Callirhinus veeme Ramirez-Ponce & Zaragoza 2024, sp.nov.
Creators: name: Ponce, Andrés Ramírez
name: Caballero, Santiago Zaragoza
name: Seidel, Maưhias
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Callirhinus
Callirhinus veeme

description: Callirhinus veeme Ramírez-Ponce & Zaragoza, sp.nov.
(Figs 8F, 9F, 14)
ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 7DB85B88-5A19-428E-9E4B-DDA00509F900
Type material: Holotype (male, IEXA): (a) ‘ MEXICO: Nayarit / Tepic, La Cantera / 950 m. 7.IX.94 / s/ follaje caña / M.A. Morón col’., (b) ‘ Callirhinus metallescens Blanchard M.A. Morón det. 94’, (c) ‘ Callirhinus veeme Ramírez-Ponce & Zaragoza, 2022 HOLOTYPE ♂’ (red label). Paratypes (15 ♂♂, 17 ♀♀; ARPC, CEMT, CNIN; DJCC; IEXA, MNHN, MFN, MXAL): (a, b) same data as holotype, (c) ‘ Callirhinus veeme Ramírez-Ponce & Zaragoza, 2022 PARATYPE’ (yellow label) [ARPC (2 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀); CEMT (1 ♂, 1 ♀); CNIN (1 ♂, 1 ♀); DJCC (1 ♂, 1 ♀); IEXA (1 ♂, 1 ♀); MNHN (1 ♂, 1 ♀); MFN (1 ♂, 1 ♀); MXAL (4 ♂♂, 7 ♀♀)]; (a) ‘ Tepic, Nayarit / 24-IX-61 ’ (handwritten), (b) ‘ Callirhinus veeme Ramírez-Ponce & Zaragoza, 2022 PARATYPE’ (yellow label) [ARP (1 ♂); MXAL (1♀)]; (a) ‘ MEXICO: Nayarit / Pantanal / VIII-1940 / F. I. col’., (b) ‘M. A. Morón/ Callirhinus / metallescens’, (c) ‘ Callirhinus veeme Ramírez-Ponce & Zaragoza, 2022 PARATYPE’ (yellow label) (MXAL; 1 ♂); (a) ‘ Tepic,/ Nayarit, Mex./ IX-21 to 24-53 / B. Malkin’, (b) ‘ Callirhinus / metallescens/ DET. at B.M. Bl./ H.F. Howden ‘62’, (c) ‘WORLD/ SCARAB./ DATABASE/ WSD00348208 ’, (d) ‘ Callirhinus veeme / Ramírez-Ponce & Zaragoza/ 2022/ PARATYPE’ (yellow label) (1 ♂; CNC).
Diagnosis: Clypeus narrow; pronotum with external borders of second half subparallel; surface with deep punctation. Mesometaventral projection wide, surpassing the mid-mesocoxa visible in lateral view. Parameres with external borders almost straight.
Description: Holotype (male, IEXA): length 10.80 mm; width 5.27 mm. Colour (Figs 8F, 14A, B): head, pronotum, and scutellar shield dark metallic green with reddish reflections; elytra shiny black with yellow basal half; venter and legs shiny dark brown with metallic green reflections. Head (Fig. 14C, D): frons densely areolate-rugose; spaces significantly wide and deep, rounded. Clypeus with apex slightly curved, strongly reflexed, lateral borders curved, subbasal width narrow, elongate; densely areolate-rugose, spaces rugulose, not transverse. Interocular width equals 5.47 transverse eye diameters. Antennal club subequal to scape, pedicel, and funicle together. Pronotum (Fig. 14E): lateral margins subparallel (distal half); surface moderately dense and uniformly punctate (separated by 1.5–2.5 puncture diameters), punctures small, deep, suboval (Fig. 14F). Elytra: surface with 12 punctate striae parallel; punctures moderate in size, deep, regularly contiguous; 7 striae on disc, 5 laterad of humerus; all striae complete and well defined; interstriae slightly raised, sutural striae slightly raised on distal half, subbasal sinuation deep. Pygidium (Fig. 14G): surface imbricate, with short and very thick setae, longer and slender on apex; concavity produced markedly on apical third (lateral view). Venter (Fig. 14A, B): mesometaventral projection wide, surpassing the mid-mesocoxa, apex rounded and slightly protruding (lateral view); abdominal ventrites with transverse, regular rows of short, thick yellowish setae, mesial area almost glabrous. Legs (Fig. 14H–L): protibia very wide; upper teeth short, curved, and pointed; protarsomere 5 enlarged, subequal to the length of the previous ones combined, internobasal protuberance keel shaped; protarsomeres 1–4 similar in shape and width; protarsomere 4 with interno-mesial lobe not increased; protarsomere 1 subequal than 2. Lower ramus of inner claw three times the width of upper one. Mesotibia widest at middle, weakly expanded at apex; external margin with separate, thick, and short spines at the base; almost continuous, oblique carina in basal third (composed of 7–8 short, thick spines), and continuous oblique carina in subapical two-thirds (composed of 10 short, thick spines); apex with 12–13 relatively long spines; apical spurs acute; internal spine produced near to middle of mesotarsomere 2, external spur exceeding mesotarsomere 1. Metatibia widest at middle, weakly expanded at apex, external margin with oblique carina at basal third (composed of 5–6 spines, relatively long), and continuous oblique carina in subapical two-thirds (composed of 9–11 spines); apex with 13 relatively long spines; internal spine subequal to apex of mesotarsomere 2, external spur clearly exceeding mesotarsomere 1. Metatarsomere 5 subequal to the length of the previous ones combined; internal mesoapical patch of setae absent in metatarsomere 4; internal spines on metatarsomere 1 and external ones in metatarsomere 4 very thick. Parameres (Fig. 9F): as long as wide; external margins almost straight, inconspicuous pre-apical notch present; apices rounded.
Sexual dimorphism: Female similar to male with the following exceptions: protibia thinner and distal external denticle elongate; protarsomeres much thinner, the first one elongate, twice as long as the third; internal protarsal claw thin, with the upper ramus slightly thinner than the lower (1.5 times wider).
Variation: Body size ranging between 9–12 mm. Colour completely navy to black or contrastingly colourful, with head and pronotum green or metallic blue; elytra completely black or with the anterior half orange, or completely orange. Variation is observed in the thickness of the protibia and external apical denticle (more elongated and more curved), in the rugose punctures of the clypeus and frons (from rugose to striate).
Etymology: From the Huichol word ‘ ve’eme ’; the biggest or the main, alluding to the bigger size for this species, and for it being frequently confused with the true C. metallescens.
Distribution: Tepic, Nayarit, México (Fig. 15).
Phenology: August (1), September (31).
Natural history: Some specimens were collected on sugar cane foliage, but their natural host plants are unknown.
Taxonomic remarks: This is the largest species and has the northernmost distribution. It shares more characters with C. metallescens (and the closest distribution), although the difference in size and other characteristics such as the much more reflexed clypeus and much thicker legs are sufficient to easily separate them, although there are no notable differences in the genitalia.
description: Published as part of Ponce, Andrés Ramírez, Caballero, Santiago Zaragoza & Seidel, Maưhias, 2024, Geometric morphometry enables species hypotheses testing and the assignment of historical type specimens in the genus Callirhinus Blanchard (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Anomalini), pp. 1-26 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 202 on pages 22-23, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad172, http://zenodo.org/record/14415885