Prodilis pastaza Gonzalez & Vetrovec 2021, new species
Creators: name: González, Guillermo
name: Větrovec, Jaroslav
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Coccinellidae
Prodilis
Prodilis pastaza

description: Prodilis pastaza González & Větrovec, new species   
(Figs. 3 a-3l)  
 Holotype ♂ “ Ecuador, prov. Pastaza (8) / 1.6 km see of Santa Clara / S 01°16’17” W 77°52’32” / 660m, 17.xi.2006, M. Fikáĉek / & J. Skuhrovec lgt.”, “drying up wooden boards / exposed to the sun, near lowland / rain forest and stony river” (NMP).   
 Diagnosis. Highly recognizable by the dark brown elytra with yellow borders and a large red oval discal spot (Fig. 3a), and the frons with the upper half black and the lower half golden yellow (Fig. 3e). The red elytra disc spot exists in several other species of the genus, but in none with clear elytral borders, and most males of these species have an entirely black head.   
 Description. Color pattern (Figs. 3 a-3e). Head black, with golden yellow macula on apical 1/2, base of golden yellow area slightly tridentate, golden area divided in three by two vertical lines slightly raised and not very noticeable, somewhat brown. Antenna yellow and mouthparts brown. Pronotum black with lateral margins and anterior angles yellow. Scutellar shield reddish brown. Elytra with large, regularly oval, median red macula, from 1/5 to 2/3 of the length, and a narrow yellow lateral border from the humerus to the apex, about 1/10 the width of elytron. Ventral side brown, except lateral borders of hypomeron yellow, and epipleuron yellow bordered with brown. Abdomen yellowish brown, anterior middle area of first ventrite almost black. Legs yellow. Dorsal pubescence white to greyish yellow. Morphology. Body oval, depressed, elytra slightly curved, almost parallel sides medially, widest at 1/3 the length of the elytra (Fig. 3a). Frons almost twice the width of an eye. Eyes vertically elongated twice as long as wide, with divergent inner sides towards the clypeus. Very short eye canthus, 1/5 of the width of the eye. Clypeus apex straight (Fig. 3e). Antenna with ten antennomeres, the last four forming an oval club (Fig. 3g). Apical maxillary palpomere slender, narrowed to apex in apical 1/2 (Fig. 3f). Pronotum wide, with reflexed lateral margin and advanced anterior angles, widest at anterior 1/3 (Fig. 3a). Prosternum T-shaped, apically expanded, prosternal process elongated, wide, parallel between coxae, with lateral carina (Fig. 3h). Metaventrite without setiferous pit. Abdominal postcoxal lines complete, irregularly rounded, extended 4/5 of distance to apical margin of ventrite, outer side of postcoxal plate slightly concave (Fig. 3i). Dorsal punctures deep and regular, similar in head and pronotum, elytra punctures almost twice as large, space between punctures 1.5 times the diameter on head and pronotum, twice on elytra; few large punctures on the ventral side, almost non-existent in the middle part of the metaventrite, variable on abdomen, thicker and closer on ventrite 1 where they are separated by two diameters on average, smaller and more separated towards posterior border of the abdomen. Pubescence decumbent with hairs in each puncture, hairs almost as long as the scutellar shield, in pronotum and elytra concentrated on the lateral borders, scarce on ventral side. Male terminalia. Ventrite 5 as long as ventrites 3 and 4 together, with rounded apex, apex of ventrite 6 widely truncate (Figs. 3i, 3j). Tegmen almost three times as long as wide, phallobase short, wider than long, trapezoidal. Tegminal strut as long as tegmen. Penis guide symmetrical, almost four times as long as wide, maximum width 1/5 of length, smoothly converging straight sides until apex, this strongly emarginate with a triangular notch of 1/8 of the length; in lateral view with a raised keel at 1/3 of the length, then convergent to end in a somewhat hooked apex towards the inner side in the apical 1/6 (Figs. 3 k-3l). Parameres little shorter than the penis guide, curved inwards, in lateral view widening at 2/5 of the length, then converging to end in a rather narrow apex, with scarce and short hairs (Figs. 3 k-3l). Penis semicircular in basal 4/5, apical 1/5 almost straight, tube of constant thickness, with a very narrow and sinuous inner border filament at the apex and a membranous outer border; penis capsule with outer and inner arms perpendicular to the penis tube, outer arm triangular, elongated, inner arm 3 times longer than wide, slightly longer than outer arm; irregularly convex basal margin (Figs. 3 n-m). Female. Unknown.   
 Measurements (mm): TL 2.2; PL 0.6; PW 1.2; EL 1.6; EW 1.5; GD 1.0.   
 Geographic distribution. Ecuador, Pastaza province.   
 Remarks. See discussion of the genus Prodilis under P. saopaulo n. sp. The new species is assigned to the genus by the broad frons with slightly divergent margins of the eyes (Fig. 3e) and by the prosternal process long with lateral carina (Fig. 3h). Apical maxillary palpomere of this species (Fig. 3f) presents an intermediate configuration between the acute shape (as in Neaporia) and the securiform shape (as in Prodilis), which in these cases makes it useless for the purpose of differentiating between the two genera.   
 Etymology. The species is named after the province of Pastaza, Ecuador, where this species was collected.
description: Published as part of González, Guillermo & Větrovec, Jaroslav, 2021, New species and records of Neotropical ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), pp. 331-374 in Revista Chilena de Entomología (Rev. Chil. Entomol.) (Rev. Chil. Entomol.) 47 (2) on pages 342-343, DOI: 10.35249/rche.47.2.21.19, http://zenodo.org/record/13205388