Ivierhipidius monneorum, Barclay & Sw, 2015

Barclay, Maxwell V. L. & Sw, London, 2015, Ivierhipidius, an enigmatic new Neotropical genus of Ripiphoridae (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea) with four new species, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 55 (2), pp. 691-701 : 698-699

Ivierhipidius monneorum sp. nov.

( Figs 7–8 , 11, 15 )

Type locality. South America, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Tijuca Forest, Corcovado.

Type material. HOLOTYPE: 1 J, ‘ BRASIL Rio de Janeiro / D.F. CORCOVADO / xii.1957 [hw] / Alvarenga e Seabra [pr. Black border]ʼ ( MNRJ) . PARATYPES: 2 JJ, ‘ BRASIL Rio de Janeiro / D.F. CORCOVADO / x. 1958 [hw] / Alvarenga e Seabra [pr. black border]ʼ ( MNRJ, BMNH) ; 1 J, ‘ BRASIL Rio de Janeiro / D.F. CORCOVADO / 11 Setembro 1959 [hw] / Alvarenga e Seabra [pr. black border] // COLECAO / CAMPOS SEABRA [pr. black border] // Moyo 40 [hw, modern]ʼ ( BMNH) ; 1J, ‘CORCOVADO / RIO de JANEIRO / BRASIL // 23.x.1974 / M.A. Monné // Moyo 44 [hw, modern]ʼ ( MNRJ) .

Diagnosis. Male. Length 7.4–10.2 mm (combined length of head, pronotum and elytra measured individually), greatest width 2.5–3.9 mm across elytral shoulders. Beetle colouration resembling I. paradoxus , foxy orange brown, except antennomeres 9–11 infuscated and elytra darkening after midpoint to almost black at apex.

Differential diagnosis. This species differs from the similarly coloured I. paradoxus in the shape of the head ( Fig. 15 ), the puncturation of elytra much deeper and more conspicuous, with derm of elytra strongly shining between punctures, pubescence of elytra sparser, legs longer in proportion to body and body size considerably larger. In size, shape and proportion of head, thorax and elytra (as well as in distribution) this species more closely resembles I. cechorum , from which it differs in elytral colour (see the key below).

Collection circumstances. The five known specimens were all collected at Corcovado, the famous site of the Christ Redeemer statue, situated on a 710 m granite peak in the Tijuca Forest National Park above Rio de Janeiro, southern Brazil. The statue is illuminated, and apparently (M. A. Ivie, pers. comm.) entomologists climb up to it in the mornings to collect insects attracted by the lights on the previous night (though this is no indication that the specimens in question were collected at light, rather than, for example, by hand in the forest below). Specimens were collected between 1957 and 1974, in September, October and December.

Etymology. The name honours Drs. Marcela L. Monné and Miguel A. Monné, leading experts on Neotropical Cerambycidae , who made me very welcome during my visit to Rio de Janeiro. Dr. M. A. Monné was also the collector, 30 years ago, of one of the type specimens of this interesting species. The name is a noun in the genitive plural.

Distribution. This species is only known from the Tijuca Forest National Park, Rio de Janeiro, a remnant of the Atlantic forest in southern Brazil.

Figures

Figures 5–9. Habitus. 5–6 – Ivierhipidius cechorum sp. nov.: 5 – holotype, dorsal view; 6 – holotype, lateral view. 7–8 – I. monneorum sp. nov.: 7 – holotype, dorsal view; 8 – paratype, lateral view. 9 – Ivierhipidius paradoxus sp. nov., paratype, mounted metathoracic wing. Images by Harry Taylor (Natural History Museum London).

Figs 10–15. 10–11 – detail of heart-shaped, deeply indented metatrochanter (10 – I. paradoxus sp. nov., paratype; 11 – I. monneorum sp. nov., holotype). 12–15 – detail of head, frontal view: (12 – I. paradoxus sp. nov., paratype; 13 – I. youngi sp. nov., holotype; 14 – I. cechorum sp. nov., paratype; 15 – I. monneorum sp. nov., paratype). Scale bars = 1 mm. Images by Harry Taylor (Natural History Museum, London).