left, without tooth behind apex ( Fig. 3 ). Labrum subtrapezoidal, with slightly rounded sides, length about 1/8 width (in dorsal view). Clypeus slightly asymmetrical, apically obtuse, with 2 long and 3 shorter setae on the apical margin. Canthus and frontal suture indistinct. Clypeus slightly depressed apicomedially. Head without traces of frontoclypeal suture, finely punctate with minute punctures separated by greater than 4 times their diameter.

Pronotum approximately 1.5 times wider than long, widest medially. Disc of pronotum convex, without any depressions, tubercles, or ridges. Punctation on pronotum similar to that on head. Margins with relatively wide border, lateral margins with 4 long setae: 1 seta on basal angle, 1 seta approximately in the middle of lateral margin, and 2 setae on the apical angle.

Scutellum triangular, angulate apically, about 1/12 length of elytra.

Elytra convex, with distinct humeral and apical umbones, widest at basal third. First stria distinct and reaching the apex of elytron, other striae indistinct. Elytra with double punctation: entire surface with minute punctures similar to those on head and pronotum; disc with larger, sparse, elongate, setigerous punctures. Epipleura with long, sparse, brown setae. Base of elytron with border from scutellum to humeral callus. Wings fully developed.

Protibiae with 3 outer teeth, lateral margin basad of outer teeth not crenulate. Apex with robust, spur-like seta and a few smaller setae basally. Mesothoracic and metathoracic legs similar in shape to each other. Longer tibial spur shorter than mesotarsomeres 1–2 in mesothoracic legs and as long as metatarsomeres 1–2 in metathoracic legs.

Apices of parameres rounded in lateral view ( Fig. 4 ). Lateral teeth of parameres poorly developed, situated approximately in middle of lateral paramere margin. Endophallus with 2 large, robust spinules with a sclerotization near base of one of spinules, and 2 smaller, comma-shaped sclerites ( Fig. 5 ).

Female unknown.

Diagnosis. This species is similar to M. peyrierasi Frolov, 2010 and, especially, M. perinetensis Frolov, 2010 in the shape of the endophallus armature but differs in having comma-shaped sclerites longer than in other species, wider and rounded in lateral view apices of parameres, and in less developed lateral teeth of parameres. The new species is also 1.5–2.0 mm longer than M. peyrierasi and M. perinetensis specimens and somewhat longer than the holotype of M. falcatus Paulian, 1992 , the largest Madecorphnus species known so far.

Distribution. The new species is known from a tropical rainforest in the Anjanaharibe-Sud Reserve, in mid-altitude escarpments of northern Madagascar ( Fig. 6 ). The nearest Madecorphnus locality is that of M. barclayi Frolov, 2012 in the northern part of the Masoala Peninsula ( Frolov 2012), some 100 km southeast of Anjanaharibe-Sud. The similar species M. peyrierasi and M. perinetensis occur some 500 km to the south ( Fig. 6 ).

Etymology. Adjective in the nominative singular. From the Latin grandis for large, denoting the relatively large size of the species.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 6. Madecorphnus species. A – E. Madecorphnus grandis new species, holotype. Habitus (1, 2), head (3), parameres in dorsal and lateral view (4), endophallus (5). Distributional records (6; square— M. grandis, triangle— M. peyrierasi, circle— M. dentatus).