Pseudopilolabus othnius, Jr. & Brown & Legalov, 2016

Jr., G. Poinar, Brown, A. E. & Legalov, A. A., 2016, First record of the genus Pseudopilolabus Legalov, 2003 (Coleoptera: Attelabidae) in Dominican amber, Fossil Record 19 (1), pp. 11-16 : 12-14

Pseudopilolabus othnius sp. nov.

Etymology: The specific epithet is taken from the Greek othneios, meaning strange, alien.

Holotype: Male, deposited in the Poinar amber collection (accession # CW-161) maintained at Oregon State University , Corvallis , Oregon.

Type locality: Amber mine in the northern portion of the Dominican Republic.

Diagnosis: The new species is close to the extant P. viridanus (Gyllenhal, 1839) and P. splendens (Gyllenhal, 1839) from Mexico, but differs by having a bronzed body, narrower and more convex elytral intervals, long antennae reaching the middle of the pronotum, and weakly convex eyes; from P. rugiceps (Voss, 1925) from Costa Rica it differs by having a smoother pronotum without transverse rugosity; from P. chiriquensis ( Hamilton, 1994) from Panama it differs by having indistinctly protuberant humeri and the elytra nearly parallel from the humeri to the midpoint.

Remarks: The single gular suture, homonomous ventrites and claws lacking teeth that are connate at base, as well as tibiae with the uncus serrated on the inner edge (but lacking spurs), suggest placement in the family Attelabidae . The elytra with scutellar striae, head without a groove in front of the neck and pronotum without a distinct pronotal groove suggest placement in the subfamily Attelabinae . Placement of this species in the tribe Pilolabini is based on the triangular scutellum and long oval body with a metallic luster. The new species is placed in the genus Pseudopilolabus based on the elytra having regular punctate striae and smooth wide intervals.

Description ( Figs. 1–4 ): Size: length of body (without rostrum), 3.7 mm; length of rostrum, 0.4 mm. Body long, oval, bronzed with metallic luster, without scales.

Head: without groove in front of the neck; rostrum short, 0.5 times as long as pronotum, equal in length and width at apex, 1.4 times longer than wide in middle, 1.8 times longer than wide at base, widened from base to apex, almost straight, with dense punctures; forehead narrow, flattened, punctured, 0.4 times as wide as rostral basal width; eyes large, 1.3 times longer than wide, rounded, protruding from the head contour, with transverse diameter 1.3 times as wide as rostral basal width; vertex weakly flattened, coarsely punctured; temples long, 1.1 times as long as eye; gular suture single; antennae inserted in middle of rostrum, reaching to middle of pronotum; scape short, 2.3 times longer than wide; funicle with first to seventh conical antennomeres; first antennomere 1.8 times longer than wide, 0.7 times as long and 0.9 times as wide as scape; second antennomere 2.3 times longer than wide, 1.3 times as long as and equal in width to first antennomere; third antennomere 1.9 times longer than wide, 0.7 times as long and 0.9 times as wide as second antennomere; fourth antennomere 2.1 times longer than wide, 1.3 times as long as and 1.1 times as wide as third antennomere; fifth antennomere 1.9 times longer than wide, 0.9 times as long as and equal in width to fourth antennomere; sixth antennomere 1.4 times longer than wide, 0.9 times as long and 1.1 times as wide as fifth antennomere; seventh antennomere 0.9 times longer than wide, 1.2 times as long as and 1.2 times as wide as sixth antennomere; club compact, 3.3 times longer than wide, 0.9 times as long as funicle; first club article equal in length and width, 1.5 times as long and 1.3 times as wide as seventh antennomere; second club article 0.9 times longer than wide, 0.9 times as long as and equal in wide as first club article; third club article 1.4 times longer than wide, 1.3 times as long and 0.8 times as wide as second club article.

Pronotum: bell-shaped; 1.1 times longer than wide at apex, 0.8 times longer than wide in middle and at base; without distinct pronotal groove; disk weakly flattened, narrowed at apex, rarely and finely punctured; distance between punctures much larger than diameter of punctures; scutellum triangular, flattened.

Elytra: with scutellar striae; elongated and weakly convex, 1.4 times longer than wide at base and in middle, 1.8 times longer than wide at apical fourth, 2.6 times as long as pronotum; greatest width at humeri and middle, elytral base 1.4 times as wide as pronotal basal width; humeri weakly convex; punctate striae regular; intervals weakly flattened, almost smooth and wide, 1.3–2.0 times as wide as striae; apex of elytra rounded.

Thorax: weakly punctured; postocular lobes absent; precoxal portion of prosternum short, 0.3 times as long as procoxa length; procoxal cavities connected; postcoxal portion of prosternum 1.3 times as long as precoxal portion and 0.4 times as long as procoxa length; middle coxal cavities quite narrowly separated; metathorax 1.3 times as long as metacoxa length; metepisternum wide, 3.6 times longer than wide in middle.

Abdomen: convex ventrally, densely punctured; ventrites almost homologous; first ventrite 1.2 times as long as metacoxa length; second ventrite 0.9 times as long as first ventrite; third ventrite 0.8 times as long as second ventrite; fourth ventrite 0.9 times as long as third ventrite; fifth ventrite 0.5 times as long as fourth ventrite. Pygidium exposed beyond elytra.

Legs: long; procoxae conical; mesocoxae spherical; metacoxae transverse; femora weakly clavate, without teeth; profemora 4.4 times longer than wide in middle; mesofemora 4.6 times longer than wide; metafemora 4.8 times longer than wide; tibiae straight, with uncus, without spurs, serrate on inner edge; protibiae 11.0 times longer than wide in middle; metatibiae 9.5 times longer than wide in middle; tarsi long; first to second tarsomeres conical; third tarsomere bilobed; fifth tarsomere elongate; tarsomeres with pulvilli on underside; metatarsus: first tarsomere 2.4 times longer than wide at apex; second tarsomere 1.3 times longer than wide at apex, 0.8 times as long and 1.4 times as wide as first tarsomere; third tarsomere 0.9 times longer than wide at apex, equal in length and 1.4 times as wide as second tarsomere; fifth tarsomere 4.3 times longer than wide at apex, 1.9 times as long and 0.4 times as wide as third tarsomere; claws connate at base, without teeth.

Figures

Figure 1. Dorsal view of Pseudopilolabus othnius sp. nov. in Dominican amber. Bar: 0.7mm.

Figure 2. “En face” view of Pseudopilolabus othnius sp. nov. in Dominican amber. Bar: 0.4 mm.

Figure 3. Lateral view of Pseudopilolabus othnius sp. nov. in Dominican amber. Bar: 1.0mm.

Figure 4. Ventral view of Pseudopilolabus othnius sp. nov. in Dominican amber. Bar: 0.7 mm.