Enoclerus skillmani Rifkind, n. sp.
Creators: name: Rifkind, Jacques
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Cleridae
Enoclerus
Enoclerus skillmani

description: Enoclerus skillmani Rifkind, n. sp.
(Fig. 3)
Type specimens. Holotype male: Panamá, Bocas d[el] T[oro], 8°33' N, 81°48' W, Quebrada Gato, 1400 m, 4 Aug. [19]93, H. Stockwell. Holotype deposited in CSCA. Paratypes: PANAMÁ: 1, same data as holotype; 2, Chiriquí Prov., nr. Mina Cerro Colorado, 8°32' N, 81°48' W, 6 Aug. [19]93, el. 1800 m, Gillogly–Stockwell; COSTA RICA: 1. Puntarenas Prov., Monteverde Reserve, 1500 m, 18–viii–1987, H. & A. Howden. Paratypes are deposited in USNM and JNRC.
Diagnosis. Distinguishable from congeners by virtue of a unique combination of setation, pronotal and elytral sculpturing, and color. From the Costa Rican species E. puravida Rifkind, which it most closely resembles, it can be distinguished by its black legs, smoother pronotal posterior, somewhat more anteriorly situated elytral fascia, and absence of any patch of pale setae on the metasternum; from E. anctus, also from Costa Rica, it can be separated by the shape of its elytral fascia (not constricted or bisected apically), by its overall shinier aspect, by its lack of a concentration of pale setae on the elytral disk, and by the condition of its mesofemora, which are not swollen distally. Other small, black, antlike Enoclerus species in Panamá either bear prominent basal elytral tubercles, or have entirely smooth or distinctly carinate (rather than punctate/rugulose) elytral anterior surfaces.
Description (Holotype). Length: 4.30 mm. Color: black; antennal scape and pedicel dark testaceous; mouthparts, trochanters, and coxae reddish; each elytron with a narrow, triangulate, slightly oblique, irregularly margined, raised eburneous fascia, placed anterior to middle; fascia interrupted by epipleuron laterally, and rather broadly internally (Fig. 3). Head: antennae elongate, club loosely composed and gradually expanded from eighth antennomere; surface densely, shallowly and rather coarsely punctate, moderately vested with suberect and erect, mostly silvery setae; width across eyes just slightly narrower than maximum pronotal width. Pronotum: campanulate, longer than broad (4:3), feebly arcuate at anterior margin, subflattened on disk; transverse impression broadly U–shaped; surface rather finely, shallowly punctulate, shallowly granulate and subrugosely roughened anteriorly and laterally; vestiture composed of mostly long, robust, erect, pale and black setae, most evident laterally, and a moderately sparse but conspicuous array of medium–length, subrecumbent, anteriorly directed white setae that form an indistinct transverse band at middle. Elytra: 2X as long as wide; widest at posterior 1/3, slightly inflated from there posteriorly; basal 1/3 of elytra very coarsely, deeply punctate; punctures large, irregularly elongate–faveolate, oriented longitudinally and coalescing into indistinct rows; vestiture sparse and mostly coarse, with a concentration of finer, pale setae along suture; subbasal tumescences shallow, rounded above and produced anteriorly; each elytron bearing a narrow, raised, eburneous, transverse fascia at about anterior 1/3; fascia scalloped along margins, expanded laterally where it is interrupted by epipleuron, rather broadly interrupted internally before elytral suture; elytral posterior 2/3 shining; integument very obscurely dimpled, rather sparsely set with mostly suberect, medium length, mostly pale, posteriorly directed setae, most conspicuous on posterior 1/4; apical slope acute, apices rounded, very slightly dehiscent. Metasternum: shining, moderately convex posteriorly; very sparsely, inconspicuously setose, without a dense patch of pale setae at sides. Legs: elongate, mesofemora not notably expanded distally.
Variation. Length of the few available specimens ranges from 3.90 mm to 4.30 mm. They are otherwise rather similar.
Etymology. I take pleasure in naming this beetle for Fred W. Skillman, Jr., who has for many years generously made available to me the cleridological bounty of his prodigious collecting efforts.
Distribution. Known from the provinces of Bocas del Toro and Chiriquí in Panamá, and the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica. This is apparently a montane species: all specimens were collected between 1400 m and 1800 m elevation.
description: Published as part of Rifkind, Jacques, 2012, New Central American and Mexican Enoclerus Gahan (Coleoptera: Cleridae: Clerinae): Part II, pp. 1-27 in Zootaxa 3397 on pages 4-5, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.213050