Rueckeria ocelotl, Arriaga-Varela, Emmanuel, Tomaszewska, Wioletta, Huo, Lizhi & Seidel, Matthias, 2018

Arriaga-Varela, Emmanuel, Tomaszewska, Wioletta, Huo, Lizhi & Seidel, Matthias, 2018, On Neotropical Merophysiinae with descriptions of a new genus and new species (Coleoptera, Endomychidae), ZooKeys 736, pp. 1-41 : 26-29

Rueckeria ocelotl sp. n. Figs 10, 15a, b, 18

DNA barcode.

GenBank accession number: MG676233

Etymology.

The name is derived from the Nahuatl word for jaguar, inspired by the rosette-like pattern that can be seen on the elytra under certain type of light, caused probably by different densities of the chitin. A noun in apposition.

Differential diagnosis.

Rueckeria ocelotl is similar to R. inecol and R. skelleyi spp. n, by the body completely brown and the abdominal ventrite 1 with irregularly rounded postcoxal lines (Fig. 18g). However, it can be distinguished by the pronotum with basal lateral pores present (not perforated in R. skelleyi ), mentum subhexagonal (Fig. 18a) and pronotal lateral margins weakly crenulate (mentum subrectangular and pronotal margins smooth in R. inecol ) and by the features of the aedeagus: tegmen distinctly shorter than median lobe, widened apically, median lobe subparallel-sided with moderately acuminate apex (Fig. 10 d–f).

Description.

Length 2.00-2.15 mm, width 0.80-0.85 mm, height 0.62-0.67 mm; body elongate-oval, weakly convex, 2.35-2.50 times as long as wide, 3.32-3.36 time as long as high (Figs 10 a–c, 15a, b). Surfaces shiny; sparsely covered with short, decumbent golden setae. Color reddish-brown with yellowish brown antenna and legs.

Head with interocular distance 0.75 times as wide as head including eyes. Eyes small, composed of approximately 16 facets (Fig. 18a). Antenna moderately long and slender (Fig. 18c), 0.78 times as long as head and pronotum combined; scape as long as wide, 0.8 times as long as pedicel; pedicel 2.0 times longer than wide; third antennomere 2.3 times as long as wide, 0.7 times as long as pedicel, antennomeres 4-5, 1.8 times as long as wide, 0.6 times as long as pedicel; antennomeres 6-8, 1.5 times as long as wide and 0.5 times as long as the pedicel; ninth antennomere 1.6 times as long as wide, 0.5 times as long as pedicel; terminal antennomere inflated, asymmetrical, 2.4 times longer at longer margin than pedicel, longer margin 1.4 times longer than lateral one, apical margin concave.

Pronotum weakly transverse, 0.77-0.80 times as long as wide (Fig. 18b), 1.51 times as wide as head, 1.09-1.14 times wider at widest part than at base, widest at anterior fourth, rather convex at mid length; front angles rounded, not conspicuously produced, margins slightly sinuate at anterior half, continuously narrowing to base; narrowly bordered, edges weakly crenulate (Fig. 18d); hind angles right-angled, rounded at tips. Anterior half of disc without impressions. Longitudinal sulci convergent, reaching apical 2/5; basal lateral pores present, connected by deep, faintly defined transversal sulcus, with additional posterior, transverse sulcus provided with large foveate punctures; area between transverse sulci convex. Prosternal process moderately widely separates front coxae, weakly widening posteriad, its apical width 0.85 times the length of procoxae. Mentum subhexagonal, with lateral margins angulate at mid-length, anterior margin straight (Fig. 18a).

Elytra 1.15-1.18 mm long, 1.38-1.43 times as long as wide; 2.25-2.30 times as long as and 1.26-1.30 times as wide as pronotum; widest at basal fourth then continuously strongly converging to rounded apex. Punctation composed of small setiferous punctures and widely spaced, slightly larger, shallow foveate punctures (Fig. 18e).

Legs moderately long. Femora very narrow at base, then strongly widened at apical half. Tibiae moderately narrow, straight sided, continuously widening to apex. Metatibia very narrow, straight, continuous widening apically, 0.35-0.37 times as long as elytra; metatarsus 0.66 times as long as metatibia.

Abdomen with ventrite 1 slightly shorter than metaventrite and almost as long as three following ventrites combined; postcoxal lines on ventrite 1 shallow, nearly reaching 2/5 length of ventrite, irregularly rounded.

Male genital segment with sternite emarginate apically, and strongly acuminate at its base. Tegmen shorter than median lobe, narrower at basal third, then widening towards apex, with long setae on apical margin. Median lobe cylindrical, weakly curved in lateral view, narrowing near moderately acuminate apex (Fig. 10 d–f).

Female genitalia with moderately broad coxites and with styli vestigial (Fig. 10g); spermatheca not studied.

Type material.

Holotype, male, MEXICO: "MEXICO: Hidalgo La Mojonera 4.8 km SE Zacualtipan, upper part of Fagus forest; 20°37.9'N 98°37.0'W; 2010 m; 13-16.ix.2016; Arriaga, Cortés, Fikáček & Seidel lgt. 2016-MX22 / sifting of large accumulations of leaf litter in relictual Fagus forest with intermixed Magnolia and tree ferns, with sparse to dense understory and many (partly rotten) fungi and logs" (NMPC); Paratypes, same data: (1 male: CZUG; 1 female: MIZ).