Apteropilo raldae, Bartlett, Justin S., 2009

Bartlett, Justin S., 2009, Taxonomic revision of Apteropilo Lea, 1908 (Coleoptera: Cleridae), Zootaxa 2200, pp. 41-53 : 46-47

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.189616
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6222387
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03F0887B-FFFA-FFA8-FF69-DF85BF83DC8B
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Apteropilo raldae
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Apteropilo raldae sp. n.

( Figures 5 View FIGURES 4 – 9 , 15, 17)

Pylusopsis chrysocome (in part), sensu Kolibáċ (2003: 69; figs. 48, 52) (incorrect determination).

Type material. Holotype ɗ: New South Wales: Robertson Nature Reserve, 34.35S 150.35E, 700m, subtropical rainforest, 25 Dec. 1993, C. Reid ( ANIC). Paratypes (8): New South Wales: Eden, C. Oke, “ Pylusopsis mimulus , TYPE Oke” [hand written], [gender label affixed to point mount] [Note: this is not a valid type specimen, see remarks] (1Ψ, MVMA); Kioloa State Forest, rainforest, 4–5 Mar. 1986, J. & N. Lawrence (1Ψ, ANIC); Lilyvale, 16 Sep. 1972, (R.H. Mulder collection, Australian Museum K 246840) (1, AMS); Lilyvale, 6 Jan. 1973, (R.H. Mulder collection, Australian Museum K 246841) (1, AMS); Lilyvale, 2 Nov. 1973, (R.H. Mulder collection, Australian Museum K 246842) (1, AMS); Lilyvale, 31 Mar. 1972, (R.H. Mulder collection, Australian Museum K 246843) (1Ψ, AMS); 5km W Comboyne, 5–13 Dec. 1983, G. & T. Williams, emerged from dry branchlet (1Ψ, ANIC); 5km W Comboyne, rainforest, 20–25 Dec. 1983, G. Williams, [ex] rotting wood (1, ANIC).

Note: Three specimens (two from 5km W Comboyne, one from Kioloa State Forest) bear an additional label as follows: “ Pylusopsis chrysocome Elston, 1929 , mentioned in: KOLIBÁ Č, J. 2003: Entomologica Basiliensia 25 ”. A rectangle of red card labelled “PLESIOTYPUS” is attached to the female specimen from Kioloa State Forest.

Description. Total length: 3.7–5.4 mm.

Head: Cranium dark red-brown to chestnut brown, labrum orange, palpi yellow; antennae with scape and pedicel orange, A3–10 brown to black, A11 dull white to yellowish; frons and vertex moderately distributed with circular punctation, frons partly smooth medially, genae behind eyes with denser punctation, clypeus mostly smooth; antennae with pedicel shorter than A3, club about as long as combined length of A2–8.

Thorax. Prothorax slightly transverse (length to width ratio = 0.82–0.92:1), disc entirely red-brown to orange-brown (rarely dark brown); disc sunken in centre (giving laterally proximate regions a tuberculate appearance); discal punctation dense in sunken part, more moderately distributed sublaterally; area proximal to sunken part plus most of basal third smooth; paralateral and discal seta-bearing pits conspicuously larger than other punctation. Pterothoracic sterna orange-brown to brown; elytra (length to width ratio = 1.73– 1.87:1) bright orange, basal quarter with a sub-basal black spot proximal to the suture and covering each humeral tubercle, at each side a white post-basal/sub-lateral callositous spot; basal second quarter of each elytron with a conspicuous globular callositous deposit which slopes posteriorly away from suture towards lateral margin; basal punctation large and deep, striae have appearance of being displaced by callositous deposits. Legs: basal half of femora yellowish to white, tibiae and rest of femora black-brown to brown, tarsi orange.

Abdomen: Ventrites orange to orange-brown. Males: Tegmen similar to that of A. humerofuscus sp. n. (see Fig. 14), phallus as in Fig. 15.

Vestiture: Head and pronotum similarly vested with long erect black or orange setae, and short semidecumbent orange setae which sometimes forms small tuft-like clusters; elytral disc posterior of black band with long orange sparsely distributed erect setae and more densely vested with short orange setae; humeral tubercle with tuft of black setae.

Remarks. Kolibáč (2003: figs. 48, 52) illustrated the hind wing and internal copulatory organs of a female from Kioloa State Forest under the misconception that the material at hand represented P. chrysocome .

The specimen from Eden bears a hand-written label “ Pylusopsis mimulus , TYPE, Oke”. The name however, is not available as it was never published.

Apteropilo raldae sp. n. can be distinguished from A. humerofuscus sp. n. by the lighter colouration of the head and pronotum, the additional post-basal/sub-lateral callositous spot on the elytra, the absence of a transverse fuscus band across the humeri, and more subtly by its slightly smaller and more compact elytral punctation.

The exact shape of the callositous deposits with the basal half of the elytra is subtly inconsistent over the entire species range; this appears to influence the precise distribution of elytral punctation.

Etymology. The specific epithet is a dedication to Ralda Ruberry who is very fond of the colour orange.

Biology. Adults have been collected between September and March, several from rainforest environments. Specimens from near Comboyne were reared from a dry branch and rotting wood (plant species unknown). Apteropilo raldae sp. n. bears an extraordinary, potentially mimetic, resemblance to beetles of the genus Lemodinus Blair (Anthicidae) .