Kumatoeides tarsalis Gómez-Zurita 2018, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Gómez-Zurita, Jesús
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Chrysomelidae
Kumatoeides
Kumatoeides tarsalis

description: Kumatoeides tarsalis sp. nov.
(Figs 2h, 3c, 4g, 5f, 6b)
Holotype: Male, New Caledonia (S), Mt. Koghi 22°10.7'S 166°30.4'E, 450–500 m, rainforest, 16.xii.2006, leg. M. Wanat & R. Dobosz, HOLOTYPE Kumatoeides tarsalis sp. nov. J. Gómez-Zurita det. [red label] (MNHN). Paratypes: Ten males and three females, New Caledonia (S), Mt. Koghi 22°10.7'S 166°30.4'E, 450–500 m, rainforest, 16.xii.2006, leg. M. Wanat & R. Dobosz, PARATYPE Kumatoeides tarsalis sp. nov. J. Gómez-Zurita det. [red label] (nine males and two females at MNHW, one male and one female at IBE-JGZ).
Other material examined: (1) four males and three females, New Caledonia (S), 22°11'S 166°30'E, Mts. Koghi, 450–600 m, track to Cascade, forest, 21.i.2004, leg. M. Wanat, Kumatoeides tarsalis m. J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2018 (MNHW); (2) four males and seven females, New Caledonia (S), 22°11'S 166°30'E, Mts. Koghi, 500–550 m, humid forest, 21.i.2004, leg. M. Wanat, Kumatoeides tarsalis m. J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2018 (MNHW); (3) one female, New Caledonia (S), 22°11'S 166°30'E, Mts. Koghi, 450–600 m, humid forest, 11.ii.2004, leg. M. Wanat, Kumatoeides tarsalis m. J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2018 (MNHW); (4) one male, New Caledonia (S), 22°11'S 166°30'E, Mts. Koghi, 450–600 m, humid forest, 12.ii.2004, leg. M. Wanat, Kumatoeides tarsalis m. J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2018 (MNHW); (5) four males, one female, New Caledonia (S), -22.17809 166.50569, Mts. Koghi, 470–500 m, Auberge & forest, 24.x.2008, leg. M. Wanat, Kumatoeides tarsalis m. J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2018 (MNHW); (6) one male, New Caledonia (S), -22.17809 166.50569, Koghi Mts., 500–550 m, rainforest, 27.x.2008, leg. M. Wanat, Kumatoeides tarsalis m. J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2018 (MNHW); (7) four males and four females, New Caledonia (S), -22.17809 166.50569, Koghi Mts., 500–550 m, Auberge to Vallée des Houps, 3.xii.2008, leg. M. Wanat, Kumatoeides tarsalis m. J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2018 (MNHW); (8) one male, IBE-JGZ-3977, New Caledonia (S), - 22.17809 166.50569, Mts. Koghi, 500–550 m, Auberge to Vallée des Houps, 3.xii.2008, leg. M. Wanat, Kumatoeides tarsalis m. J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2018 (IBE-JGZ); (9) seven males and six females, New Caledonia (S), -22.18177 166.50936, Upper Mts. Koghi, Vallée des Houps, 520–550 m, 3.xii.2008, leg. M. Wanat, Kumatoeides tarsalis m. J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2018 (MNHW); (10) one male and one female, New Caledonia (S), - 22.18177 166.50936, Upper Mts. Koghi, Vallée des Houps, 520–550 m, 3.xii.2008, leg. M. Wanat, Kumatoeides tarsalis m. J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2018 (IBE-JGZ); (11) two males, New Caledonia (S), -22.18038 166.51313, Upper Mts. Koghi, 600–700 m, vicinity of Pic Malaoui track junction, 3.xii.2008, leg. M. Wanat, Kumatoeides tarsalis m. J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2018 (MNHW); (12) six males and two females, New Caledonia (S), -22.17809 166.50569, Mts. Koghi, 500– 550 m., track to Cascade, forest, 4.xii.2008, leg. M. Wanat, Kumatoeides tarsalis m. J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2018 (MNHW).
Pronotum, scutellum, ventral thoracic parts, trochanters and elytral punctures chestnut brown; head and elytra slightly paler; palpi, antennae and legs yellowish orange, with five apical antennomeres, base of tibiae and onychia slightly darkened (Fig. 6b). Length: 2.74 mm (range: 2.38–3.10 mm); width: 1.38 mm (range: 1.18–1.59 mm).
Head hypognathous at rest; frons and vertex regularly convex, very finely microsculptured, glossy, with obsolete median longitudinal furrow and sparsely but neatly punctured, except at middle, sulcate above eyes with sulcus gently curved and weakly impressed above supra-antennal swellings; glabrous except for long seta at middle of supraocular furrow and sparse short, very fine appressed yellowish setae near and on short genae. Clypeus as long as wide at apex, smooth, glossy, with small punctures at base and along median line. Labrum small, smooth, about 1.5x as wide as long, emarginate at apex. Apical maxillary palpomere spindle-shaped, obliquely cut shortly at apex. Eyes large, bulging, weakly emarginate at inner border. Antennae slender, reaching beyond middle of elytra; scape nearly cylindrical, slightly bent posteriorly, twice as long as thick, strongly narrowed at base; pedicel cup-shaped, half as long as scape; antennomeres 3–10 club-shaped, 3–6 glossy with sparse long setae, 7–11 feebly incrassate, finely granulose, clothed with dense, short hairs; antennomeres 3–4 subequal, slightly longer than pedicel; fifth antennomere longer than third and sixth; seventh anntenomere longer than fifth; antennomeres 8–10 subequal, as long as sixth; eleventh antennomere as long as seventh, pointed, obliquely cut at apex internally. Pronotum transverse (1.46x as wide at base than long at middle), feebly convex with stronger slopes toward anterior angles; anterior border produced forward, straight, finely margined near anterior angles, narrower than posterior border, feebly bisinuate, with very short median lobe before scutellum, finely margined; anterior angles obtuse, blunt, explanate, with trichobothria on anterior border and setae directed forward; posterior angles obtuse, with trichobothria at angle and setae oriented laterally; sides very feebly sinuate at basal half, widest after middle, with fine explanate margin; surface glabrous, shiny, very finely microsculptured, with dense, small elongate punctures smaller than distance separating them. Hypomera finely microreticulate, smooth, unpunctured; very feebly convex at anterior border. Prosternal process broad, about 0.8x as wide as transverse diameter of procoxae, expanded laterally at apex to enclose procoxae posteriorly, smooth with scattered disheveled long fine translucent hairs. Mesoventral process as broad as prosternal process, short, transversally expanded at apex as two short round lobes, convex at apical border. Metaventrite as long as mesoventrite, smooth on disc, with very fine longitudinally impressed suture and deep longitudinal notch at middle of posterior border; sides finely microreticulate, with scattered short appressed translucent setae. Scutellum ogival, slightly longer than wide at base, very finely microreticulate. Elytra long, basally as wide as base of pronotum, gently curved at sides, widest at middle and regularly curved at apex; elytra with very weak transverse impression at basal 1/3; humeri strongly marked, unpunctured; eight complete regular striae on each elytron with longitudinal series of dot- or slit-like small punctation or dot-like individual, large punctures in five outer striae basally; additional short scutellar stria reaching transversely depressed area and short subhumeral dotted stria joining premarginal bead of punctures before middle of elytron; intervals nearly flat basally and on disc, outer two intervals slightly more convex; intervals unpunctured, very finely microreticulate. Femora strongly inflated medially; tibiae slightly shorter than corresponding femur; tarsi shorter than corresponding tibia, with first pro- and mesotarsomeres strongly widened; claws appendiculate. Abdominal ventrites finely shagreened with scattered fine translucent hairs; last visible abdominal ventrite shortly emarginate at apex and weakly impressed longitudinally at middle. Penis (Fig. 2h) slender, regularly curved ventrally from base to apex in lateral view, tapering dorsally at apex from base of operculum, with tip slightly curved dorsally; sides weakly narrowing at middle in dorso-ventral view and widened at level with operculum, following its oval contour and expanding again at apex as relatively narrow and long axehead.
Females (Fig. 4g): The females of Kumatoeides tarsalis sp. nov. are very similar to males in shape and size, but they can be distinguished by the lack of tarsal modification in fore and mid legs, by thinner antennae, more accentuated elytral intervals in lateral declivities of elytra, and also by the darker color of their bodies, particularly on head, pronotum, along elytral suture and sides of elytra (not so much the appendages). Spermatheca (Fig. 5f) very small, shaped like question mark, with cornu elongate, curved, narrowed at base toward narrower nodulus; nodulus curved at middle and twisted at base, with spermathecal gland insertion after median curvature; spermathecal duct appears as large, tubular, slightly sclerotized section before membranous part.
Diagnosis: From most other species of Kumatoeides gen. nov., K. tarsalis sp. nov. can be distinguished by the more spaced punctation on pronotum, which is dense, sometimes confluent, locally vermiculate in most other species. At present, only two other species in the genus have similar pronotal punctation: K. leptalei sp. nov. and K. wanati sp. nov. However, the former is much smaller (ca. 2.3 mm), much paler, and lacks any sign of transverse impression on the elytra, and the latter is also paler and males have proportionally smaller first pro- and mesotarsomeres. The males of the three species have very distinctive penises, and the spermathecae of these species are very different too.
Derivatio nominis: The males of all known species of the genus have strongly dilated first fore and mid tarsomeres. This trait is nonetheless giving name to this species where this feature is highly prominent, and it corresponds to the Latin adjective (fem., sing.) of the term for these foot articulations, tarsus (Latin) or ταρσóς (Greek).
Distribution: Kumatoeides tarsalis sp. nov. has been collected in several localities in the Massif des Koghi, in the southern edge of the large Massif du Sud, not far from the capital, Nouméa (Fig. 3c).
description: Published as part of Gómez-Zurita, Jesús, 2018, Description of Kumatoeides gen. nov. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae, Eumolpinae) from New Caledonia, pp. 89-115 in Zootaxa 4521 (1) on pages 107-109, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4521.1.4, http://zenodo.org/record/2609701