Liogenys forcipata Frey, 1970

Cherman, Mariana Alejandra, Basílio, Daniel Silva, Mise, Kleber Makoto, Frisch, Johannes & Almeida, Lúcia Massutti De, 2021, Liogenys Guérin-Méneville, 1831 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae Diplotaxini) from the Chacoan Province and its boundaries: taxonomic overview with four new species, Zootaxa 4938 (1), pp. 1-59 : 16-19

Liogenys forcipata Frey, 1970

Figs. 6 ; 7B, D, F ; 23 .

Liogenys forcipatus Frey 1970: 282 ; Krajčík 2012: 144.

Liogenys forcipata: Evans 2003: 209 (checklist); Evans & Smith 2009: 177 (checklist); Cherman et al. 2016: 764, 766 (systematics); Cherman et al. 2017: 10, 16, 77–78 (generic redescription).

Type material. Liogenys forcipatus male holotype ( NHMB): [white typeset] “ ARGENTINA / Pronunciamento / Entre Rios / XII.1962, leg. Pena”, [white handwritten] “Type / Liogenys / forcipatus / n sp / [typeset] det. G. Frey, 1970 ”, [red typeset] “TYPE”. Paratypes (2): one male ( CMNC) with the same locality label as the holotype, plus: [white handwritten] “13 / ♂ / Type / Liogenys / forcipatus / n sp / [typeset] det. G. Frey, 1970 ”, [red typeset] “PARATYPE”, [white, outlined black, typeset] “Canadian Museum of / Musée Canadien de la / NATURE / CMNEN 00018923”, [white, outlined black, typeset] “H. & A. HOWDEN / COLLECTION / ex. A. Martinez coll.”. One male ( NHMB): [white typeset] “ ARGENTINA / Pronunciamento / Entre Rios / XI.1963, leg. Pena”, [white handwritten] “ Liogenys / forcipatus / n sp / [typeset] det. G. Frey, 1970 ”, [red typeset] “ PARATYPE ”.

Non-type material (4). ARGENTINA. Entre Ríos: without locality, I.1942, without collector, 1 male ( MZUC) ; Liebig , XI.1987, without collector, 1 male ( UNSM) ; Ubajay , 48 m, 31º57.326ʹS 58º17.814ʹW, I.2008, J. Corbelli, 1 female ( IADIZA) ; Buenos Aires: Rio de la Plata, [without month].1906, without collector, 1 male ( MNHN) .

Diagnosis. Body elongate, wider on the posterior third; elytra non-uniform brown in color that varies from light to dark brown, basal portion darker, as are the head and pronotum ( Figs. 6A , 7B ); clypeal emargination deep, rounded and wide; outer sides of anterior teeth subparallel; clypeal lateral margin rounded and produced ( Figs. 6B , 7D ); basal apophysis of metacoxa not produced ( Fig. 6D ); in males tarsi semi-opaque and enlarged, mainly the protarsomeres and mesotarsomeres; pygidium flat or slightly convex; trapezoidal; pygidial disc glabrous ( Figs. 6E , 7F ); parameres setose at the subapical portion; inner margins strongly convergent, narrowed apically and apex bilobed, curved inwards ( Fig. 6F ).

Redescription. Length 11.4–12.0 mm; width: 6.0– 6.6 mm. Brown. Head: distance between eyes twice the width of one eye; clypeal emargination deep, rounded, and wide; outer sides of anterior teeth parallel; outer margin of anterior teeth slightly shorter than the eye; lateral margin convex and produced, sometimes forming a rounded projection; distance between clypeal lateral projection and anterior margin of eye as long as one eye or shorter; distance between clypeal lateral projection and apex of the adjacent anterior tooth equal to the basal width of the anterior tooth; angle between outer side of anterior teeth and clypeal lateral projection approximately 90º; distal maxillary palpomere, maximum width slightly wider than the apex; sensorial region smooth or forming a shallow fovea, extending past the transverse midline of the palpomere; antenna with 10 antennomeres, club lighter in color and 1.5 times the length of the funicle in males, slightly longer in females. Thorax: anterior margin of pronotum slightly produced medially; pronotal disc sometimes sulcate medially, glabrous, punctures coarse and sparse, denser near the anterior margin; pronotal posterior corners rounded; hypomere with short bristles and scattered scales, mesepisternum scaly; sides of metaventrite with sparse erect bristles; distance between mesocoxae and metacoxae up to twice the length of the metacoxa; scutellum ogival to rounded, sparsely and coarsely punctate. Elytra: shiny, glabrous, brown to dark brown, sometimes apparently burnt; elytral suture darker than elytron and elevated, pair of inner ridges more defined than the three outer pairs. Legs: three protibial teeth, the middle and apical equal in size; the three teeth equally spaced; mesofemural surface setose, thick erect bristles on posterior margin; mesotibia cylindrical in cross section, surface coarsely sculptured; two transverse carinae, the apical one complete; metacoxa with sparse bristles near the base of the leg; basal apophysis of metacoxa not produced ( Fig. 6D ); metatibia carinate along the inner margin, apex not produced, apical inner surface setose; two metatibial transverse carinae present posteriorly; metatibial apical spurs of different lengths; the larger equal in length to the diameter of the tibial apex; in males tarsi opaque, with tarsomeres I to IV enlarged in every leg; protarsomeres and mesotarsomeres almost twice the width of the metatarsomeres; protarsomere II wide; metatarsomere I shorter than metatarsomere II; claw bifid, symmetrical, superior tooth of a claw longer than the inferior and equal in width, distance between teeth more than twice the length of the inferior tooth; inferior tooth oblique to the axis of the superior tooth. Abdomen: ventrites with scattered bristles on disc; propygidium slightly visible, glabrous; pygidium flat or slightly convex, subtrapezoidal, wide; pygidial width not exceeding distance between spiracles of propygidium; pygidial disc glabrous; pygidial apex rounded. Parameres: basal region narrower than both sections of the parameres at its maximum width, parameral split at the third portion, inner margins convergent; apex bilobed and curved inwards, inner margins overlapped; parameres abundantly setose on subapical portion; parameres in lateral view not flattened subapically; straight, coplanar ( Fig. 6G ).

Type locality. ARGENTINA, Entre Ríos, Pronunciamento .

Geographical distribution. ARGENTINA (Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires) .

Remarks. Liogenys forcipata resembles L. tarsalis Moser, 1921 (Fig. 75, Cherman et al. 2017) in the nonuniform color of the elytra and somewhat in the shape of the clypeus, which is strongly emarginate. It differs from L. tarsalis (in parenthesis) in the body size slightly wider on posterior third (uniform width ( Fig. 6A )); the clypeal emargination slightly wider, with teeth shorter; the clypeal lateral margin more convex and produced ( Figs. 6C , 7D ); the pronotum globose (flatter); the metacoxae glabrous (scaly throughout); the pygidium wider ( Figs. 6E , 7F ); and in males the tarsi strongly enlarged but less than in L. tarsalis , and the metatarsi less enlarged than the protarsi and mesotarsi (tarsi strongly enlarged in all legs). Liogenys forcipata does not occur in the Chaco Province, but in the Espinal boundaring ecorregion ( Figs. 23 , 24 ). Nonetheless, we opted to include this species due to its similarity with L. tarsalis , especially the females ( Fig. 7B, D, F ), and with L. neoforcipata Cherman , new species ( Fig. 13 ), both species present in the Chaco. Liogenys forcipata can be found in sympatry with L. latitarsis , L. obscura Blanchard, 1851 , L. pallens Blanchard, 1851 , and sometimes with L. cribricollis and L. opacicollis Fairmaire, 1892 in relicts of xerophytic vegetation.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Liogenys forcipata Frey, 1970 male views: A) dorsal, B) head and pronotum, C) lateral, D) base of metatibia, white arrow indicates basal apophysis and metatrochanter, E) pygidium, and parameres in views: F) dorsal and G) lateral.

FIGURE 7. Liogenys tarsalis Moser, 1921 female views: A) dorsal, C) head and pronotum, E) pygidium; compared with L. forcipata Frey, 1970 female views: B) dorsal, D) head and pronotum, F) pygidium.

FIGURE 13. Liogenys neoforcipata Cherman, new species, male holotype views: A) dorsal, B) head and pronotum, C) lateral, D) pygidium, E) base of metatibia, white arrow indicates basal apophysis and metatrochanter, and parameres in views: F) dorsal, and G) lateral.

FIGURE 23. Geographical distribution of four known Liogenys species occurring in the Chacoan province and its boundaries. Shaped points: previously known species; colors: Neotropical provinces (Morrone 2014) and Monte province from the South American Transition Zone (Roig-Juñent et al. 2018).

FIGURE 24. Geographical distribution of four known Liogenys species occurring in the Chacoan province and its boundaries. Shaped points: previously known species; colors: Neotropical provinces (Morrone 2014) and Monte province from the South American Transition Zone (Roig-Juñent et al. 2018).