Phalangogonia monzoni Smith 2021, new species
Creators: name: Smith, Andrew B. T.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Rutelidae
Phalangogonia
Phalangogonia monzoni

description: Phalangogonia monzoni Smith, new species
zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: EA9D3536-BB0A-477C-9352-AA8562B62760 (Figs. 7–15, 17)
Type Series. Holotype male and seven male paratypes. Holotype male (Figs. 7–14) at CMNC labeled: “ GUATEMALA, San Marcos / Camino Fraternidad a / Bojonal. 1600 msnm. / 6 VIII 13 / 14.9459 — 91.8806 / Col. Monzón y Camposeco ” (typeset and handwritten); “ PHALANGOGONIA / MONZONI / SMITH ♂ / HOLOTYPE” (handwritten and typeset on red paper). Two male paratypes at FSCA and UVGC labeled: “ GUATEMALA, San Marcos / Camino Fraternidad a / Bojonal. 1600 msnm. / 6 VIII 13 / 14.9459 — 91.8806 / Col. Monzón y Camposeco ” (typeset and handwritten). One male paratype at JMSC labeled: “ GUATEMALA, San Marcos / Camino Fraternidad a / Bojonal. 1600 msnm. / 20 de JULIO 2013 / 14.9459 — 91.8806 / Col. Monzón y Camposeco ” (typeset). One male paratype at JMSC labeled: “ GUATEMALA, San Marcos / Camino Fraternidad a / Bojonal. 1600 msnm. / 22 de JULIO 2011 / 14.9459 — 91.8806 / Col. Monzón y Camposeco ” (typeset). One male paratype at CMNC labeled: “ GUATEMALA, Suchitepé- / quez. Santa Barbara / Ref Quetzal UVG 1600m. / 20 AGOSTO 2010 / Latitud: 14.5417598494 / Longit: –91.1972949818 / Col. Camposeco y Monzón ” (typeset). One male paratype at JMSC labeled: “ GUATEMALA, Suchitepé- / quez. Santa Barbara / Ref Quetzal UVG 1600m. / 29 de DICIEMBRE 2010 / Latitud: 14.5417598494 / Longit: –91.1972949818 / Col. Camposeco y Monzón ” (typeset). One male paratype at CMNC labeled: “ GUATEMALA, Huehuete- / nango. Barillas / Unión Las Palmas. 1444 m / 15.9311000 — 91.2993100 / 18–28 JULIO 2011 / Col. Monzón y Camposeco ” (typeset). All paratypes bear my yellow paratype label.
Non-type Specimen. One male specimen in JMSC is labeled: “ GUATEMALA: Izabal / Sierra de Caral, 1150msnm / VIII 2000 Col. J. Monzón / Colección José Monzón”. This specimen was excluded from the type series because it may have been mislabeled (J. Monzón, personal communication).
Diagnosis. This species is distinguished from all other species of Phalangogonia by the following combination of characters: dorsal color tan; entire head densely setose; eye bulbous, moderately protruding from head in dorsal view; pronotum moderately to densely punctate; pygidial disc shagreened, densely setose with long setae; mesometaventral process robust, parallel (not declivous) with respect to venter, apex not reaching the procoxae; male parameres with poorly defined dorsomedial keel, apices tapered to a square tip.
Description of Holotype. Male. Length 25.0 mm, width 14 mm. Color tan dorsally, light brown ventrally with dark brown to black sternites, tarsomeres, clypeal apical margin, protibial margins, and inner parts of oral cavity. Head: Dorsal surface densely punctate with dense, long setae; clypeus broadly rounded, apex reflexed (Figs. 10–11); frontoclypeal suture complete. Eye moderately bulbous, protruding from side of head in dorsal view (Fig. 10). Labrum tapered medially to a truncate apex. Mentum setose, apex strongly reflexed into oral cavity. Antenna with 10 antennomeres; club length approximately equal to antennomeres 2–7. Pronotum: Surface moderately punctate medially to densely punctate laterally, setose apically with longitudinal lines of setae extending to base, glabrous mediobasally and along lateral margins (Figs. 10–11). Lateral borders distinct, apical and basal borders indistinct. Elytron: Surface glabrous; striae weakly defined, indistinct (Figs. 7–8). Pygidium: Surface shagreened, densely setose; setae long (Fig. 12). Venter: Thorax densely setose with thick setae; mesometaventral process projecting parallel to body, apex not reaching procoxae (Fig. 9); sternites densely setose with fine setae. Legs: Protibia with 2 teeth. Meso- and metatibiae with medial carina. Tarsomeres 1–4 wider than long, cup shaped, telescoped; setose but setae not forming a pad. Protarsomere 5 elongate, without ventral tooth; meso- and metatarsomeres 5 elongate, with strong ventrobasal tooth. Tarsal claws asymmetrical with modified claw distinctly elongate, thickened, with a bifurcate apex. Male genitalia: Phallobase completely fused to parameres (Figs. 13–14). Parameres fused together except at apex; dosomedially evenly curved (without a distinct keel); apex tapered to a square tip and reflexed at a 45° angle (Figs. 13–14).
Variation. Length 23–28 mm, width 13–14 mm. Dorsal color of head, pronotum, pygidium, and legs sometimes dark brown, more strongly contracting with the tan elytra. Protibia sometimes with a weak third tooth (Fig. 15).
Etymology. This species is named after José Monzón, a compatriot of the species, who collected the entire type series and generously allowed some types to be deposited in institutional collections.
Distribution. This species is known from western Guatemala (Huehuetenango, San Marcos, Suchitepéquez). One of the specimens examined has the data label “Sierra de Caral, Izabal, Guatemala ”. Since there are doubts that this is accurate, this specimen was excluded from the type series, and this locality is not included in the distributional map (Fig. 17).
Comments. This species is very similar to Phalangogonia ratcliffei Smith and Morón, 2003 in having an entirely setose pygidium and dorsal surface of the head, and in the general structure of the male parameres. I think they are different species based on the different sizes of the eyes (moderately bulbous in P. monzoni and extremely bulbous in P. ratcliffei) and subtle but consistent characters of the parameres (laterally flat to weakly convex and with the apex squared before a tapered tip in P. monzoni and laterally concave (with a sulcus) with the apex weakly diamond-shaped before a tapered tip in P. ratcliffei).
description: Published as part of Smith, Andrew B. T., 2021, Two New Species of Phalangogonia Burmeister, 1844 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae), pp. 259-265 in The Coleopterists Bulletin 75 (1) on pages 263-264, DOI: 10.1649/0010-065X-75.1.259, http://zenodo.org/record/4837141