Ancognatha veliae Pardo-Locarno, Gonzalez & Montoya-Lerma, 2006, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Pardo-Locarno, Luis Carlos
name: Gonzalez, Ranulfo
name: Montoya-Lerma, James
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2006
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Dynastidae
Ancognatha
Ancognatha veliae

description: Ancognatha veliae sp. nov. Pardo­Locarno, Gonzalez, and Montoya­Lerma
Holotype: Cerro del Inglés (The English Hill), 2400 m.a.s.l., Western Cordillera, San José del Palmar (4o45’47”N; 76o13’35”W), Chocó, Colombia, Collector: P. Silverstone, January 1987, (Botanical Expedition). Preserved at the Entomology Museum of the Universidad del Valle (MEUV), Cali, Colombia (Curator, C. E. Posso).
Diagnosis: This species is most similar to A. matilei (Fig. 1, 2 b, 3b) and can be distinguished from this species by the following set of character states: clypeal apex elongate, truncate, with rounded angles; robust mandibles shorter than the clypeus; femora elongate, protruding laterally from the body in dorsal view; elytra densely punctured with transversal grooves; protarsomere 5 with interior border smooth; first abdominal sternite hidden by the metacoxae; pygidium with apical marginal bead simple; dorsum (except for head) shiny; aedeagus with parameres relatively short, broad at base, with apex truncate; parameres with lateral excavation conspicuous, posteriorly limited by a thin carina protruding from the caudal border (see Fig.3 a).
Holotype description. Male: Body length 32 mm, body robust, shiny (Fig. 1). Colour: dorsally yellowish­brown with dark brown head and brown spots on each side of pronotum and elytral humerus (Fig. 1). Abdominal sternites dark yellowish­brown. Head: almost as wide as long, base broad, apex abruptly narrowed into a long clypeus with irregularly convex border. Clypeal apex quadrangular with rounded angles. Clypeus and frons densely punctate, punctures on the clypeus larger but reduced in size basally, frons grooved between eyes. Diameter of eyes approximately 0.25 times that of cephalic width; eyes surrounded by dark, circumocular depression. Frons unarmed; frontoclypeal suture grooved and slightly melanised, grooves deeper and sinuate near antennal insertion. Ocular canthus short, narrow, punctured, grooved. Mandibles protruding laterally from clypeus in dorsal view; long, but not reaching clypeal apex; base triangular (in dorsal view); apex acute, reflexed. Mentum emarginate apically; basal two­thirds strongly convex, bulky, with two convergent rows of long, stout setae. Thorax. Pronotum with disc strongly convex, almost rounded; surface punctate with large, slightly grooved punctures surrounded by fine, sparse punctures. Diameter of the large punctures ranging from 1/5 to 1/ 6 mm being 3 to 4 times as wide as fine punctures. Pronotum rounded laterally with dark, emarginated border; apical angles obtuse; apical border sinuate, especially at lateral edge. Pronotum basal border slightly sinuate. Prosternal process slightly lower than that of anterior coxae, apex expanded in a rounded process, ridged and transverse; border pubescent with long, robust seta. Base of the prosternal process with distinct posterior projection. Legs. Legs robust (Fig. 1, 2 a); femora elongate, protruding beyond body in dorsal view. Protibia robust, shiny, quadridentate, dorsally with row of setae; tridentate, second tooth wide, third smaller, situated at distal third; internal border carinate with row of setae, carina conspicuous proximally; protibia ventrally convex with longitudinal, pubescent carina extending from base to beyond midpoint; tarsal insertion beginning at transversal carina near apex. Protarsus robust (2a), first tarsomere short, tarsal claws large; apex of tarsomere 1 scarcely distinguishable under apical border of the tibia; tarsomere 3 partially directed beneath; tarsomere 4 with large lateral projection directed inside; tarsomere 5 long, internal border without teeth, dorsally microsurcated. Protarsal claw as long as tarsomere 5, twice as long as first four tarsomeres combined; unguitractor plate (including setae) as long as the smaller claw on protarsus. Mesotibia with external border, transversal carina weakly defined, apical notch slightly depressed, apex dentate (in transverse section), setae robust. Metatibia in transverse section with dentate, rectangular apex, first tarsomere as long as second. Abdomen. Scutellum glabrous, wide, with small elytral ridge at each side; scutellum disc punctate as in pronotum but with darker borders. Elytra 1.24 times longer than wide; widened, expanded medially; glabrous, slightly convex, somewhat flattened, with double ridge of punctures; disc with transverse grooves. Elytral suture dark, carina or row of punctures absent. Epipleuron dark with doubled border starting at humeral angle, continuing almost to posterior angle. First abdominal sternite almost hidden by metacoxa. Last abdominal segment with a row of thin setae bordering the anal opening. Pygidium shiny, brown, convex; with defined border elevated or superficial apically, diffuse basally; central disk slightly wrinkled with vertical grooves directed towards apex; lateral angles slightly wrinkled with micropunctures and few larger punctures; surface with narrow arch near apical border extending to lateral angles. Propygidium with sparse, short pubescence. Aedeagus: Relatively small compared with size and robustness of body. Parameres short, basally widened, apex truncated, lateral excavation pronounced but posteriorly limited by carina protruding from basal border (Fig. 3 a).
Paratype: 1 male, same data as holotype. Paratype differs from holotype in the following respects: body length 34 mm. Head with transverse, melanised band between eyes; eyes bordered by melanised band; elytra 1.25 times longer than width. Female: unknown
Etymology. This species is dedicated to Mrs. Velia Yolanda Locarno, the mother of Luis Carlos Pardo­Locarno, the first author of this paper.
Habitat. Tropical rain forest in Chocó is located at approximately 2400 m of altitude. The area corresponds to the Choco biogeographical region, one of the most biodiverse areas on the earth (Armbrecht et al. 2001).
Key to males of Ancognatha with elongate clypeus and mandibles. Endrödi’s (1985) key has been modified below to accommodate A. veliae and A. matilei. The later species was described by Dechambre (2000).
6 Mandibles as long as clypeus. Pronotum with large and fine punctures. Diameter of the large punctures ranging from 1/5 to 1/ 6 mm being 3 to 4 times as wide as the fine punctures. Protarsus elongate, protruding laterally beyond elytron in dorsal view .... 6a
6´Mandibles shorter than clypeus. Pronotum with small, sparse punctures. Protarsus not elongate ............................................................................................. A. horrida Endrodi
6a Dorsum with black, yellow, reddish­yellow colouration; rarely with pronotum and elytra almost entirely black. Clypeal width twice that of length. Total length 15–20 mm ......................................................................................................... A. jamesoni Murray
6a´Dorsum yellow with only one small, elongate, black spot on humerus. Clypeal width less than twice that of length. Total length greater than 30 mm .................................. 6b
6b Clypeus rounded, mandibles as long as clypeus. Protarsomere 5 with internal edge dentate. Elytra not shiny, 1.5 times longer than wide. Pygidial ridge well defined apically ...................................................................................................... A. matilei Dechambre
6b´Clypeus truncate, mandibles shorter than clypeus. Protarsomere 5 with internal edge not dentate. Elytra shiny, 1.25 times longer than wide. Pygidial ridge shallow apically ................................................. A. veliae Pardo­Locarno, Gonzalez, & Montoya­Lerma
description: Published as part of Pardo-Locarno, Luis Carlos, Gonzalez, Ranulfo & Montoya-Lerma, James, 2006, Ancognatha Erichson (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae) from Colombia, pp. 63-68 in Zootaxa 1139 on pages 64-67, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.172034