Goudotostes parvus, Ballerio, 2021

Ballerio, Alberto, 2021, The Ceratocanthinae of Madagascar and Comoro Islands: a revision of the genera Synarmostes and Goudotostes, and of the flightless Philharmostes, with description of 64 new species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea, Hybosoridae), Fragmenta entomologica 53 (2), pp. 105-282 : 188-189

Goudotostes parvus sp. nov.

( Figs 66 a-k, 77) http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:275E01F2-4136-497C-8C12-4948B81AC029

Type series. Holotype, ♂, deposited in the collection of the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA, USA, labelled as follows: / CASTYPE 20277 / CASENT 8135384 / Madagascar: Antsiranana Parc National de Marojejy Manantenina River 27.6 km 35° NE Andapa 9.6 km 327° NNW Manantenina el. 775 m / 15-18 November 2003 14° 26’ 06” S 049° 45’ 36” E California Acad. of Sciences coll. B. L. Fisher et al. sifted litter (leaf mold, rotten wood) rainforest code: BLF 8872/ Goudotostes parvus n. sp. det. A. Ballerio 2020 Holotypus ♂ / [distended, glued on card, dissected, male genitalia glued in DMHF resin on a separate card, same pin]. Paratypes [3 ♂♂ dissected]: 3 ♂♂ and 19 exx. sex unstated (18 in CASC and 4 in ABCB), same collecting data as holotype. 1 ex. sex us- tated ( CASC): / Madagascar: Antsiranana Parc National de Marojejy Antranohofa 26.6 km 31° NNE Andapa 10.7 km 318° NNW Manantenina el. 1325 m / 18 November 2003 14° 26’ 36” S 049° 44’ 36” E California Acad. of Sciences collector B. L. Fisher et al. sifted litter (leaf mold, rotten wood) montane rainforest code: BLF 9080 /.

Diagnosis. Goudotostes parvus sp. nov. can be easily differentiated from all other species of Goudotostes by the following combination of characters: a) small size, b) dorsal ocular area absent, c) clypeal apical projection rounded, d) clypeal punctation made of dense large deeply impressed simple punctures, e) fronto-clypeal tubercle present, f) pronotal anterior carina bilobate, g) pronotal basal carina bilobate, h) pronotal disc covered by relatively sparse large simple deeply impressed punctures, i) elytral dorsal area covered by two longitudinal irregular rows of blunt very sharp carinae, j) sides of elytra covered by several distinctly protruding tubercles, k) elytral first interstria (area between sutural stria and first longitudinal carina) with dense punctation (interpunctural distance inferior than punctural diameter), l) left paramere with ventral margin invaginated (a character which places this species in the laevis group of species), m) the distinctive shape of parameres (as in Figs 66 g-k). Within the laevis species group, Goudotostes parvus sp. nov. is similar to Goudotostes masoalae sp. nov. due to the sculpturing of elytra but G. parvus sp. nov. is unmistakable because of the rounded apical projection of clypeus. It’s also the smallest among all known Goudotostes .

Description. Size: HL = 0.8 mm; HW = 1.2 mm; PL = 1.1 mm; PW = 1.7 mm; EL = 1.8 mm; EW = 1.7 mm. Overall morphology as in generic diagnosis. Small-sized Goudotostes . Body strongly convex. Black, shiny, dorsum with extremely short fine setation (50×), underside, tarsi and antennae dark reddish-brown, setation yellowish-brown. Head: W/L ratio = 1.47; clypeal apex obtuse, apical projection strongly developed and sexually dimorphic, sides almost rectilinear with slightly unaligned genae in correspondence with the genal suture; dorsal ocular area absent, genal canthus indistinct, ventral ocular area small-sized, genae acute, distinctly protruding outwards, genal suture indistinct; head dorsal surface uniformly covered by dense large impressed simple punctures mixed to large impressed transverse comma-shaped punctures, fore margin marked by few irregular transverse lines; fronto-clypeal tubercle weakly raised. Interpunctural distance of punctures inferior than punctural diameter on clypeal disc. Pronotum: subrectangular (dorsal view) (W/L ratio = 1.68), with a complete longitudinal row of tubercles, convex and unevenly sculptured (discal area gently raised with respect to sides), fore angles broadly subtruncate; pronotal surface covered by dense large deep simple punctures becoming sparser, smaller and comma-shaped at sides, area near fore angles with few irregular lines, interpunctural distance inferior than punctural diameter (equal to punctural diameter only on disc), pronotal bead complete; pronotal base raised in correspondence with scutellum; fore margin raised in correspondence with head insertion; pronotal sculpturing made of large and gently raised tubercles and carinae as follows: bilobate basal carina smooth and weakly raised, sides of disc with one gently raised transverse short carina and another distinctly raised transverse longer carina reaching outer margin, bilobate anterior carina weakly raised. Scutellum : basal area and sides smooth, remaining surface covered by impressed transverse large comma-shaped punctures. Elytra: longer than wide (W/L ratio = 0.90), subovoidal (dorsal view), strongly convex; humeral callus marked by a tubercle; elytral surface covered by small deep sparse horseshoe-shaped punctures with opening directed backwards, inwards or outwards, interpunctural distance inferior than punctural diameter. Striated articular area hardly visible in lateral view, relatively narrow and short; inferior sutural stria visible complete; marginal area large-sized; elytral articular process well developed, smooth and shiny, isolated from remaining elytral surface by a deep furrow. Elytral sculpturing as follows: base with one raised large tubercle below articular process with apex directed backwards (parasutural tubercle), next to it an oblique larg- er raised tubercle with apex directed backwards (humeral tubercle), dorsal area of elytra with a longitudinal row of short irregular and asymmetrical carinae, sides and apical third with denser raised tubercles. Wings: flightless. Male genitalia: aedeagus (L = 1.1 mm) with parameres as in Figs 66 g-k, spiculum gastrale (L = 1.0 mm) as in Fig. 66 f .

Etymology. Latin adjective in the nominative singular meaning “little”, since this is the smallest known repre- sentative of the genus Goudotostes .

Distribution and habitat. Known only from the type locality in Eastern Madagascar. The type series was collected by sifting leaf litter and rotten wood in rainforest. The vegetation cover consists of “moist evergreen forest”, and the collecting sites fall within the “forêt ombrophile de montagne” between 800 and 1450 m ( Goodman et al. 2018). The collecting locality falls within the protected area “Parc National de Morojejy (Forêts humides de l’Antsiranana)”.

Figures

Fig. 66 – Goudotostes parvus sp. nov., a, holotype, dorsal view of distended specimen; b, paratype, dorsal view of rolled up specimen; c, paratype, ventral view of rolled up specimen; d, paratype, ventral view of rolled up specimen; e, paratype, lateral view of rolled up specimen; f, holotype, spiculum gastrale; g–k, holotype, four views of aedeagus.