Ditriaena (Ditriaena) romeroi, Hornburg, Michael & Gottwald, Stephan, 2012

Hornburg, Michael & Gottwald, Stephan, 2012, western Venezuela, Zootaxa 3239, pp. 64-68 : 65-67

Ditriaena (Ditriaena) romeroi sp. nov.

Type specimens. Holotype (3): Venezuela, Edo. Falcón, 3.5 km NW Maicillal, Cerro Togogo, 64 m, 11°13’39,8’’N, 68°53’10.2’’W, 2.VII.2008, leg. M. Hornburg.

Paratypes: 1 3, 1 Ƥ: same data as holotype; 6 ƤƤ: Venezuela, Edo. Falcón, 3.5 km NW Maicillal, Cerro Togogo, 64 m, 11°13’39,8’’N, 68°53’10,2’’W, 5.VII.2008, leg. M. Hornburg; 2 3, 3 ƤƤ, same data, except: leg. S. Gottwald; 2 ƤƤ: Venezuela, Edo. Falcón, 3.5 km NW Maicillal, Cerro Togogo, 64 m, 11°13’39,8’’N, 68°53’10,2’’W, 14.VII.2008, leg. M. Hornburg; 1 3, 1 Ƥ: same data, except: leg. S. Gottwald; 1 ex.: Catica [1 km NE of Bahía de Cata, Estado Aragua], 0 m, V.1980, CFR [coll. Francisco Romero].

The holotype and one female paratype will be deposited in ZMHB, additional paratypes in CLBC, FRCM, MIZA, MHCB, NMPC and SGCB.

General diagnosis. Length: 12.0– 18.3 mm, width: 4.2–6.3 mm; colour black, dorsal surface with slight red-greenish reflections; body robust, flattened; elytra striate-punctate, trispinose apically.

Description of holotype. Measurements: total length: 12.4 mm, width: 4.2 mm.

Head black, with indistinct white pilosity; surface smooth; punctation widely spaced, more dense and pronounced between antennal insertions and with longer white pilosity; frons tapered towards vertex.

Antennae black, 11-jointed, with sparse pilosity; antennomere 1 elongate clavate, antennomere 2 subequal; antennomere 3 twice as long as 2, slightly broadened; antennae serrate from antennomere 4; antennomeres 4 to 11 with sensory fovea on inner surface.

Pronotum black; disc smooth with irregular punctation, laterally more densely developed; disc with shallow longitudinal furrow; lateral margins arcuately converged towards anterior part, only slightly emarginated prebasally, accentuating the posterior angles.

Scutellum bulged, equilateral; glabrous.

Elytra black with red-greenish reflections; glabrous, except apical third, which has indistinct, widespread white setae; general shape broadened from base to humeri, parallel to apical third, then arcuately converged to apices; distinctly striated; intervals on disc principally lacking any apparent microsculpture, but basal half and sides with more or less irregular transverse confluent punctation; ridges smooth, only laterally with scattered punctation; apices of each elytron tridentate, two teeth of same length at tip, the third one separated anteriorly by twice the distance of the other two.

Ventral side black, with sparse, long, white pubescence; prosternum and metasternum smooth and irregularly punctured; surface of abdominal ventrites finely microsculptured, with irregularly arranged elongate punctation; anal ventrite more densely punctate, apically truncate and furrowed, shortly denticulated on each side. Legs black with reddish reflections, very finely chagreened; white pilosity sparse and short; femora fusiform; tibiae slender, nearly straight.

Aedeagus slender, smooth, furnished with well discernible pores; apices of parameres with sensory setae laterally ( Fig. 3 ).

Sexual dimorphism. Elytra of males parallel, converging arcuately from the apical third to the apices. Elytra of females slightly broadened versus the apical third, then converging regularly to the apices. Metatarsus of males, mainly the first tarsomere, visibly longer than in females. Ovipositor of complex structure, exhibiting two pairs of stacked lobes, laterally with additional long sclerotic appendages. Females generally taller.

Etymology. The species is named in reference to Francisco Romero Rodríguez (1920–2002), patriarch of the well known entomologically active family from Maracay, Venezuela, who collected the very first specimen of the new species.

Distribution. Northwestern Venezuela (Aragua, Falcón).

Differential diagnosis. Ditriaena romeroi is closely related to D. purpurascens ( Waterhouse, 1882) , described from Honduras and keys to this species in the generic revision ( Cobos 1975). The shape of the male genitalia of D. romeroi does not differ significantly from that of D. purpurascens . The female ovipositor resembles that of the Mexican D. sexspinosa (Waterhouse, 1889) , figured in Cobos (1975). Other morphological aspects clearly distinguishing D. romeroi from D. purpurascens are the black colour, the generally broader appearance with accentuated basal angles of the pronotum, the principally more pronounced elytral sculpture and the less obvious apical elytral striae.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 3, 5: Ditriaena romeroi sp. nov.; 1. male paratype, dorsal view; 2. female paratype, dorsal view; 3. male genitalia; 4. “ Cerro Togogo ” near Maicillal (type locality); 5. imago on a leaf of Pithecellobium dulce.