Embates euscheme Prena, 2005

Prena, Jens, 2005, The Middle American species of Embates Chevrolat (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Baridinae), Zootaxa 1100 (1), pp. 1-151 : 1-151

27. Embates euscheme Prena sp. n.

(Fig. 109–110, 254)

Holotype male (dissected), Costa Rica , labeled: “ COSTA RICA. Prov. Heredia, Tajo/ Zurquí, entrando por San Luis, 1500–/ 1600m, 17 ABR 2002, R. González / Tenorio, Libre, L_N_225053_533910/ #68939”, INB0003476599 ( INBC).

Paratypes 20 (5 males, 15 females), labeled: “ Costa Rica, HEREDIA: 5/ km N San Isidro, Cerro / Zurquí , 1800 m,/ 13.2.2000, leg. Prena ” ( JPPC 2 ) ; same data, except “ 15.2.2000 ” ( INBC, JPPC) , “ 26.2.2000 ” ( NMNH) ; “ COSTA RICA, S. Jose / Zurquí de Moravia ,/ 1600 m, malaise trap / III­1996, P. Hanson” ( CWOB) ; “ COSTA RICA. Punta. / Monteverde Reserve / 1500m 29.V.1979 / H & A Howden” ( HAHC 2 ) ; “ COSTA RICA, Punt. / Monteverde, Hotel Bel­/mar, cloud forest, ca./ 4500';V­28. VI­1­1994 ”, “Collectors:/ J. Rifkind, P. Gum ” ( CWOB) ; “ COSTA RICA, Punt. / Monteverde, Santa / Elena Preserve ,/ 5000', cloud forest”, “ V­30­1994 / J. Rifkind, P. Gum ” ( CWOB) ; “ Costa Rica, GUAN/ Sta. Elena Reserve / 10.22N 84.48W 1400 m / 3.4.1996 leg. J. Prena ” ( JPPC, INBC) ; “ Costa Rica, CARTAGO:/ 17 km SE Cartago, P.N./ Tapantí , 1200 m,/ 7/ 8.4.2000, leg. Prena ” ( JPPC 2 ) ; “ PANAMA, Chiriqui,/ Fortuna , 82° 15' W / 8° 44' N, May 17, 1978 / O’Brien & Marshall” ( CWOB, JPPC 2 ) ; same data, except “ May 19, 1978 ” ( CWOB) ; “ PANAMA. Chiriqui Pr / 7 km SE Fortuna Dam / 30 May ‘93, 1200 m./ A. Gillogly ” ( HPSC) .

Description. Habitus: Fig. 109, total length 4.8–6.6 mm (m=5.8, n=21). Color: integument piceous, legs partially rufous, basic vestiture of brown scales; elytron without dark macula behind middle; yellow scales scattered along elytral striae, condensed in dorsolateral pronotal vitta and on venter, some subpopulations with more or less disintegrated elytral vitta at interstriae 4 and 5 (Fig. 109a, b). Head: frontal fovea absent, rostrum slender, subcylindrical (Fig. 110), costate dorsomedially, basolateral margin roundly edged, length of rostrum ♂♂ 1.28–1.44 x (m=1.33, n=7), ♀♀ 1.32–1.54 x (m=1.44, n=14) pronotal length, length of ante­antennal portion ♂♂ 0.38–0.42 x (m=0.40, n=7), ♀♀ 0.40–0.45 x (m=0.42, n=14) total rostral length, dorsal margin of antennal scrobe reaching rostral base before eye; length of funicular segments 1 and 2 subequal, club oblong ovate. Pronotum: length 0.93–1.03 x (m=0.97, n=21) maximum width, subconical, sides slightly rounded, anterior portion tubulate; punctation dense and shallow. Elytra: length 1.87–2.08 x (m=2.00, n=21) width at humeri, width 1.29–1.55 x (m=1.44, n=21) maximum pronotal width, sides subparallel in basal half, then increasingly narrowed toward apex, apices rounded conjointly, preapical callus moderate, striae fine, punctures indistinct, interstriae flat, 9 subcostate distally. Legs: tibiae almost straight, ventral margin straight to bisinuate, metatibia ventrodistally with short fringe of cupreous hairs, tarsal claws arcuate and separate at base. Male: aedeagus as E. pictipennis .

Plant association. Piper bisasperatum (Prena 4), P. epigynium (Prena 2).

Distribution. Costa Rica and Panama, evergreen montane forests between 1200 and 1800 m (Fig. 254).

Specific epithet. The name is a Greek adverb meaning “elegant”.

Discussion. I include under E. euscheme specimens from four locations in the Cordilleras Central and Talamanca. Those from Monteverde and Cerro Zurquí agree in all details, while the others are smaller and exhibit traces of elytral vittae. The population from La Fortuna includes the smallest specimens (4.8–5.2 mm), which approach morphometrically a sympatrically occurring aberrant subpopulation of E. discordabilis , but disagree in the color­pattern. Typical E. euscheme occur in Monteverde together with aberrant E. pictipennis , the latter approaching the color­pattern of E. euscheme but deviating morphometrically. The type of E. euscheme is chosen from the material without elytral vitta, and the material from Tapantí and La Fortuna is included under this species in the wider sense. Embates euscheme belongs to the large, poorly differentiated complex of species near E. pictipennis .