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

description: Kumatoeides costata (Jolivet, Verma et Mille, 2007) comb. nov.
(Figs 1d, 2c, 3b, 4c, 5a)
Jolivet et al. (2007a) described a new species of Eumolpinae from New Caledonia which had the "elytra punctuate in lines in grooves" as a distinctive character and placed it in a new genus, Montrouzierella Jolivet, Verma et Mille, described in the same article. The explicit mention of the unusual grooves on the elytra, as well as other traits mentioned in the succinct description of M. costata Jolivet, Verma et Mille, including small size and heavy punctation on pronotum, hinted at the possibility of this species belonging to Kumatoeides gen. nov. instead. The original description also mentioned traits absent in any other known species of the genus, namely dense pilosity on pronotum and abdomen. However, the examination of the holotype of M. costata held in the collection of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN, Paris, France), even if in poor shape (Fig. 1d), showed that the latter characters are actually absent in the type and that it fits the description of Kumatoeides gen. nov. in every respect. A number of specimens very similar to this type and from the same geographic area in the small central counties of Farino, Moindou and Sarraméa, specifically from the valleys of the Fonwhary and Moindou rivers, were available for study in the collections of the author and the Museum of Natural History of the University of Wroclaw (MNHW, Wroclaw, Poland). Based on this new information, M. costata Jolivet, Verma et Mille is combined with the new genus proposed in this study as Kumatoeides costata (Jolivet, Verma et Mille) comb. nov., and redescribed below.
Holotype: Nouvelle-Calédonie, Farino / M. Barbou, Lat. S 21.63286 Long. E 165.70684, collecté sur: Divers arbres de forêt, le 23/09/04 [original publication gives 29.ix.2004], par battage, par S. Cazères, Type, Montrouzierella costata P. Jolivet dét. 0 6, Muséum Paris 2014 coll. P. Jolivet, HOLOTYPE [red label], HOLOTYPE Montrouzierella costata Jolivet, Verma & Mille, 2007, MNHN EC8125 (MNHN).
Other material examined: (1) one male, New Caledonia, Province Sud, forest above Sarraméa, 2–5.xii.2001, K.A. Johanson, T. Pape & B. Viklund leg., Kumatoeides costata (Jolivet et al.) J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2018 (IBE- JGZ); (2) one female, New Caledonia (S), -21.6274 165.8647, Sarraméa, 150–350 m, trail to Plateau de Dogny, 8.xi.2010, leg. M. Wanat & R. Ruta, Kumatoeides costata (Jolivet et al.) J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2018 (MNHW); (3) five males, four females, New Caledonia (S), -21.6229, 165.8684, Sarraméa, 300–560 m, trail to Plateau de Dogny, 9.xi.2010, leg. M. Wanat & R. Ruta, Kumatoeides costata (Jolivet et al.) J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2018 (MNHW); (4) one male, one female, New Caledonia (S), -21.6229, 165.8684, Sarraméa, 300–560 m, trail to Plateau de Dogny, 9.xi.2010, leg. M. Wanat & R. Ruta, Kumatoeides costata (Jolivet et al.) J. Gómez-Zurita det. 2018 (IBE-JGZ).
Head, most of pronotum, broad margins of scutellum and most of ventral surfaces pale brown in males and rather uniformly dark brown in females, darker in ventral surfaces; elytra and anterior and posterior areas medially on pronotum orange brown in males, and elytra brown with darkened suture in females; labrum, antennae (five apical antennomeres darkened in females), mouth appendages and legs pale orange (Fig. 1d). Length: 2.74 mm (range: 2.33–2.74 mm); width: 1.43 mm (range: 1.22–1.47 mm).
Head hypognathous at rest; frons and vertex convex, finely microreticulate, with dense, relatively strong punctures, without trace of frontal suture and slightly depressed but not furrowed above eyes, with long seta dorsally in depressed area. Clypeus short, flat, markedly emarginate at apical border, finely microsculptured with fine sparse punctures basally. Labrum short, transverse, weakly emarginate apically, finely microreticulate, unpunctured. Last maxillary palpomere elongate, conical at apical half. Eyes large, bulging, weakly emarginate at inner border. Antennae slender, reaching beyond middle of elytra, feebly clavate from and beyond seventh antennomere; scape thick, cylindrical, slightly curved posteriorly; pedicel thickened at middle, half as long as scape; antennomeres 3–4 subequal, slightly longer than pedicel, feebly widened toward apex; fifth antennomere nearly 1.5x as long as fourth, slightly enlarged apically; sixth antennomere slightly longer than fourth, feebly dilated toward apex; seventh antennomere longer than fifth, slightly over 1.5x as long as fourth, more incrassate at apex and hairier than preceding antennomeres; antennomeres 8–11 finely granulose, rather densely covered with fine whitish pilosity; antennomeres 8–10 progressively longer, tenth antennomere as long as seventh, slightly incrassate; eleventh antennomere longer than seventh, feebly enlarged toward apical third, acuminate at apex. Pronotum transverse (1.60x as wide at base as long at middle), laterally convex, strongly slopping toward sides and anterior angles; anterior border straight, narrowly margined at sides, near angles, unmargined medially; sides weakly curved, widest at middle and finely margined; posterior border convex, finely margined; angles obtuse, anterior angles with margin incrassate and large trichobothria at anterior border; surface glabrous, finely microreticulate, with dense and strong punctation, finer on disc. Hypomera finely microreticulate, with few scattered fine punctures; anterior border of hypomera straight. Mesepimera and mesanepisterna shagreened, unpunctured. Metaventrite smooth on disc, very finely shagreened at sides, with sparse punctation and short appressed, whitish setae. Scutellum arched, longer than wide at base, finely microreticulate, unpunctured. Elytra long, as wide basally as base of pronotum, with humeral angles and sides feebly curved, widest around middle, and regularly curved toward sutural angle at apical third; humeri strongly marked, unpunctured; convexity of elytra feebly depressed at basal 1/3; elytra with eight regular striae of fine slit-like punctures on disc and apical half and strong round punctures basally, larger and stronger in subhumeral area; short scutellar stria of 9–10 small round punctures reaching prebasal depression and short subhumeral line of strong punctures merged with marginal line of punctures posteriorly; intervals convex, unpunctured. Femora dilated medially; tibiae shorter than corresponding femur, gradually expanded toward apex; tarsi shorter than tibiae, with first pro- and mesotarsomeres enlarged, longer than wide, slightly longer than next two tarsomeres together; claws appendiculate. Penis (Fig. 2c) short, dorso-ventrally flattened and strongly curved ventrally, slightly compressed laterally at middle; operculum elongate, slightly widened, with curved sides gradually converging toward apex, prolonged as blunt median, elongate lobe.
Females (Fig. 4c): The females of K. costata (Jolivet, Verma et Mille) are less slender than the males, slightly more convex, with prebasal depression on elytra less pronounced, and more or less uniformly darker, particularly on head, pronotum and scutellum. Spermatheca (Fig. 5a) with long bulbous cornu connected at angle with elongate, curved nodulus bent toward cornu, with spermathecal gland inserted medially and narrowing basally at connection with spermathecal duct.
Diagnosis: This species is very similar to other species belonging to the K. aulacia group, particularly to K. millei sp. nov., collected in close geographic proximity. The scutellar stria of K. costata (Jolivet, Verma et Mille) has individual, recognizable punctures, while the other species in the group have them seamed, almost like a straight line (other striae on elytra show a similar pattern). Moreover, K. megale sp. nov. and K. millei are larger, have a strongly marked supraocular furrows, missing in K. costata, and their punctation of pronotum can be vermiculate, while it is merely strong in K. costata. The males of these species and any other species recognized so far can be easily distinguished by their distinctive penises. The females of K. costata and K. millei are very similar, also in coloration, with the former being smaller and with isolated punctures in scutellar striae; their spermathecae are clearly different too.
Distribution: The species is distributed in low elevations of the Fonwhary and Moindou river valleys in central Grande Terre (Fig. 3b).
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 97-99, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4521.1.4, http://zenodo.org/record/2609701