Danacea hierena, Baviera, Cosimo & Liberti, Gianfranco, 2010

Baviera, Cosimo & Liberti, Gianfranco, 2010, Dasytidae of the Egadi Archipelago (Coleoptera, Cleroidea) with description of Danacea hierena n. sp., Zootaxa 2351, pp. 49-57 : 50-52

Danacea hierena n. sp.

(Figs: 1; 2A–E)

Type locality. Marettimo island, Trapani province, Sicily.

Types. Holotype 3, MCGI, labelled “IT – TP: Marettimo, M. Falcone v. E, 400m, 37° 58.4N 12° 03.5E, 15.V.2008, leg. Liberti”. 7 paratypes (6 3, 1 Ƥ: GLCI): “IT - TP: Favignana, M. S. Caterina, 150 m, 37° 55.6N 12° 18.9E, 12.V.2008, leg. Liberti”. 11 paratypes (3 3: MCGI; 4 3, 4 ƤƤ: GLCI): “IT - TP: Favignana, M. S. Caterina 250 m, 37° 55.7N 12° 18.8E, 12.V.2008, leg. Liberti”. 63 paratypes (3 ƤƤ: MCGI; 6 3, 3 ƤƤ: MCMI; 42 3, 9 ƤƤ: GLCI): “IT - TP: Favignana, M. S. Caterina, 310 m, 37° 55.7N 12° 18.7E, 12.V.2008, leg. Liberti”. 2 paratypes (2 3: GLCI): “IT - TP: Favignana, Cala del Passo, 37° 55.2N 12° 18.3E, 13.V.2008, leg. Liberti”. 2 paratypes (1 3: CBCI; 1 3: GLCI): “Sicilia, TP, Egadi, Isola di Levanzo, 23.IV.2007, leg. C. Baviera”. 8 paratypes (4 3, 4 ƤƤ: CBCI): “Sicilia, Trapani, Isole Egadi, Isola di Marettimo, 16-18.IV.2006, leg. C. Baviera”. 98 paratypes (6 3, 3 ƤƤ: MZMI; 64 3, 17 ƤƤ: CBCI; 5 3, 3 ƤƤ: GLCI): “Sicilia, TP, Egadi, Isola Marettimo, 18-23.IV.2007, leg. C. Baviera”. 48 paratypes (3 3: MCGI; 37 3, 8 ƤƤ: GLCI): “IT - TP, Marettimo, (presso il paese), 200m, 15.V.2008, leg. Liberti” [one further Ƥ: MCGI, with this same labelling, has been designed as the allotype (International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 1999: 72A)]. 24 paratypes (15 3, 9 ƤƤ: GLCI) same label data as the holotype.

Description. Male. Head (eyes included) as wide as, or slightly wider than, pronotum; forehead wide: distance between eyes more than three times the eyes width. Head length/width ratio approximately 1, looking at the insect head placed horizontally. Antennae rather short, slightly and gradually widened from base to apex; articles 3, 4, 5 narrow (but 5 variable); 6, 7, 8 shorter than 4, 5; 9, 10 approximately globular. Pronotum slightly wider than long (transverse), its maximum width in the middle, moderately narrowed forwards and backwards; anterior margin wider than posterior one; pronotum surface deeply puncturated but smooth and bright between the punctures. Elytra parallel-sided; feebly bordered; jointly rounded at apex; apices slightly divergent; apical angle well defined, rectangular. Body covered with short, pale greenish to whitish, scale like setae (as in the other Danacea ) which, in this species, are rather sparse; pronotal setae on disc nearly all parallel and directed forwards, on the anterior margin more or less converging towards a point in the middle. Elytra surface often “decorated” with one or two symmetrical spots, and/or a posterior transversal band, apparently bare (actually covered with hardly visible, sparse, pale brown setae). Integuments dark green, bright with metallic glare: dorsal surface resulting colour (hairs plus integuments) grey-green; labium and mandibles yellow; legs entirely yellow; antennae yellow with just the tip of 11th article darkened; palpi yellow with apical half of last article darkened. Median lobe as in Figures 2 A, 2B, 2C. Internal sac very long, its basal part (namely the part visible inside the median lobe apical half) fitted with two weakly sclerified lamellae ( Figures 2 C, 2D); its median part (which extends outside the median lobe base) showing a tiny granulation; apical orifice not clearly detectable. Spicular fork ( Figure 2 E) branches rather thin.

Female. Similar to male but eyes more flattened; elytra clearly widened in apical half and “decorated” more frequently than in males.

Dimensions in mm:

Males Females

Differential diagnosis. Danacea hierena n. sp. belongs to the first group Danacea (Danacea) ( Schilsky

1897, Liberti 1989) which includes the species where the discal scale-like setae on pronotum are all parallel

and directed forward. It is very similar to Danacea trinacriae Liberti, 1979 and Danacea zingara Liberti &

Baviera, 2004. These two species, widespread and sometimes common or very common in the Trapani

province, are absent from the Egadi Archipelago: their ranges do not overlap with that of D. hierena . The

main differences are summarized in the table below (the colour characters of palpi and antennae often being

rather variable).

D. hierena n. sp. D. trinacriae Liberti D. zingara Liberti & Baviera

Median lobe As in Figs 2 A, 2B, 2C. Median As in Liberti & Baviera (2004: As in Liberti & Baviera (2004: lobe apical part longer, bent Fig 8). Median lobe apical part Figs 1 –3). Median lobe apical ventrally. shorter, weakly bent dorsally. part shorter, bent dorsally.

Internal sac As in Figs 2 C, 2D. Lamellae As in Liberti & Baviera (2004: As in Liberti & Baviera (2004: weakly sclerified, wide, rather Fig 8). Lamellae sclerified, Figs 1 –3). Lamellae sclerified, short. thin, rather short. wide, rather long, nearly tubular.

The quotations of D. trinacriae for Marettimo and Levanzo Islands, reported in Liberti & Baviera (2004), must be referred to D. hierena n. sp.

Etymology. The name derives from Hiera, an ancient name of Marettimo.

Ecology. The adults of this species have been collected in April and May on several kinds of flowers, where they feed on pollen: on Favignana mostly on umbelliferous flowers ( Magydaris sp.); on Marettimo on the abundant blossoming Euphorbia bushes.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Danacea hierena n. sp.: habitus (Paratype 3 of Favignana island, Santa Caterina Castle). The elytra of this specimen are decorated (see text): an apparently bare (free of setae) posterior band can be easily seen (total length of the specimen: 3.3 mm).

FIGURE 2. Danacea hierena n. sp. A, B: Median lobes in side view. C: Median lobe in ventral view (from below). D: Internal sac basal part in ventral view (this part is located inside the median lobe apical part, as in B). E: Spicular fork. Sources of the drawings: A, C, D, E: Paratype of Levanzo island; B: Paratype of Marettimo island.