Plectonotum amazonas Constantin 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Constantin, Robert
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Cantharidae
Plectonotum
Plectonotum amazonas

description: Plectonotum amazonas sp. nov.   (Figs. 2, 25, 49-50, 94, 116-118, 119)  
 Type material: Holotype ♂ (MUSM): Peru, Amazonas, provincia de Chachapoyas, Balsas 53 km E, Abra Calla Calla, flowering shrubs, 06°46′42″S, 77°53′49″W, alt. 3,281 m, 07.V.2018, leg. R. Constantin. Paratypes: 8♂, 7♀, same locality and same date as holotype; – 33♂, 13♀, provincia de Chachapoyas, Balsas 55 km E, Abra Calla Calla, flowering shrubs, 06°45′36″S, 77°53′29″W, alt. 3,427 m, 08.V.2018, leg. R. Constantin; – 3♂, provincia de Chachapoyas, Leymebamba 10 km SW, flowering shrubs, 06°43′30″S, 77°50′29″W, alt. 2,923 m, 08.V.2018, R. Constantin. Holotype and twenty paratypes deposited in the collection of the MUSM,other paratypes preserved in author’s collection (CCo).   
 Description: Holotype. Length 3.9 mm. Head, prothorax, elytra, abdomen, antennae and legs black. Mandibles brownish yellow. Head 0.77 times as wide as the pronotum. Clypeus feebly prominent, rounded. Eyes short, bulging, the interocular space 0.62 times as wide as the head. Frons concave between the antennal sockets, flat behind with two small oblique ridges. Cephalic surface smooth, strongly punctate, the punctations as wide as the intervals, with yellowish setae. Antennae 0.8 times as long as the body, the antennomeres subparallel sided, alutaceous, covered with short erected brownish setae. Pronotum (Fig. 25) 1.5 times wider than long, slightly transversally convex. Front edge arched and raised; basal edges weakly arched, bordered by a shallow groove; lateral edges straight, converging frontwards with a long, narrow bead and a small emargination in front of the obtuse angled basal corners. Pronotal surface smooth, strongly punctate, the punctations twice as wide as the intervals, covered with rather long yellowish setae. Elytra 3 times longer than their combined width at the base, not costate, with a subseriate punctation, with punctations twice wider than the intervals, seriately disposed on the four internal lines, more irregular externally, covered with long yellowish setae obliquely backwards directed. Abdomen: Tergite IX with apical edge triangular, thinly incised in the middle; sternite IX wider than long, the apical edge triangularly arched. Aedeagus: tegmen with apex of the lateral lobes with convex internal callus, apically rounded and covered with long bristles; apico-ventral apophyses narrow and recurved; lateral sclerites narrow with sharp tooth at mid-length; tip of the median lobe with a narrow triangular projection.   
 Dimensions of the holotype: TL = 3.9 mm; AL = 3.1 mm; HW= 0.79mm;IOW= 0.5mm;OL= 0.23mm;IAW= 0.17mm; PL = 0.67 mm; PW = 1.02 mm;EL = 3.05 mm; EW = 1.0 mm. Length of the antennomeres, in mm: aI = 0.34; aII = 0.12; aIII = 0.28; aIV = 0.34; aV = 0.34; aVI = 0.35 × 0.08 (width); aVII = 0.36; aVIII = 0.38; aIX = 0.30; aX = 0.27; aXI = 0.31. Paratypes ♂: length 3.7-4.5 mm, mean 4.0 mm.   
 Paratypes ♀: Differ from males in the smaller eyes, the shorter antennae, and the wider pronotum. Sternite VIII short and wide, the apical edge deeply incised in the middle. Dimensions of a medium sized specimen ♀. TL= 4.3mm;AL= 2.25mm;HW= 0.75mm;IOW = 0.52mm; OL = 0.22 mm; IAW = 0.22 mm; PL = 0.76 mm; PW = 1.21 mm; EL = 3.35 mm; EW = 1.15 mm. Paratypes ♀: length 4.0- 4.6 mm, mean 4.3 mm.   
 Differential diagnosis: Plectonotum amazonas sp. nov., is similar to P. huascaran sp. nov., by habitus, colour pattern and pronotal shape. It differs from the latter in the bigger size, the strong pronotal punctations,the less regularly seriate elytral punctation and the aedeagus.   
 Etymology: Specific epithet is related to the regional name of the type locality. Noun in apposition.   
 Natural history: Collected by beating the foliage of the shrubs along the access road to Abra Calla Calla between Celendin and Leymebamba.
description: Published as part of Constantin, Robert, 2020, A contribution to the genera Plectonotum Gorham and Hyponotum Wittmer, with the description of sixteen new species from Peru (Coleoptera, Cantharidae), pp. 1-27 in Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia (Pap. Avulsos Zool., S. Paulo) (Pap. Avulsos Zool., S. Paulo) 60 (34) on page 4, DOI: 10.11606/1807-0205/2020.60.special-issue.34, http://zenodo.org/record/4637615