Tarphius floresensis Borges & Serrano, new species
Creators: name: Borges, Paulo A. V.
name: Amorim, Isabel R.
name: Terzopoulou, Sofia
name: Rigal, François
name: Emerson, Brent C.
name: Serrano, Artur R. M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Zopheridae
Tarphius
Tarphius floresensis

description: Tarphius floresensis Borges & Serrano, new species
(Fig. 14)
Tarphius wollastoni in Borges (1990, p. 112) (Flores Isl.)
Tarphius wollastoni in Borges (1991, p. 2) (Flores Isl.)
Tarphius wollastoni in Borges et al. (2005b, p. 207) (Flores Isl.) Tarphius wollastoni in Oromí et al. (2010, p. 232) (Flores Isl.) Tarphius wollastoni in Amorim et al. (2012, Fig. 2) (Flores Isl.)
Type locality. The Azores, Flores Island, Morro Alto.
Type material. HOLOTYPE, male, deposited at DTPC, labeled: Lajes, 10/07/1989 (UTM 25S 655803, 4368774), Paulo Borges leg.. PARATYPES, 462 specimens—between Caldeira Funda and Caldeira Comprida (Altitude: 597 m), 13/08/2013, António Machado leg.; Caldeira Branca, Margem de Ribeira (T03) (Natural Forest Reserve of Morro Alto e Pico da Sé), VIII.1999 (107 exx) (UTM 25S 655883, 4374629); Ribeira da Fazenda (T04) (Natural Forest Reserve of Morro Alto e Pico da Sé), VIII.1999 (18 exx) (UTM 25S 65 5809, 4377246); Juniperal (T06) (Natural Forest Reserve of Caldeiras Funda e Rasa), VIII.1999 (63 exx), VIII.2010 (15 exx) (UTM 25S 655838, 4370215); Encosta da Caldeira Funda (T07) (Natural Forest Reserve of Caldeiras Funda e Rasa), VIII.1999 (9 exx), VIII.2010 (2 exx) (UTM 25S 655817, 4370019); Morro Alto Este (T08) (Natural Forest Reserve of Morro Alto e Pico da Sé), VIII.1999 (1 ex.) (UTM 25S 655809, 43 76293); Caldeira Rasa Callunetum (T09) (Natural Forest Reserve of Caldeiras Funda e Rasa), VIII.1999 (3 exx) (UTM 25S 6 55850, 4371356); Caldeira Comprida (T14) (Natural Forest Reserve of Morro Alto e Pico da Sé), IX.2000 (11 exx) (UTM 25S 655846, 4374777); Pico da Sé (T15) (Natural Forest Reserve of Morro Alto e Pico da Sé), IX.2000 (2 exx) (UTM 25S 655830, 4377715); Ribeira do Cascalho (T16) (Natural Forest Reserve of Morro Alto e Pico da Sé), IX.2000 (57 exx), VIII.2010 (18 exx) (UTM 25S 655899, 4378652); Cross between Lagoas Caldeira Funda e Caldeira Comprida in Cryptomeria japonica (TT21) VIII.2009 (2 exx) (UTM 25S 655800, 4373277); Criptomeria plantation near T16 (TT25) VIII.2009 (111 exx) (UTM 25S 655882, 4379185); Regional road in Cryptomeria japonica (TT26) VIII.2009 (1 ex.), (UTM 25S 65 5829, 4372551), Paulo Borges et al. leg.. Caveira, Lomba (Z07) VIII.2007 (5 exx) (UTM 25S 655834, 4369258); Ponta Delgada, in Acacia woodland (Z10) VIII.2007 (1 ex) (UTM 25S 655817, 4381525); Ponta Delgada, in Acacia woodland, Km 18 (Z11) VIII.2007 (36 exx), (UTM 25S 655818, 4381526) Paulo Borges & Fernando Pereira leg.. Deposited at FCULC, SNM and DTPC.
Etymology. The name refers to the island of Flores, to where this distribution of this species is restricted.
Diagnosis (Fig. 14). Small to medium species (2.25–3.68 mm; mean: 3.07± 0.45 mm), being the smallest species in the complex azoricus-wollastoni-depressus; body dorsal surface reddish or reddish-brown to dark brown, antennae, mouth-parts and legs light reddish; body strong arched (convex); lateral margins of pronotum highly arcuate (Fig. 6 D), narrower than elytra between posterior angles, small and transverse, on average 1.35 times as broad as long (1.24x and 1.50x), disc with dense, medium rounded granules, each one with a yellowish, recumbent slightly acuminate seta (Figs. 5 D and 6D); width ratio pronotum / elytra 0.92+0.04 (see Appendix S6); the ratio between width and length of the pronotum is smaller than in T. depressus Gillerfors, and statistically significant (see Appendix S5).
Description. Body length of holotype: 3.14; small to medium size (length 2.25–3.68 mm; mean: 3.07± 0.45 mm); width 1.10 mm – 1.76 mm (mean: 1.51± 0.19 mm), body convex and subquadrate-ovate, reddish or reddishbrown, setose, with rigid recumbent slightly acuminate setae (Fig. 5 D) and medium granules.
Head: Genae parallel; anterior clypeal margin straight; vertices protrude under the anterior margin of pronotum; surface brown or reddish brown, lighter in clypeus, with dense medium granules, except in clypeus which is more or less smooth, each one with one semi-erect fine hair-like seta slightly directed anteriorly; eyes clearly protruding, glabrous; antennae with segment II shorter than III, segment III 1.8x longer than IV, V shorter than IV, segments VI–VII equal length, compact club 2-segmented (segments X and XI); mouth-parts with mandibles brown, the other pieces lighter showing the general morphological pattern of the genus.
Pronotum: Transverse, on average 1.35 times as broad as long, quite variable (1.24x to 1.50x); surface reddish-brown to reddish, widened in the middle; anterior margin deeply bisinuate, anterior angles strongly protrude and acuminate (Fig. 6 D); hind margin largely bisinuate, in middle broadly produced rearwards; lateral margins highly arcuate (Fig. 6 D), contrasting with straight lateral sides in T. depressus (Fig. 6 E), with two irregular rows of medium/long, slightly acuminate setae (20–25 each one) (Fig. 6 D), slightly sinuate just before the posterior angles which are prominent; disc with a clear median longitudinal sulcus, half medium latera-posterior region with a slight nodule; a distinct transverse channel just before the extreme base between the two lateral notches; lateral surface variable in terms of flatness; dorsal upper surface with uniformly dense distinct medium rounded granules, each one with one rigid semi-erect slightly acuminate yellowish seta (Fig. 6 D); ratios width pronotum/width elytra 0.92±0.04 and length pronotum/length elytra 0.61±0.05 (see Appendix S6); ratio between width and length of the pronotum is 1.35±0.07, smaller than T. depressus (1.42±0.06), and statistically significant (see Appendix S5).
Elytra: On average 0.90 times as broad as long, quite variable (0.80x to 1.01x); in general, 1.09 x (mean) as broad as pronotum, but also quite variable (1.00 to 1.20) and at shoulders distinctly broader than pronotum between hind angles; disc reddish to reddish-brown, convex, rugosely seriate-punctate, and wrinkled transversally on dorsal surface which is covered with dense granules each one with a recumbent slightly acuminate, yellowish or golden seta (Fig. 5 D); nodules or gibbosities distinct with a pattern formula 3, 3, 2, 1, covered with setae more aggregate which confers the appearance of a small pom-pom.
Ventral side. Prosternum as granulose as mesosternum and metasternum; grooves on anterior half of prosternal sides slightly present.
Legs. Tibia normal not expanded apically; tarsi 4-segmented, simple, first three tarsomeres of all legs and in both sexes covered ventrally with several very long hyaline fine setae.
Aedeagus: Similar to T. tornvalli (see Fig. 6 in Gillerfors 1985).
Bionomics. Most specimens were collected by pitfall trapping in natural forests and Cryptomeria japonica stands (Borges et al. 2005a).
description: Published as part of Borges, Paulo A. V., Amorim, Isabel R., Terzopoulou, Sofia, Rigal, François, Emerson, Brent C. & Serrano, Artur R. M., 2017, Cryptic diversity in the Azorean beetle genus Tarphius Erichson, 1845 (Coleoptera: Zopheridae): An integrative taxonomic approach with description of four new species, pp. 401-449 in Zootaxa 4236 (3) on pages 423-426, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4236.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/322231