Phelister bryanti, Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2019

Caterino, Michael S. & Tishechkin, Alexey K., 2019, A revision of the Phelisterhaemorrhous species group (Coleoptera, Histeridae, Exosternini), ZooKeys 854, pp. 41-88 : 71-74

Phelister bryanti sp. nov. Figs 2, 8; Map 5

Type material.

Holotype male: "Rio San Javier, Santa Fe, Argentine. G.E. Bryant. San Joaquin 5.1.1912" / "G. Bryant Coll. 1919-147" / "Phelister subrotundus Say, H. Desbordes det. 1932" / "Caterino Tischechkin Exosternini Voucher EXO-00144", deposited in NHMUK. 2 paratypes, same data as type (NHMUK).

Diagnostic description.

Length: 1.50-1.77 mm (avg. 1.62 mm); width: 1.22-1.38 mm (avg. 1.29 mm). Body broadly elongate oval, piceous, with conspicuous ground punctation, especially on pronotum; frons depressed along midline, lacking secondary punctation, with complete supraorbital stria; frontal stria obsolete between antennal bases; labrum moderately emarginate apically; both mandibles with strong inner marginal tooth; pronotal disk with few coarser secondary punctures at sides of disk and along basal margin; prescutellar impression present, but small; marginal pronotal stria complete along sides and front, crenulate anteriorly; submarginal pronotal striae absent; elytra with single, complete epipleural stria; outer subhumeral stria present in apical half only, inner absent, elytral striae 1-5 complete, sutural stria present in apical two-thirds or slightly more; propygidium with few sparse secondary punctures, mostly in basal half; pygidium with ground punctures only; prosternal lobe bluntly rounded, with complete marginal stria; prosternal keel with complete striae parallel over most of length, slightly divergent basad, connected basally by transverse stria, free anteriorly; mesoventrite moderately strongly produced, with complete marginal stria, continued at sides by postmesocoxal stria which diverges sinuately onto metaventrite; mesometaventral stria subangulate at middle, reaching midpoint of mesoventrite, curving posteriad at sides rather distant from mesocoxa, continued by lateral metaventral stria nearly to middle of metacoxa; 1st abdominal ventrite with single, complete lateral stria; protibia with outer margin weakly rounded, widest near middle, with 5-6 weakly developed teeth bearing marginal spines, apex obliquely truncate; protarsal claws (of male only?) strongly bent at base, straight to apex; meso- and metatibiae elongate, thin, mesotibia with ca. five thin marginal spines, those of metatibia very fine and mostly near apex; basal piece ca. one-fourth total aedeagus length; tegmen moderately flattened dorsoventrally, lacking ventral process, sides widening to near apex, then abruptly narrowed to thin, elongate apices, apical emargination narrow; median lobe ca. one-third tegmen length, with proximal apodemes differentiated into thin and longer thick portions.

Remarks.

This species appears quite similar to P. puncticollis , but is distinct in lacking a sublateral pronotal stria, its impunctate metaventrite, and separate male prosternal striae. The aedeagus of P. bryanti is highly distinct, being abruptly narrowed apically, where that of P. puncticollis is narrow and evenly rounded to the apex.

Etymology.

This species is named for the collector of the entire type series, GE Bryant, a British coleopterist, best known for his work on Chrysomelidae .

Biology.

Nothing is known of the biology of this species.

Distribution.

This species is only known from the type locality in northeastern Argentina, and the types’ labels bear no ecological data.