Discodon aurimaculatum Biffi & Geiser 2022, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Biffi, Gabriel
name: Geiser, Michael
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Cantharidae
Discodon
Discodon aurimaculatum

description: Discodon aurimaculatum sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 0D454F22-6E27-402C-ADDB-36D5483D57FB
Figs 3D, 6F, Q, 7F, 8F, 9F, 10F, 12D–F, 15F
Diagnosis
Differs from all the other species by the elytra with the weakly defined longitudinal roughness and dark yellow spots (Fig. 3D), the shape of the aedeagus (Fig. 12D–F) and the last ventrite (VII) of the females (Fig. 15F).
Etymology
The specific epithet aurimaculatum refers to the dark yellowish to golden rounded elytral spots.
Type material
Holotype BRAZIL • ♂; Pindamonhangaba, Eugênio Lefèvre; 1200 m a.s.l.; 21 Dec. 1962; Exp. Dep. Zool. leg.; MZSP 46447 (Fig. 3D).
Paratypes (12 specimens) BRAZIL • 2 ♀♀; Rio de Janeiro, Itatiaia; 1100 m a.s.l.; Feb. 1963; MZSP 46448, 46449 • 2 ♀♀; same collection data as for preceding; Jan. 1968; MZSP 46450, 46451 • 1 ♂; same collection data as for preceding; 1300 m a.s.l.; Nov. 1950; NHMB • 1 ♀; same collection data as for preceding, Véu da Noiva, córrego Maromba; 22º26′10″ S, 44º37′28″ W; 1100 m a.s.l.; 2–3 Feb. 1997; Kury, Rocha and Mestre leg.; MZSP 46452 • 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀; same collection data as for holotype; MZSP 46453, 46454, 46457 • 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype; DZUP 320983 • 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype; CEMT CUIABA 00118356 • 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype; 24 Jan. 1963; MZSP 45593.
Description
Body length: 11.7–13.0 mm. Coloration (Fig. 3D): head pitch black, lustrous, except in lateral corners of clypeus, light brown; mandibles light brown, darker at tip; maxillary and labial palpi black, light brown at apex of last palpomeres; antennae entirely black. Pronotum (Figs 7F, 8F) lustrous, partly translucent, with broad irregular black band from anterior to posterior margin, wider anteriorly and near posterior margin, and narrower near anterior half; no lateral dark bands or patches; background pale yellow to light orange with barely defined orange regions. Scutellum and elytra pitch black; at mid-length of each elytron, pale-yellow round spot meeting lateral borders but not meeting at suture. Thorax, legs and abdomen dark brown to black, tarsal claws brown.
Male (Fig. 3D)
Head short, nearly as long as wide, excluding eyes; integument smooth, densely covered with short and fine yellow setae; frons short, vertex flat, occipital region convex, broadly rounded behind eyes. Clypeus flat, anterior margin emarginate, slightly projected anteriorly with shallow median incision. Eyes small, rounded, prominent. Mandibles falciform, acute, without accessory teeth. Last maxillary and labial palpomeres securiform.Antennae (Fig. 6F) long, slightly flattened dorsoventrally; antennomeres slightly narrowing anteriorly, sub-serrate; antennomeres without longitudinal lines dorsally. Pronotum (Fig. 7F) wide, about 1.4 times as wide as long; anterior margin slightly arched, anterior angles arched; lateral margins slightly sinuate, with deep notch at posterior third; integument smooth, densely covered with very fine yellow setae. Elytra long, each elytron 4.8 times as long as wide, almost parallel; weakly defined longitudinal roughness, like costae, more visible anteriorly; integument coriaceous, densely covered with short and fine decumbent setae, and much longer thick erect setae. Legs slender, densely pubescent, covered with long and thick setae; tarsi flattened dorsoventrally, fourth tarsomere with transversal slit at base; anterior prothoracic tarsal claws (Fig. 9F) broadly lobed basally, lobe with rounded margin; posterior claws on meso- and metathoracic tarsal claws apparently split at apex, with fine protruding tooth slightly shorter than claws. Abdomen weakly sclerotised, coriaceous, densely covered with long setae; ventrite VI slightly notched at posterior margin; ventrite VII (Fig. 10F) with broad lobes, internal margins arched externally, apical margin broadly rounded. Aedeagus (Fig. 12D–F): ventral wall of tegmen elongate, apical margins convergent, forming a pair of parallel lateral projections with rounded apices and a short central projection, strongly curved ventrally and with acute hook-like apex; fringe of long setae along lateral margins of tegmen dorsally; parameres very short, hidden between tegmen and median lobe; median lobe long, membranous, with a pair of strong sclerites, each with double acute apices; sides of median lobe with tuft of thick spine-like setae.
Female Similar to male; antennae (Fig. 6Q) shorter; pronotum (Fig. 8F) wider, 1.6 times as wide as long, lateral margins without notches; tarsal claws without basal lobe or apical slit; ventrite VI not notched, distal margin slightly arched, concave; ventrite VII (Fig. 15F) broad, lateral and distal margins broadly arched, distal margin with two short acute apical lobes projecting posteriorly at middle and V-shaped medial notch.
Distribution
Brazil (Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo states) (Fig. 16).
description: Published as part of Biffi, Gabriel & Geiser, Michael, 2022, A revision of Discodon tricolor (Guérin-Méneville) and its mimics from the Atlantic forests of Brazil (Coleoptera: Cantharidae), pp. 148-189 in European Journal of Taxonomy 834 (1) on pages 163-165, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2022.834.1907, http://zenodo.org/record/7017677