Cyclocephala abrelata Ratcliffe and Cave 2002, new species
Creators: name: Ratcliffe, Brett C.
name: Cave, Ronald D.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2002
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Cyclocephala
Cyclocephala abrelata

description: Cyclocephala abrelata Ratcliffe and Cave, new species
Figs. 3–4, 7, 9–10
Type Material. Holotype labeled ‘‘ HONDURAS: Yoro, Parq Nac Pico Bonito, El Portillo 640 m, N15°26'27" W87°08'09", 24 April 2001, R. Reyes, 62.755 EAPZ.’’ Allotype labeled same as holotype except 62.750 EAPZ. Seven paratypes (5 males, 2 females) with following data: as holotype except 62.763 EAPZ, 62.753 EAPZ, 62.748 EAPZ, 62.749 EAPZ, 62.754 EAPZ, 62.751 EAPZ, 62.752 EAPZ, respectively; as holotype except 25 April 2001, 62.762 EAPZ (1 male). Holotype and allotype deposited at the University of Nebraska State Museum (UNSM). Paratypes placed at the University of Nebraska State Museum (UNSM) (Lincoln, NE), U. S. National Museum (USNM) (Washington, D.C., currently at the University of Nebraska), Escuela Agrícola Panamericana (EAPZ) (Zamorano, Honduras), Ronald D. Cave collection (RDCC) (Bakersfield, CA), and Brett C. Ratcliffe collection (BCRC) (Lincoln, NE).
Holotype. Male. Length 16.0 mm; width 7.4 mm. Color dark reddish brown with frons, anterior margin of pronotum behind head, humeri and elytra adjacent to scutellum black. Head: Frons with surface moderately punctate, punctures small. Clypeus (Fig. 9) with apex truncate, margined, narrowly reflexed; surface densely punctate, punctures small, surface becoming finely rugose at apex. Frontoclypeal suture finely impressed. Interocular width equals 4.5 transverse eye diameters. Antenna with 10 segments, club subequal in length to segments 2–7. Pronotum: Surface sparsely punctate on disc, punctures small; punctures becoming slightly larger and denser on sides. Base with marginal line. Elytra: Surface finely alutaceous, moderately punctate; punctures shallow, subequal in size to those on frons and pronotal disc, double rows weak. Lateral and apical margins with short, tawny setae. Pygidium: Surface scabrous, setigerous; setae long, dense, testaceous. In lateral view, surface regularly convex.
Legs: Foretibia (Fig. 7) tridentate, basal tooth small, strongly removed from other teeth. Foretarsus (Fig. 7) enlarged: tarsomeres 2– 4 each slightly larger than preceding and with large, ventral lobe; tarsomere 5 weakly curved, ventral lobe or teeth absent; median claw enlarged (about 4 times thickness of lateral claw), apex finely cleft, base with large, rounded lobe. Posterior tarsus slightly longer than posterior tibia. Meso­ and metatibiae with numerous, long, stout setae. Venter: Prosternal process long, columnar, apex flattened into nearly round disc with anterior half elevated into a raised ‘‘button’’. Parameres: Figs. 3–4.
Allotype. Female. Length 15.9 mm; width 7.8 mm. As holotype except in the following respects. Head: Color entirely black. Pronotum: Color piceous. Elytra: Center of elytron opposite expansion of lateral margin with oblique, black band extending posteriorly to suture. Epipleuron strongly, abruptly expanded at level of sternites 1–2, inner margin of expansion with strong tooth (Fig. 10). Pygidium: Surface punctate; punctures moderate in density, shallow, a few with small setae near base. In lateral view, surface nearly flat. Legs: Color darker, almost black. Foretibia distinctly tridentate. Foretarsus simple, not enlarged.
Variation. Males (6 paratypes). Length 15.7–17.7 mm; width 7.4–8.4 mm. Scutellum piceous in 5 specimens. Elytra with oblique black band broken in two or reduced to a spot in 4 specimens.
Females (2 paratypes). Length 15.4–16.7 mm; width 7.8–8.4 mm. Elytra darkly obscured, medial oblique band on elytra reaching lateral margins.
Diagnosis. This species has a robust body form similar to that of C. amazona (L.) or C. multiplex Casey. It can be distinguished by the truncate clypeal apex, short antennal club, presence of a marginal bead on the base of the pronotum, pattern of elytral markings, tridentate foretibia (with the basal tooth removed from the other teeth), strongly expanded epipleuron in the female, and form of the parameres in the male. The parameres are unusually distinctive with two teeth and a semicircular emargination on each side (Figs. 3–4).
In Endrödi’s (1985) key, C. abrelata will go only so far as couplet 155 where the character states no longer match.
Remarks. The habitat where C. abrelata was taken is a mid­elevation, mixed broadleaf tropical forest, including oaks and liquidambar, with scattered pines. The area receives rainfall year­round, and so does not suffer a severe dry season as does the more interior parts of Honduras. The specimens were collected by a parataxonomist (Reynaldo Reyes), possibly on the flowers of aroids or palms but not at lights.
Etymology. This species is named after the Spanish word, abrelatas, meaning can opener, here used in loose reference to the form of the male parameres, which resemble a can opener.
description: Published as part of Ratcliffe, Brett C. & Cave, Ronald D., 2002, New Species Of Cyclocephala From Honduras And El Salvador (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae: Cyclocephalini), pp. 152-157 in The Coleopterists Bulletin 56 (1) on pages 3-4, DOI: 10.1649/0010-065x(2002)056[0152:nsocfh]2.0.co;2, http://zenodo.org/record/4900427