Passalus (Passalus) procerus Hincks, 1940

Bevilaqua, Marcus & Fonseca, Claudio Ruy Vasconcelos da, 2020, Redescription of the species of Passalus Fabricius, 1792 (Coleoptera: Passalidae) described by Walter Douglas Hincks (1906 - 1961) deposited in the Museum of the University of Manchester, Journal of Natural History 54 (5 - 6), pp. 321-350 : 344-348

Passalus (Passalus) procerus Hincks, 1940 ( Figures 11 – 12 )

Hincks 1940: 496; Hincks and Dibb 1958: 18; Reyes-Castillo 1970: 204; Fonseca and

Reyes-Castillo, 2004: 18; Miles 2017: 122, fig. 22. Mattos and Mermudes 2018: 2365

Diagnosis. Medium size species; convex body; straight anterior edge of the front; mediofrontal area with coarse punctuations in the anterior region; absent anterofrontal ridges; low and strong posterofrontal ridges; long central tubercle with free apex, downward projecting to the front edge; large lateroposterior tubercles, near to the central tubercle; scarce pronotal punctuation; prepisternum with pubescence in the lateroposterior region; humerus, anterior region and lateral grooves of the metasternum finely pubescent.

Redescription. Body ( Figure 11 ): habitus convex; size: medium (20 – 30 mm in length). Head ( Figure 12 (a,c)): Labrum: anterior border concave. Clypeus: hidden under the frons; with anterior angles under the lateral + mediofrontal tubercles. Anterior frontal edge: slightly convex with a notch in the median region. Secondary mediofrontal tubercles: absent. Laterofrontal + mediofrontal tubercles: conspicuous, with slightly obtuse apexes, and projected forward. Mediofrontal area: transversal, 2.5x wider than long, flat; surface with numerous coarse punctures located in the anterior region. Cephalic nodule: absent. Inner tubercles: small, inconspicuous, not detached from the posterofrontal ridges, smaller than the laterofrontal + mediofrontal tubercles and located midway between them at the base of the central tubercle. Anterofrontal ridges: absent. Posterofrontal ridges: low, strong, and practically forming an arch from the base of the central tubercle, where they begin. Laterofrontal areas: flat; with rough surface containing some puncutures adjacent to the mediofrontal area. Central tubercle: conical, large, tall, with broad free apex, declined in lateral view and dilated back. Lateroposterior tubercles: conspicuous, large with evident apexes, close to the central tubercle. Postfrontal area: flat, smooth surface. Postfrontal groove: well marked and without notch. Lateropostfrontal areas: shallow, rough, and glabrous surface. Epicranial sutures: poorly marked. Epicranial pits: shallow and very visible. Anterior angles of the head: small, with obtuse apices, smaller than the laterofrontal + mediofrontal tubercles. Canthus ocular: apex straight not reaching half eye. Antennas: trilamellate, with robust lamellae, the distal being wider than the other two. Mouthparts ( Figures 11 (b), 12(b)): Ligula : tridentate with a larger middle tooth and wider than the lateral teeth. Hypostomal process: wide, glabrous, and separated the mentum. Mentum mediobasal area: not dilated, smooth and glabrous, with non-protruding anterior region, notched in the middle. Mentum lateral lobes: rounded apexes. Mentum lateral scars: shallow, rounded, and large. Mandibles: incisor lobe with three well-formed teeth at apex; suprainternal teeth bifid and robust in left mandible; incospical infrabasal pits. Maxilla: lacinia bidentate at the apex. Prothorax. Pronotum ( Figures 11 (a,c), 12(a – c)): Anterior edge: straight medially. Anterior angles: obtuse. Marginal groove: well marked, shallow, narrow and with few punctuations in all its extension, with dilated apex; reaching almost two-thirds of the pronotal width in the anterior margin. Lateral fossae: large, well marked and deep; slightly oval shape. Pronotal punctuations: coarse punctuations only in the region of the lateral fossae. Prosternum ( Figures 11 (b), 12(d)): Prepisternum: not dilated in the anterior region; fine setigera punctuation throughout lateroposterior region. Prepimerum: with fine and sparse setae. Prosternelum: rhomboid with narrow and obtuse apex. Mesosternum ( Figures 11 (b), 12(d)): smooth, shiny, and glabrous. Mesosternal scars: long, narrow, and shallow; without punctuations or pubescence. Metasternum ( Figures 11 (b), 12(e)): Metasternal disc: poorly delimited, without lateral carina. Metasternal punctuations: few small punctuations in the posterior region; setigera punctuation in the anteromedian region. Metasternal pubescence: fine in the anterior region. Metasternal lateral groove: narrow, thinner than mesotibiae, with a dilated and shallow apex, with few bristles. Elytra ( Figure 11 (a)): Approximately 2.4x longer and 1.1x wider than pronotum. Striae: narrower than the interstriae, marked with rounded punctuations on both the dorsal and lateral striae. Epipleura : glabrous. Humeri: with bristle tuft. Legs ( Figures 11 (a,b), 12(e)): Profemur: ventral anterior border with well-marked groove, reaching the apex of the profemur; ventral posterior border with few setae only near the apex. Protibiae: not dilated. Mesotibiae: two small spines, almost inconspícuos, on the outer face. Metatibiae: without spine. Abdomen ( Figure 11 (b)): sternite VII with incomplete and well-marked groove; smooth sides. Aedeagus ( Figure 12 (f)): In ventral view mediam lobe with smaller width than the parameres and the basal piece together and almost as long as these; with two sclerotised plaques in all its extension. Basal piece and parameres separate; parameres projections not reaching one-fourth of the length of the mediam lobe; arched anterior edege of the parameres, with a groove separating them medially; basal piece without re-enactment at anterior region. In side view, slightly acute apex of the parameres. In dorsal view with separate parameres.

Dimensions. Total length: 25 mm; cephalic length: 2.6 mm; cephalic width: 5.5 mm; mediofrontal area length: 0.8 mm; mediofrontal area width: 2 mm; canthus ocular length: 0.7 mm; canthus ocular width: 0.3 mm; area of the mediofrontal area: 1.6 mm 2; mandibles external angle: 139º; antennal club length: 1.2 mm; antennal club width: 1.4 mm; distal lamella length: 0.5 mm; medial lamella length: 0.2 mm; width of the mentum at the lateral scars: 2.8 mm; mentum mediobasal area width: 1.5 mm; diameter of the mentum lateral scars: 0.5 mm; pronotal length: 6.1 mm; pronotal width: 8 mm; length of the pronotal anterior groove: 2.1 mm; elytral length: 14.6 mm; elytral width: 8.8 mm; humeral width: 7.6 mm; profemur length: 4 mm; length of the anterior ventral groove of the profemur: 2.3 mm; protibiae width: 0.9 mm; protarsal length: 3.2 mm; length of the last protarsomer: 1.2 mm; mesotibiae width: 0.7 mm; metasternal lateral groove width: 0.5 mm; metasternal disc length: 6.4 mm; abdomen length: 6.3 mm; aedeagus length: 2.3 mm; aedeagus width: 1.9 mm; median lobe length: 1.2 mm; paremeres projection lenght: 0.5 mm; basal piece lenght: 0.5 mm.

Material examined: type material. Holotype (♀) F2439.25. BRAZIL: Rio de Janeiro, Itatiaya – 1960 m /Macieiras/ 21.vii.1933 / Macrolobus / procerus Lued. /J.F. Zikán//Mus. Hincks & Dibb/Acc. 1938 – H20/Type/Manchester Museum/ HOLOTYPE / Passalus /procerus (Luedw/m.s.) Hincks/[Petrejus]/Type/F2439.25 ( MMUE). Additional material: BRAZIL: Rio

de Janeiro, Itatiaya – 1960 m / Macieiras / Est . Biologica/ 03 .vii .1933 /E. do Rio//Coleção/ J. F. Zikan// Phoroneus procerus // ♂ //Nº 13.483/I. O. C. Coleoptera , 1 (♂) ( UFAM) .

Remarks. Species described in litteris by Hermann Luederwaldt, deceased in 1934, but only published post mortem in 1941, 1 year after the formal publication by Hincks (1940). At the time of the description Hincks makes no further comment on the species; however, in Luederwaldt ’ s work, the author compares it with P. aculeatus Percheron e P. plicatus Percheron. Indeed , both species are close to P. procerus because they have a straight anterior frontal edge; quadrilateral mediofrontal area with coarse punctuations on anterior region; large central tubercle with very free apex and pubescence in the prepisternum, humeri and metasternum. However, P. procerus differs from the two species because it presents the larger, wider, and convex body; more heavily punctuated mediofrontal area; downward, not grooved, central tubercle (grooved in the middle in P. plicatus ) and larger lateroposterior tubercles.

Distribution. Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Minas Gerais e Rio Grande do Sul) Luederwaldt (1941).

Comments

Although it is a genus well known and even considerably well studied, Passalus still has many species that present little known taxonomic knowledge, containing only the original description (which in most cases have generic characters, poorly described or deficient for identification) and, in a few cases, illustrations of the characters that are usually represented only by the head in dorsal view. Although in the last 30 years the knowledge of numerous species has increased from taxonomic works proposing descriptions, redescriptions and identification keys, many species were not the object of works of revision of their main characters. This deficiency in the diffusion of morphological knowledge of several species can lead to misidentifications or deficiencies in systematic works, when the authors search for characters to make their analyses.

Walter D. Hincks named 12 species under the genus Passalus being 9 new ( P. beneshi , P. cuneatus , P. occidentalis n. stat., P. tumupasae , P. umbriensis , P. luederwaldti , P. nigidioides , P. procerus e P. rotundatus ) and 3 renamed from homonymous species ( P. arrowi as from P. nasutus Arrow (nec Percheron), P. spinulosus as from P. spinosus Arrow (nec Kuwert) and P. zangi as from P. peruvianus Arrow (nec Kuwert)). P. tumupasae is considered synonymous with P. rhodocanthopoides Kuwert whose synonym was made by the author himself and P. nigidioides is currently considered belonging to the genus Undulifer Kaup. P. rotundatus cannot be analysed since the holotype is in the American Museum of Natural History – AMNH (Washington DC), while the holotypes of P. arrowi , P. spinulosus and P. zangi are in the Museum of Natural History – BNMH in London.

Figures

Figure 11. Passalus (Passalus) procerus Hincks, 1940 female holotype: (a) habitus dorsal; (b) habitus ventral; (c) habitus lateral.

Figure 12. Passalus (Passalus) procerus Hincks, 1940 female holotype: (a) head; (b) mentum; (c) head and pronotum in dorsolateral view; (d) mesosternum; (e) metasternum; (f) aedeagus (from another specimen).