Byrsopolis vazdemelloi Medeiros, Seidel and Grossi, 2022

Medeiros, Rone A. F., Seidel, Matthias & Grossi, Paschoal C., 2022, Revision of the genus Byrsopolis Burmeister, 1844 (Coleoptera: Melolonthidae: Rutelinae: Rutelini), with the description of six new species endemic to Brazil and Paraguay, Journal of Natural History (J. Nat. Hist.) 56 (29 - 32), pp. 1315-1364 : 1344-1346

Byrsopolis vazdemelloi Medeiros, Seidel and Grossi , sp. nov. ( Figure 13 (a–g))

Holotype. Male, dissected, labelled. (a) ‘ BRASIL: Mato Grosso./Porto Estrela. Est. Eco/ Serra das Araras. Trilha /Andorinhas. Pitfallfaec/ XI-2013.RVNunes(leg.)’ (1♂ CERPE).

Paratypes [15 specimens]. . Males , labelled: Mato Grosso. (a) ‘ BRASIL: Mato Grosso./ Porto Estrela . Est . Eco / Serra das Araras . Trilha / Andorinhas . Pitfallfaec / XI-2013 . RVNunes(leg.)’ (1♂ CERPE, 2♂ CEMT); same, except (a) ‘ Porto Estrela , EE Serra das/ Araras -sede, 15°39 ʹ 09’S, 57° 12 ʹ 52”W, 18–19 .xi .2017,/light, R.J.P. Machado &/R . Nunes’ (1♂ CEMT); same, except (a) ‘ Araras – heliporto, 15°39 ʹ 19’/S, 57°12 ʹ 50”W, 20 .xi .2017,/light, RJP Machado’ (2♂ CEMT); (a) ‘ Brasil, Mato Grosso, Barra do/ Bugres, CE . AS., Alojamento ,/ 20 .xi .1987, C.A. Caetano leg’ (1♂ CEMT); (a) ‘BR – MT – B . BUGRES/CE. SA/ALOJAMENTO/20-XI-87/WILSON A. PINTO’ (1♂ CEMT); (a) ‘ Brasil, MT, Barra do Bu /gres, Est . Ecol . Serra / das Araras 8 .XII/1988 C.A. Caetano’ (1♂ CERPE, 1♂ CEMT) . Mato Grosso do Sul. (a) ‘ Ordem: Coleoptera / Família: Scarabaeidae’ , (b) ‘ Stefanes, R /Dourados 10,XII,2000’, (c) ‘ Byrsopolis sp ./P. Grossi det . 2009’./ (1♂ CERPE) . Paraguay. (a) ‘ PARAGUAY: Dept . San Pedro /off Hwy . No . 3, E. of Santa Rosa /RIO VERDE, YAGUARETE FOREST/ 22-XII-1995, J . D. Beierl lgt . BL/ S 23° 47’ 44 ’, W 56° 03’ 59”, 225 m / Moist – Warm Temperature Forest’ (1♂ WWPC); (a) same, (b) ‘ BYRSOPOLIS /SP ./ Det . M.L . Jameson 2019’, (c) ‘WORLD/SCARAB ./ DATABASE/WSD00347555’ (1♂ RCPC); (a) same, (b) ‘ Coll . Matthias / Seidel 2021’, (c) ‘WORLD/SCARAB ./ DATABASE/WSD00347556’ (1♂ MSPC) ’. No collection data (1♂ MZUSP) .

Diagnosis. Body almost totally orange to reddish brown, with metallic green reflections ventrally; clypeus parabolic, wider than long; antennal club about 2.2x longer than antennomeres II–VII combined; scutellarplate subtriangular, moderately rounded at basis; elytral posterior margins with right angles; elytra with strong striae, humeri moderately punctate; protibial spur about 4x longer than wide; parameres symmetrical, weakly divergent, with or without small, thin, spine-like setae, sparsely to moderately distributed.

Description of holotype. Body. Oval, elongate; orange to reddish-brown, frontoclypeal suture dark reddish brown to black; orange setae on apex of scutellar plate ( Figure 13 (a,b)); metallic green reflections ventrally. Length 23.30 mm. Humeral width 12.60 mm. Elytral width 15.00 mm. Head. Clypeus about 2.20x wider than long; parabolic;moderately concave near sides and frontoclypeal suture, base weakly concave; frontoclypeal suture with curvilinear extremities weakly straight laterally, with obtuse angles; punctures small to moderately large, moderately to densely punctate; microsetae at basal region, between frons and clypeus; frons about 1.20x longer than clypeus; moderate concavity posteriorly the frontoclypeal suture; punctures small to moderately large in size, moderately to densely punctate; glabrous; mandibles with external border forming a straight angle with scissorial region; scissorial region strongly elongated transversely, narrow longitudinally; glabrous ( Figure 13 (d)); with two punctures small and sparse; galea with five teeth, apical and basal tooth moderate in size ( Figure 13 (e)), middle region with three small teeth, setae extending over small teeth; last maxillary palpomere with moderate elliptic sensorial area; apex of prementum strongly emarginate; last labial palpomere about 1.80x longer than palpomere II ( Figure 13 (f)); labrum strongly emarginate, moderately setose ( Figure 13 (g)); antennomere III subcylindrical, antennomeres IV–V subquadrate, antennomeres VI–VII subconical; antennal club about 2.2x longer than antennomeres II–VII combined. Thorax. Pronotum transverse, about 1.60x wider than long; punctures small to moderately large, moderately to densely punctate ( Figure 13 (a)); setae near humeri; punctures forming a longitudinal midline; glabrous; scutellar plate subtriangular, base moderately rounded; setae small to moderate ( Figure 13 (a)); punctures small to moderately large, sparsely to moderately punctate at base and densely punctate at apex. Elytra. About 1.10x longer than wide; punctures small to large, moderately to densely punctate ( Figure 13 (a,b)); microsetae in small and moderate punctures. Legs. Protibial spur about 4x longer than wide; mesotibiae and metatibiae with one carina. Aedeagus. Parameres weakly divergent, almost parallel, asymmetrical, V-shaped gap angle between parameres ( Figure 13 (c)); basal margin with three small longitudinal lines (one at middle and one at each side); longitudinal concavity at middle; glabrous; slightly asymmetrical phallobase; right paramere more divergent than left.

Female. Unknown.

Variation. Length 23.30–28.00 mm, humeral width 12.60–13.50 mm, elytral width 15.00– 16.50 mm.

Etymology. The specific epithet is a atribute to Dr Fernando Zagury Vaz-de-Mello (UFMT), in honour of his contributions to Coleoptera research, as well as for providing part of the type series of this species and others.

Distribution. The regions where it is found in Brazil are in the two municipalities of ‘Barra do Bugres’ and ‘Porto Estrela’; it is also found in the ‘Departamiento de San Pedro’ in Paraguay ( Figure 19 ).

Remarks. This species resembles Byrsopolis crassa , but can be differentiated from it through many characters such as: the reduced body size and reddish colour; concavities posterior to the frontoclypeal suture; narrow mandibles, smooth, with scissorial region elongated transversely. Furthermore, some specimens exhibit setae on the aedeagus. Byrsopolis crassa have large body size (view redescription), colour orange to browntestacious; apex of clypeus moderately concave; wide mandibles, elongate longitudinally; aedeagus glabrous.

Figures

Figure 13. Byrsopolis vazdemelloi sp. nov. Dorsal (a) and lateral habitus (b); caudal view of aedeagus (c); dorsal view of left mandible (d); ventral view of left maxilla (e); ventral view of mentum (f); and dorsal view of labrum (g). Scale bars: a, b = 5 mm; c–g = 1 mm.

Figure 19. Distribution map of Byrsopolis species.