Tepuidessus breweri Spangler, 1981

Kodada, Jan, Hendrich, Lars & Balke, Michael, 2018, Tepuidessus grulai sp. nov. from Acopán Tepui in Venezuela (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Hydroporinae: Bidessini), Zootaxa 4434 (3), pp. 561-572 : 562-563

Tepuidessus breweri Spangler, 1981

Type locality. Roraima Tepui, 2,800 m, around 5.162N 60.764W, Venezuela . Remarks: The altitude of the plateau is only around 2,300 m according to GoogleEarth.

Material studied. 3 exs, "Venezuela - Guyana Mt. Roraima rainwater pools on Tepui summit Dec. 1998 D.

Bilton leg." ( CLH, ZSM); 10 exs, " Venezuela (Bolivar) Gran Sabana, Mt. Roraima , 2500 m, 11.8.2001 , Gottwald leg./Coll. Hendrich" (CLH, ZSM).

Diagnosis. Length of beetle 1.6–1.8 mm, width 0.7 mm (2 mm / 0.84 mm according to the original description, which might be incorrect; we used a calibrated ocular micrometre for our measurement). Habitus appearing long oval ( Figs 1 , 2), with only slight discontinuity between pronotum and elytra. Pronotum broadest near posterior angles; basal pronotal striae absent (at most with shallow depressions instead; see Spangler 1981, Biström 1988 and Miller & Bergsten 2016). Elytra broadest in anterior third; basal elytral striae absent. Apical abdominal ventrite strongly bordered.

Habitat. The species was suggested to be hygropetric, with specimens collected from underneath of mats of wet moss ( Spangler 1981; Miller & Bergsten 2016), however, they were later also observed in rainwater puddles (D.T. Bilton pers. communication, S. Gottwald pers. communication) ( Fig. 9 ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Tepuidessus breweri, habitus of male (A) and female (B). Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURE 9. Habitat of Tepuidessus breweri. Shallow puddles on rocks of summit plateau of Roraima Tepui (Fotos: M. Hornburg).