Aphelocerus formicoides OPITZ 2005, new species
Creators: name: OPITZ, WESTON
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2005
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Cleridae
Aphelocerus
Aphelocerus formicoides

description: Aphelocerus formicoides, new species Figures 45, 47, 87, 149; map 23   
HOLOTYPE: Male. Honduras. Dept. Yoro, 45 km S Tela, 800 m, May 25–27, 1978, E. Giesbert (LACM). (Specimen pin mounted; support card; machine printed, sex label affixed to support card; locality label, white, hand printed; LACM repository label, white, hand printed; holotype label, red, machine and hand printed.)  
PARATYPES: Twelve specimens. Six specimens from the same locality as the holotype (FSCA, 2; WOPC, 3); 600 m (FSCA, 1). Honduras: Atlantida: 12 km SW La Ceiba, 21­IV­1979, E Giesbert (FSCA, 2; WOPC, 1). Mexico: Chiapas: 16 km S Malpaso 24­ V­1969, J. M. Campbell (CNCI, 1). Belize: Cayo: Mtn. Pine Ridge, 525 m, 26­VI­1992, Pine Ridge, Chito Line at Little Vaqueros Creek, Broadleaved Hardwood Forest, beating/sweeping in slash area, J. Rifkind, P. Gum (JNRI, 1; WOPC, 1).  
DIAGNOSIS: These small beetles (4 mm) have a distinct transverse concavity behind the well­developed humeral umbo of the elytra (figs. 45, 47). Also, the elytral disc has seven shallow, longitudinal carinae behind the humeral umbo.  
 DESCRIPTION: Size: Length 3.6–5.0 mm; width 1.7–2.0 mm. Integument: Black. Vestiture: The pronotal setal tuft consists of a single row of pale setae; except for metepisternal tuft, no other indication of a tuft is present; integument of dorsum vested with admixture of dark and pale setae; anterior fascies of protibia vested with long dark setae; tarsi vested with dark and pale setae, remainder of legs, pterthorax, and abdomen vested with pale setae. Head: Genae and epicranium expanded, gena wrinkled behind eyes; interocular depressions and frontal umbo shallow; frons, epicranium, and gena finely punctated, eyes subspherical, moderately convex; width across eyes narrower than width across pronotum (29:30); antenna elongate (fig. 87), nearly as long as length of pronotum (33:36). Thorax: Pronotal disc globose, very finely punctate; pronotum elongate (30:36), narrower than width of elytra across humeri (30:34); elytra short and boldly convex (fig. 47), with seven shallow, longitudinal carinae behind humeral umbo, depth at humerus 10, greatest depth in posterior half 17; legs very prominent, metafemur extended beyond elytral apex. Abdomen: Posterior margin of pygidium evenly arcuate in both sexes. Male genitalia: As in figure 149.   
VARIATION: The longitudinal carinae on the elytral disc vary in their strength.  
NATURAL HISTORY: The available specimens were captured in May and June. Ed Giesbert collected six specimens at 800 m and one at 600 m near La Ceiba, Honduras. J. Rifkind and P. Gum collected two specimens by beating broadleaved hardwoods at 525 m.  
DISTRIBUTION (map 23): This Central American species has been collected from southern Mexico, Honduras, and Belize.  
 ETYMOLOGY: The trivial name formicoides is a compound Latin adjective from the feminine formica (ant) and the suffix ­ oides (likeness). I refer to the ant like appearance of these beetles.
description: Published as part of OPITZ, WESTON, 2005, Classification, Natural History, And Evolution Of The Genus Aphelocerus Kirsch (Coleoptera: Cleridae: Clerinae), pp. 1-128 in Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2005 (293) on pages 87-88, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0090(2005)293<0001:CNHAEO>2.0.CO;2, http://zenodo.org/record/5362748