Chespirito milleri Ferreira & Keller & Ivie 2022, new species
Creators: name: Ferreira, Vinicius S.
name: Keller, Oliver
name: Ivie, Michael A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Lampyridae
Chespirito
Chespirito milleri

description: Chespirito milleri new species
(Figs. 1C, 1F, 1I, 2C–E, 3C, 4)
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 455A8698-915B-4DF3-8869-664DB7357779
Type material (2). Holotype: ARIZONA: Cochise Co.; Huachuca Mts., 5700’; Ramsey Can. 7.viii-93; B&B Valentine, colls. (USNM). Paratype: ARIZONA: Cochise Co.; Huachuca Mts., 5700’; Ramsey Can. 7.viii-93; B&B Valentine, colls. (MTEC).
Etymology. The species is named after Richard S. Miller (1945–2021), who first identified these specimens as a new genus and species but never described them. Rich worked primarily on Lycidae but was knowledgeable about a wide range of beetles and other insects, including all other ‘cantharoids’. Rich was a close friend and colleague of MAI and a role model and source of inspiration to VSF.
Diagnosis. Chespirito milleri can be separated from other Chespirito spp. by the combination of a dorsally unicolorous pronotum and elytra (Fig. 1C) (vs. pronotal disc in C. ballantynae yellow), the pronotum not constricted medially (Fig. 1C) (vs. constricted in C. zaragozai), the last three abdominal segments distinctly yellow (Fig. 1F, 1I) (vs. dark brown in C. lloydi or not distinctly yellow in C. zaragozai) and by having ventrite 8 posteriorly entire and apically round (Fig. 1F) (vs. notched in C. zaragozai) and tergite VIII posteriorly notched (Fig. 1I) (vs. tergite VIII entire in C. costae and C. hintoni).
Description. General color dark brown (Figs. 1C), mandibles, elytral insertions, trochanters, tarsi and last three abdominal segments yellow (Figs. 1C). Head as long as wide; posterior 2/3 covered by pronotum (Fig. 1C). Antennae when extending posteriorly reaching apical third of elytra (Fig. 1C). Pronotum not constricted medially; anterior angles round; posterior margin bisinuate (Fig. 1C); median longitudinal carina strongly visible throughout (Fig. 1C). Elytra 3.2× length of pronotum, moderately dehiscent, basally subparallel (Fig. 1C), with two weakly developed elytral costae (Fig. 1C). Scutellar shield posteriorly round (Fig. 1C). Abdomenal tergite VIII with distinct median notch (Fig. 1I); ventrite 7 shallowly notched posteriorly (Fig. 1F, 2D); ventrite 8 elongate, fusiform, longer than wide, entire posteriorly (Fig. 1F). Male genitalia with median lobe stout, fusiform, apically round, in ventral view bearing paired strut-like structure, divergent apically (Fig. 3C); parameres apically acuminate, acute (Fig. 3C), 1/2 shorter than median lobe; phallobase small, longer than wide, posteriorly rounded (Fig. 3C).
Length (exposed portion of head+pronotum+elytra). 3.3 mm. Width (across humerus): 0.9 mm.
Distribution. Known only from the Huachuca Mountains in southeast Arizona, USA (Fig. 4).
description: Published as part of Ferreira, Vinicius S., Keller, Oliver & Ivie, Michael A., 2022, Descriptions of New Species of Chespirito Ferreira, Keller & Branham (Coleoptera: Lampyridae: Chespiritoinae) and the First Record for the Subfamily in the United States, pp. 230-237 in Zootaxa 5124 (2) on page 232, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5124.2.8, http://zenodo.org/record/6405132