Calathus elpis Ortuño & Arillo, 2009, n. sp.
Creators: name: Ortuño, Vicente M.
name: Arillo, Antonio
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Carabidae
Calathus
Calathus elpis

description: Calathus elpis n. sp.
(Figs. 1–3)
Description. Holotype: 1 female preserved in a piece of Baltic amber (16 mm x 5 mm / diameter x width) (Eocene) deposited in the Álava Museum of Natural Sciences (Vitoria, Spain) MCNA-13638 (the genitalia and other soft tissues are not preserved but the specimen is a female as protarsi are not swollen).
Length (from head to elytra apex): 7.5 mm. Color brown-reddish (Fig. 1 b and 1c). Disk of elytron depigmented at its posterior part (probably due to taphonomic processes) (Fig. 1 b and 1d).
Head (Fig. 1 b, 1c, 1d, and 3a): Large and convex compound eyes. Long and oblique tempora. Two supraocular setae, being the posterior one at the level of posterior edge of eyes. Two setae on the clypeus. Rectangular labrum with six antero-marginal setae. Mandibles without setae on the lateral sulcus. Slender antennae with eleven antennomeres, pubescent from 4th to 11th (the 4th one lacking pubescence in its basal third part). Antennomeres bearing a crown of distal setae except the first one (with only one long seta) and the second one (shorter than the rest and without setae). Mentum tooth not visible. Maxillary and labial palps typical of Calathus.
Pronotum (Fig. 1 b and 1d) quadrangular, not transverse. Anterior margin slightly concave, being its anterior angles protuding but round shaped. Basal margin straight. Lateral margins curved, with its maximum width at the level of the anterior marginal setae. Posterior angles obtuse and blunt. Lateral channel barely evident being wider at its base. Basal fossae not very deep. Prosternum (Fig. 1 c and 2a) with acuminate linguiform intercoxal apophysis. Intercoxal apophysis of mesosternum (Fig. 1 c and 2c) W-shaped, that of metasternum (Fig. 1 c and 2d) subtriangular. Long metaepisternum (Fig. 2 b). All thoracic esternal pieces with smooth tegument.
Elytra (Fig. 1 b and 1d) lateral margins are subparallel, sharped towards the apex. Epipleura not crossed. Rounded shoulders, without humeral teeth. All the striae are visible, from the base to the apex. Striae from 1st to 7th clearly stippled, 8th one sulciform. Lateral umbilicate serie (Fig. 1 d) is continuous, with 15 setigerous pores over the 8th striae. Interstriae flat and with micropunctures. Discal setae (Fig. 1 d) barely visible due to the presence of a whitish veil partially covering the dorsum of the specimen; one seta visible in the third interval, adjacent to striae 2, two setae adjacent to striae 5 and one seta close to the apex, over the 7th striae. One apical seta is preserved over the right elytrum.
Both elytra are not equal in length (Fig. 1 d) so striae 1st to 4th make up different anastomosis on each elytrum: setae 1–4, 2–3 on the left elytrum and setae 1–2, 3–4 on the right elytrum. This kind of light malformations are quite frequent on recent carabidofauna.
Wings well developed.
Legs moderately long and gracile (Fig. 1 b, 1c and 1d). Spherical prothoracic (Fig. 1 d and 2a), conical mesothoracic (Fig. 1 d and 2c) and transverse metathoracic (aliform) coxae (Fig. 1 d and 2d). Protibial cleaner organ with internal notch and two guide setae (Fig. 3 b). Mesotibial cleaner organ (Fig. 3 c) similar to comb model (sensu Ortuño 1988). Tarsi smooth, long and dorsally glabrous (Fig. 3 b, 3c and 3d); onychium ventrally setose with tarsal claws pectinate (Fig. 3 b, 3c and 3e).
Etymology: Specific epithet is after Elpis (λπίς), who was in the Greek mythology the personification of hope that remained in the Pandora’s box to help people to bear the misfortunes. Elpis (Esperanza in Spanish) is after our colleague, the anthropologist Dra. Esperanza Gutiérrez Redomero.
State of preservation. Although the specimen is slightly damaged, the state of preservation is quite good, so morphological and taxonomic studies are possible. Most of soft tissues are digested, being the tegument quite transparent. Dorsal side of the fossil is partially covered by a withish coat (Fig. 1 b and 1d) but most of diagnostic characters of the genus are visible. Abdominal sternites are partially destroyed (Fig. 1 c) allowing to observe the folded wings under the elytra. Left prothoracic leg is not complete; only the coxa, the trochanter and the base of the femur are preserved (Fig. 1 c). Left mesothoracic leg has lost the tarsi and most part of the tibia (Fig. 1 b, 1c and 1d). Right metathoracic leg has lost the tarsi (Fig. 1 c). Left antenna is incomplete, only preserved up to the 4th antennomere (Fig. 1 b, 1c and 1d).
description: Published as part of Ortuño, Vicente M. & Arillo, Antonio, 2009, Fossil carabids from Baltic amber – I – A new species of the genus Calathus Bonelli, 1810 (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Pterostichinae), pp. 55-61 in Zootaxa 2239 on pages 56-59, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.190516