Hemicyrthus blaffarti Krell

Krell, Frank-Thorsten & Theuerkauf, Jörn, 2015, A new species of the endemic genus Hemicyrthus Reiche (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae) from New Caledonia, with a revised key, Zootaxa 4048 (2), pp. 281-290 : 283-286

Hemicyrthus blaffarti Krell , new species

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:2026C3BF-F13E-4AF3-A8DF-7CAF2D9E9091

Types. Holotype (male; Fig. 2 ): NEW CALEDONIA, Parc Provincial de la Rivière Bleue, Refuge des Scientifiques, 166°38′42″ E, 22°6′5″ S, alt. 190 m, rainforest, leg. J. Theuerkauf 15.xii.2006, dead [flagella of antennae missing; terminal two right protarsomeres missing, terminal four left metatarsomeres missing]; deposited in MNHN, Paris.

Paratypes. All from NEW CALEDONIA, Parc Provincial de la Rivière Bleue. 1 ♀: Refuge de la Rivière Bleue, 166°38′19″ E, 22°5′51″ S, 200 m, rainforest road, leg. J. Theuerkauf 22.viii.2012, dead [disc of elytra dented and cracked, left mesotarsus missing], DMNS ZE.46269. 1 ♀: Pont Germain, 166°39′27″ E, 22°6′3″ S, 180 m, road in riverside forest, leg. J. Theuerkauf 8.vi.2011, dead [antennae missing, terminal four right protarsomeres and both terminal four metatarsomeres missing], DMNS ZE.46270. 1 ♂: Pont Germain, 166°39′20″ E, 22°5′5″ S, 180 m, rainforest road, leg. J. Theuerkauf 29.xii.2012, dead [mouthparts and left antenna, left metatarsus and three terminal mesotarsomeres missing; left anterior margin of clypeus damaged], DMNS ZE.46271. 1 ♀: Grand Kaori, 166°40′38″ E, 22°5′50″ S, 180 m, rainforest track, leg. J. Theuerkauf 10.x.2006, dead [left protarsi and metatarsi missing], DMNS ZE.46272. 1 ♀: 166°40′0″ E, 22°5′59″ S, 180 m, rainforest road, leg. J. Theuerkauf 24.ix.2006, dead [terminal two right protarsomeres missing], DMNS ZE.60956 ( Fig. 3 ). 1 ♀: 166°38′25″–40′38″ E, 22°5′50″–6′5″ S, 180–200 m, road, leg. J. Theuerkauf 2003 /2004, dead [right front leg, terminal two left protarsomeres, left mesotarsus, terminal two right mesotarsomeres, terminal four left metatarsomeres, terminal three right metatarsomeres and terminal seven right antennomeres missing], CXMNC. 1 ♂: 166°38′25″–40′38″ E, 22°5′50″–6′5″ S, 180–200 m, road, leg. J. Theuerkauf 15.ii.2006, dead [all tarsomeres missing apart from first on right front leg and three on right middle leg; some glued on card; antennae and majority of mouthparts missing; cuticular surface matte due to weathering], DMNS ZE.46273. 1 ♀: 166°38′25″–40′38″ E, 22°5′50″–6′5″ S, 180–200 m, road, leg. J. Theuerkauf 18.x.2006, dead [crushed; terminal four right protarsomeres and both terminal four metatarsomeres missing], DMNS ZE.46274. 1 ♂: 166°38′25″–40′38″ E, 22°5′50″–6′5″ S, 180–200 m, road, leg. J. Theuerkauf 15.x.2007, dead [right antenna and left flagellum missing; both terminal four protarsomeres missing, terminal three left mesotarsomeres missing, four terminal right mesotarsomeres missing, hole in propygidium, left elytral tip damaged], CXMNC.

Diagnosis. Dorsally glabrous Hemicyrthus with pronotum completely margined laterally, but without margin or strong oblong punctures at the base; scutellum punctate, longer than wide elytra without keels; apical mesotibial and metatibial setae, short, blunt.

Description. ♂ ( Fig. 2 ). Dimensions. Body length: 21.1–22.1 mm (holotype: 21.1 mm; arithmetic mean x n = 4 = 21.6 mm; range of variation R = 1.0 mm = 4.6 %). Maximum width of pronotum: 9.3–10.4 mm (holotype: 9.8 mm; x n = 4 = 9.9 mm; R = 1.1 mm = 11.1 %). Maximum width of elytra: 11.6–13.1 mm (holotype: 12.9 mm; x n = 4= 12.6 mm; R = 1.5 mm = 11.9 %).

Colour. Blackish brown to black.

Microsculpture. Areas between the dense, fine punctures flat, aciculate and covered by dense, sometimes superficial micropunctures.

Setation. Upper side, prosternum, metasternum, pygidium and sternites glabrous. Mesosternum with medium dense, short, brown setae.

Epicranium. Sides converging to clypeus, either straight or slightly convex. Clypeus with blunt lateral lobes, concave in-between. Distance between clypeal lobes about a quarter of epicranial width. Epicranial surface slightly convex, without tubercles or ridges, but slightly bulged in the middle of the anterior half. Frontoclypeal suture complete, forming a fine, impressed line. Area anterior to frontal suture with dense, fine punctation; posterior to suture without or with barely visible, superficial punctation except laterally where some superficial fine punctures are more distinct; rarely with clearly visible, but still superficial punctation in median area behind suture [e.g., in holotype].

Ocular canthus. Lateral lobes in front of eyes short, but protruding and convex (if not worn), without setae. The lobes barely extend into an ocular canthus, but notch the eyes.

Mandibles. External margin slightly bilobed; tip blunt; dorsally smooth and glabrous; ventrally with punctures and setae.

Labium. Broad, moderately tapering anteriorly; discally bulged with sparse, long setae and large punctures. Apically concave. Anterolateral angles flat triangular, slightly convex to almost straight in-between.

Antennae. With 10 antennomeres, without signs of fusion of antennomeres. Terminal antennomere inserts distant from the base of the penultimate antennomere. Penultimate antennomere inserts distant from the base of eighth antennomere. Scapus and club with long and finer setae, respectively.

Pronotum. Weakly convex, without tubercles or other sculpture; with fine, dense punctation and sparse micropunctures; and with a weak lateral impression on each side (in the holotype only, also with a laterodiscal impression on each side that is probably teratological). Lateral margins convex. Anterior angles acute but not sharp. Posterior angles obtuse. Only lateral margins with border. Basal margin with sparse, fine, superficial punctures, without stripe-like longitudinal punctures.

Prosternal process. Approximately cylindrical, dorsoventrally oriented, ventrally extending as far as the coxae protrude, with blunt tip bearing long setae.

Tibiae. Protibia tridentate, with sharp apical spur inserted at a level with the base of the middle external denticle and reaching the end of the second tarsomere. Mesotibiae and metatibiae with the anteapical transversal ridge and apex bearing short, blunt, flattened setae, which are up to 3 times as long as broad. Setal punctures notch tibial apex and transversal ridge.

Scutellum . Triangular, about 1.7x as broad as long, with straight sides and sharp tip; with few round or oval punctures the size of the elytral punctures.

Elytra. Fused. Glabrous and smooth, without ridges, but with 4–6 rudimentary striae, mainly on the anterior half. Anterior half as shiny as pronotum; slightly dull towards the apex. Punctures fine and dense, but slightly larger and deeper than on pronotum; in posterior half transversally wrinkled. Micropunctures sometimes shallow, but visible.

Alae. Lacking.

Pygidium. Propygidium and pygidium fused with distinct suture; fine, but strongly wrinkled at the base, so that the punctures are only visible on the apical three quarters or less than the apical half of the pygidium, where the surface is smooth and shiny.

Last sternite with broad median emargination, margin of emargination dorsally developed (this being the noticeable sexual dimorphism in this species and probably the genus; Fig. 2 E).

Aedeagus. Fig. 2 C, D.

♀ ( Fig. 3 ). No major sexual dimorphism. Characters as in ♂ with following exceptions:

Dimensions. Body length: 19.1–21.5 mm (x n = 5 = 20.7 mm; range of variation R = 2.4 mm = 11.6 %). Maximum width of pronotum: 9.0–10.0 mm (x n = 5 = 9.5 mm; R = 1.0 mm = 10.5 %). Maximum width of elytra: 11.6–12.6 mm (x n = 5 = 12.2 mm; R = 1.0 mm = 8.2 %).

Last sternite with narrower median emargination, but margin not developed ( Fig. 3 C).

Distribution. New Caledonia, Province Sud, Parc Provincial de la Rivière Bleue (see Bonnet de Larbogne et al. 1991). Type locality: Refuge des Scientifiques, 166°38′42″E, 22°6′5″S ( Fig. 1 C).

Etymology. Named in honour of Henri Blaffart (1965–2008), a Belgian conservationist who worked in New Caledonia for Conservation International on projects with strong community involvement ( McKenna et al. 2006; Saunders et al. 2007). He was a founding member of the association Dayu Biik, which is involved in the conservation of the Mt Panié. He was killed in an accident on the Tiendanite River in the Northern Province on 21 March 2008 while working on the Mt Panié conservation project. For a photograph of Henry Blaffart see McKenna et al. (2006: 126).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Parc Provincial de la Rivière Bleue in southern New Caledonia. A: Close to the type locality (Fig. 1 C), after heavy rainfall. B: Parc Provincial de la Rivière Bleue, typical rainforest in the valley (photograph: Thorsten Müller). C: Refuge des Scientifiques, type locality of Hemicyrthus blaffarti. House in which the holotype was found is in the upper left corner.

FIGURE 2. Hemicyrthus blaffarti new species male, holotype (MNHN). A: lateral. B: dorsal. C: aedeagus lateral. D: parameres dorsal. E: apex of abdomen. Arrow indicating the sexually dimorphic emargination of the last sternite.

FIGURE 3. Hemicyrthus blaffarti new species, female, paratype DMNS ZE. 60956. A: lateral. B: dorsal. C: apex of abdomen.