Parapaulipalpina lobata Gnaspini, Moraes & Gomyde 2024, new species
Creators: name: Gnaspini, Pedro
name: Moraes, Gabriella M.
name: Gomyde, Eduardo C.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Leiodidae
Parapaulipalpina
Parapaulipalpina lobata

description: Parapaulipalpina lobata Gnaspini, Moraes & Gomyde, new speciesurn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: B140C9C4-372B-4ACE-A029-F5EDFB62C895
(Figs. 1–6)
Material examined. Holotype, male (CMNC). Type locality and data: Brazil: Pará [State]: Tucuruí; vi.1985; 49º 40’ W 3º 46’ S; FIT, meat & human dung; N. Degallier col. Paratypes (CMNC, except when noted): 1 male and 1 female with same data; Belém, IPEAN, v.1985, meat, FIT, N. Degallier, 2 females; Ipean, Belém, vii.1985, FIT, N. Degallier, 1 male and 1 female (MZSP 61161 and 61162). [Note: IPEAN (Instituto de Pesquisa e Experimentação Agropecuária do Norte) is presently in ‘EMBRAPA Amazônia Oriental’ (EMBRAPA = Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária)—see EMBRAPA (2024)].
Measurements: Length: 1.05 mm (holotype), 1.1–1.3 mm (other males), 1.2–1.4 mm (females); width: 0.6 mm (holotype), 0.8 mm (other males), 0.8–0.9 mm (females).
Diagnosis and Description. General characteristics as listed above. Body ovoid, convex; color dark redish brown (Fig. 1). Winged [metathoracic wing fully developed]. Head longer than high in lateral view (Fig. 2B); integument punctuated, punctures not organized in strigae (Figs. 2A, B); eyes slightly reduced (Fig. 2B). Pronotum transverse, widest at base; posterior angles acute; integument with [light] transverse strigae. Elytra together 1.25 times as long as wide, with transverse, diagonal, strigae. All legs with a crown of flat and equal sized spines around the tibia apex (e.g., Fig. 3G). First four male protarsomeres expanded, with elongate discoidal tenent setae ventrally (Figs. 3A, B). Mesotibia curved inwards in both sexes. Metatibia straight; in males it is largely widened and flattened internally close to its apex (Figs. 3F, G). Tarsi of all legs (in both sexes) bearing a pair of empodial setae with asymmetric length, with different proportions on different legs (Figs. 3C, H, ‘est’); distal margin of the terminal tarsomere with a pair of medial projections (Fig. 3C, ‘mpp’), except on the hindtarsi, in which the projection is simple and triangular (Fig. 3H, ‘mp’); claws with a few long and acuminate spines at their dorsolateral margin (Figs. 3D, E, ‘slc’); the typical small dorsal spines close to the base of the claws of Ptomaphagini are not clear in the pictures here analysed and may be represented by the microtrichia observed around the base of the claws as in Fig. 3E (‘?sdc’). Male genital segment round, with spiculum gastrale straight and long (Fig. 4A). Aedeagus elongate (~4.2 times as long as wide, in dorsal view), with sides subparallel (Fig. 5)—widest near base and slightly narrowing towards apex (Fig. 5A), somewhat S-shaped in dorsal view (Figs. 4B, 5A), with a small, subelliptical dorsal opening (Fig. 6A, ‘do’); curved ventrad (i.e., concave—concavity/total height = ~52% [Figs. 5E, M]), with the axis of the basal opening pointing about 45º downwards in relation to the ‘sagittal’ plane of the aedeagus); the paralobe of the right lobe elongate and curved ventrally (Fig. 6A–C, ‘par’); left lobe with acute apex in lateral view (Fig. 6B, ‘ll’). Lateral margins of the ventral opening with a series of ‘tubercles’ which might represent sensory structures (Fig. 6D, ‘tb’). Ventral face of aedeagus with a series of subparallel ridges-and-sulci (Fig. 5). Flagellum (of the endophallus) thin, sinuate, shorter (about 2/ 3 in length) than aedeagus (Figs. 4B, 6D, ‘fl’). Parameres present, flat and thin, fused to the body of the aedegus except for their apical portion (Figs. 5E, L) [Note: the aedeagus is covered with debris, and it is not possible to observe the number of setae on the apex of the parameres and apex of aedeagal lobes].
Female description. Same as male, except for the slender protarsus, and non-expanded metatibia. Spermatheca coiled with 2-turns (Fig. 4D).
Etymology. The name is given in reference to the wide and flat lateral projection at the apex of the metatibiae (from Latin, “lobed”).
Distribution. Brazil: Pará State.
Taxonomic Remarks. The genus Parapaulipalpina previously included only four species, restricted to northern South America (see Peck et al., 2020 and Fig. 7)— P. dentata Gnaspini, 1996 (type species), from Venezuela; P. filicornis (Jeannel, 1936) (transferred from Adelopsis by Gnaspini, 1996 based solely on fig. 85 in Jeannel, 1936, because the male genitalia was not available for study at that time, and the external features were redescribed in Gnaspini & Peck, 2019 —therefore, a comparison involving aedeagal morphology can not be fully done presently), from Colombia (no precise locality); P. giachinoi Salgado, 2005, from Peru (and additional record in Ecuador in Salgado, 2010); and P. tambopata (Salgado, 2013) (transferred from Excelsiorella (Viruana) by Gnaspini et al., 2016 based on the drawings and discussion in the original description), from Peru. Recently, Gomyde et al. (2024) described a new feature (the paralobe of the aedeagus), considered to be synapomorphic for Parapaulipalpina and Paulipalpina Gnaspini & Peck, 1996, examining specimens of P. dentata, P. tambopata, and P. lobata sp. nov. (see their fig. 6), reinforcing their placement in Parapaulipalpina.
Parapaulipalpina lobata sp. nov. is the first species recorded in Brazil, enlarging the distribution of the genus (see Fig. 7) and the first one studied under SEM (because of that, many characters can not be presently discussed among all species). Unfortunately, the specimen examined with SEM was covered with debris, not allowing observation of details; because of the small number of specimens, which were fragile for handling, we were not able to produce additional images. Parapaulipalpina lobata sp. nov. can be promptly recognized by the widened and flattened apex of the male metatibia, which is unique (maybe in the tribe as a whole) and diagnostic for the species. It is the smallest species recorded so far in the genus. The aedeagus of P. lobata sp. nov. is concave ventrally, as in the other species of the genus, but, differently from them, there is a strong convex curvature near the apex. The flagellum of the aedeagus seems to be less elongate than the pattern described for the genus, being longer than the aedeagus in the other species known so far. However, the flagellum is connected to a strong basal piece, as it occurs in the other known species (based either on the descriptions and/or figures)—the aedeagus of P. filicornis is known only for the drawing in Jeannel (1936), which does not allow a proper recognition of this feature; however, the drawing does show a seemingly unique feature of that species, which is an expansion near the apex of the flagellum. Parapaulipalpina lobata sp. nov. seems to bear a slightly reduced eye, but not as strongly reduced as in P. filicornis (another diagnostic feature of that species).
Parapaulipalpina dentata and P. giachinoi have a tubercle medially on the posterior margin of the male metafemur, which was not observed in P. lobata sp. nov., and not studied in the other species, but their aedeagi are different. Parapaulipalpina tambopata can be diagnostically recognized by the truncate elytra and non-expanded male protarsomeres (according to the original description).
Parapaulipalpina filicornis, P. tambopata, and P. giachinoi are known only from their male holotypes (and a subsequently added male of the latter, from another country). Therefore, the spermatheca of the female is unkown for those species. The spermatheca of P. lobata sp. nov. resembles that of P. dentata, by having a 2-turns coil followed by a somewhat long, curved duct ending with an apical bulb.
description: Published as part of Gnaspini, Pedro, Moraes, Gabriella M. & Gomyde, Eduardo C., 2024, Parapaulipalpina lobata, new species, the first species of Parapaulipalpina Gnaspini, 1996 (Coleoptera: Leiodidae: Cholevinae: Ptomaphagini) from Brazil, pp. 129-136 in Zootaxa 5506 (1) on pages 131-135, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5506.1.9, http://zenodo.org/record/13746687