Crenulister simplex, Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2014

Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2014, New genera and species of Neotropical Exosternini (Coleoptera, Histeridae), ZooKeys 381, pp. 11-78 : 63-65

Crenulister simplex sp. n. Figs 26-27, Map 5

Type locality.

BOLIVIA: Cochabamba, Valle de Sajta Biological Station [17.1092°S, 64.7978°W].

Type material.

Holotype male: "BOLIVIA: Cochabamba, Cochabamba, 67.5km NE, Est. Biol. Valle del Sajita[sic], Univ. de San Simon, 300m, 17°6'33"S, 64°47'52"W, 9-13 FEB 1999, R.Hanley, BOL1H99 078, ex. flight intercept trap" / "SM0159345, KUNHM-ENT [barcode label]" (SEMC). Paratype (1): BOLIVIA:Santa Cruz, 4-5km SSE Buena Vista, Hotel Flora y Fauna, 17°29'S, 63°33'W, FIT, 29.iv-6.v.2004, A.R. Cline (LSAM).

Diagnostic description.

Length: 1.7-1.8 mm, width: 1.5-1.6 mm; as for generic description with the following diagnostic characters: body rufescent, elongate ovoid, subdepressed; frontal stria fine, complete or narrowly interrupted, frontal disk moderately depressed, with relatively dense punctation consisting of ground punctation and barely larger secondary punctation; epistoma with lateral ridges delimiting median depression bearing weak lateral striae basally; labrum about 4 × wider than long, apical margin weakly emarginate; pronotum with gland opening track not quite reaching midline, with 2 openings lying within the impunctate track; pronotal sides weakly explanate, particularly in front; lateral submarginal stria fine, subcarinate, merging with margin just behind anterior corner; pronotal disk with secondary punctures very small and sparse, most evident along basal margin, almost indistinguishable from background punctation elsewhere; weak prescutellar impression present; elytron with one complete, crenulate epipleural stria rather distant from margin, especially posteriorly, both subhumeral striae and dorsal striae 1-4 complete, 5th and sutural striae obsolete in basal third, striae shallowly but coarsely impressed; elytral intervals very sparsely, irregularly punctate, inner intervals with 2-6 very small secondary punctures; prosternal keel deeply emarginate at base, carinal striae slightly abbreviated, divergent anteriorly, not connected; prosternal lobe slightly deflexed, marginal stria present only at middle; mesoventrite with marginal stria fine, not crenulate, mesometaventral stria crenulate, angulately arched forward just short of mesoventral midpoint; postmesocoxal stria recurved anterad around mesocoxa to mesepimeron; lateral metaventral stria rather fine, only weakly crenulate, ending short of metacoxa; metaventral disk with secondary punctures almost obsolete in anterior half and along midline, coarser posterolaterally; metepisternal punctures coalesced into a short stria; lateral stria of 1st abdominal ventrite finely impressed, oblique along inner edge of metacoxa, curving laterad behind metacoxa; secondary punctures of median portion of 1st abdominal ventrite largely restricted to basal third, with slightly oblique punctures toward sides behind metacoxa; punctures along posterior margins of ventrites 1-4 transversely elongate, intermittently coalesced into marginal strioles; protibia ~6-spined, with marginal dentation weakly developed; meso- and metatibia with thin, elongate spines, mainly along apical half of margin; propygidium with secondary punctures shallow but rather large, separated by 1 –2× their diameters in basal half, smaller and sparser apically; propygidial gland openings present just mediad lateral corners, nearly one-half behind anterior margin, propygidial strioles absent; pygidium lacking secondary punctation; pygidial gland openings slightly tuberculate, evident near sides about one-fourth from base; pygidial margin with striae along most of apical two-thirds, but interrupted at apex. Male (Fig. 27): accessory sclerites reduced, vestigial; T8 with ventrolateral apodemes slightly narrowed ventrally; S8 with halves meeting only at basal corner, inner margins short and strongly divergent, apices narrow, with three strong setae; T9 with apices subacute; T10 apex entire; S9 widened to bulbous, emarginate base, apex narrowly and deeply emarginate; tegmen widening slightly from base just beyond middle, narrowed to apex, apices narrowly separated, medioventral process produced beneath about one-third from base; median lobe about one-fourth tegmen length, basal piece about one-third tegmen length.

Remarks.

The basally obsolete 5th and sutural striae (Fig. 26A) in this species are largely adequate to distinguish it. The only other species in the genus with basally weakened striae ( Crenulister explanatus ) has the pronotum and elytral interstriae much more conspicuously punctate. Both are very weakly and finely punctate in this species.

Etymology.

This species’ name refers to its relatively impunctate, simple external sculpturing.