Parisopalpus defoei Švihla & Fischer, 2012, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Švihla, Vladimír
name: Fischer, Francisco Ramírez
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Oedemeridae
Parisopalpus
Parisopalpus defoei

description: Parisopalpus defoei sp. nov.
Figs 1–7.
Type locality. Chile, Archipiélago Juan Fernández, Isla Robinson Crusoe, Mirador de Selkirk.
Type material. Holotype (MNNC), male, mounted on card, “ Isla Robinson Crusoe, Mirador de Selkirk, 2005/21800 [= 11.xi.2004], Leg. H. González [white label, printed]”; paratypes (MNNC, SAGC, FRSC, NMPC): same label data, 4 males 1 female, mounted on cards; “ CHILE, J. FERNANDEZ, Bahia Cumberland, 14-IV-1998, col. J. C. Torres / Colección MNHN [white labels, printed]”, 3 males 1 female, pinned specimens; “ CHILE, J. FERNANDEZ, Juan Bautista, 25/ 28-II-1995, col. J. C. Torres / Colección MNHN [white labels, printed]”, 7 males 1 female, pinned specimens; “ CHILE, Juan Fernández arch., Robinson Crusoe Is., Plazoleta del Yunque, 15-I-2005, Malaise trap, Leg. H. González [white label, printed]”, 4 males 1 female, pinned specimens; “ CHILE, Juan Fernández arch., Robinson Crusoe Is., Plazoleta del Yunque, 11-XI-2004, Malaise trap, Leg. H. González [white label, printed]”, 7 males 1 female, pinned specimens; “ CHILE, 11920/05, Arch. J. Fernández, Plazoleta, 03-XI-2004, Leg., H. González / En Aristotelia chilensis [white labels, printed]” 1 male 1 female, pinned specimens.
Additional material examined. Chile, Archipiélago Juan Fernández, Robinson Crusoe Island, Plazoleta del Yunque: 15.i.2005, 2 males, 2 females; 11.xi.2004, 18 males 19 females, all H. González lgt., pinned specimens in poor condition, not included as paratypes (MNNC).
Description. Coloration (Fig. 1). Body entirely yellowish-brown to pale sienna, lateral portions of pronotum mostly slightly darker, tips of mandibles sepia.
Male. Eyes large, prominent, slightly emarginate around antennal insertions, head across eyes approximately as wide as pronotum, frons between eyes moderately wider than between antennal pits. Last palpomere of maxillary palpus cultriform, elongate, widest near basal third (Fig. 4). Antennae filiform, reaching ca. elytral midlength, terminal antennomere constricted on one side near behind its midlength. Surface of head very finely foveolate-punctate, with fine, sparse, short, yellow decumbent pubescence, matt. Pronotum about as long as wide, slightly cordiform, anterior margin slightly sinuate, anterior corners rounded, lateral margins strongly converging posteriorly, sinuate before prominent, rounded posterior corners, posterior margin sinuate and elevated. Disc of pronotum with pair of large shallow depressions in anterior half and more or less developed, fine mediolongitudinal carina, sometimes only slightly visible before pronotal base. Surface of pronotum very finely imbricate-punctate, glabrous, matt, with short, fine, yellow pubescence only on both anterior and posterior margin. Elytra only slightly narrowing posteriorly, each elytron slightly rounded apically. Four elytral veins fine but well developed almost all along elytral length. Surface of elytra finely imbricate-punctate, with fine, short, yellow semidecumbent pubescence, matt. Last abdominal segment including projections of urite VIII as in Fig. 7, tegmen (Fig. 2) well sclerotized, tubuliform in middle portion, apical parts open, parameres slightly oval in cross section, with fine and sparse pubescence, aedeagus very long and slender, basal apodeme of aedeagus with crest, rest of aedeagus very long and slender, slightly sinuate, aedeagal apex with slight teeth situated dorsally as in Fig. 3.
Female. Habitus very similar to male excluding slightly less prominent eyes and shorter, more securiform last palpomere of maxillary palpus as in Fig. 5. Last abdominal segment—Fig. 6.
Length (both sexes): 8.5–9.6 mm.
Differential diagnosis. Parisopalpus defoei sp. nov. differs from all other known species of this genus by the unicolorous elytra; the elytra have wide sutural and narrow lateral stripes in P. thoracicus (Broun, 1893) and P. macleayi (Champion, 1895) and several small, dark spots in P. nigronotatus (Boheman, 1858). The new species also differs from the rest of the genus by the triangularly emarginate apex of the male last sternite, the short-tubular tegmen (long-tubular or u-shaped in cross section in other members of the genus) and the apically curved aedeagus (nearly straight in other species), cf. Hudson (1975).
Biology. Biology unknown; most of the specimens were collected using a Malaise trap, two specimens were beaten from Aristotelia chilensis (Molina) Stuntz (Elaeocarpaceae), a timber tree, introduced from the Chilean mainland.
Distribution. Chile, Juan Fernández Islands: Robinson Crusoe Island.
Etymology. Patronymic, dedicated to the famous English writer, Daniel Defoe (1660–1731), author of the novel Robinson Crusoe. It is based on the true story of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who spent four years and four months as a castaway, when he was marooned on the uninhabited island of Masatierra, later re-named Robinson Crusoe Island.
description: Published as part of Švihla, Vladimír & Fischer, Francisco Ramírez, 2012, Parisopalpus defoei sp. nov. from Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile, the first known species of the genus from the Neotropical Region (Coleoptera: Oedemeridae), pp. 31-34 in Zootaxa 3394 on pages 31-33, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.208633