Cyclocephala ignota Ratcliffe and Seidel 2023, new species
Creators: name: Ratcliffe, Brett C.
name: Seidel, Matthias
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Cyclocephala
Cyclocephala ignota

description: Cyclocephala ignota Ratcliffe and Seidel, new species
zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 97A9536A-74EC-4334-92EB-3CB936680056 (Figs. 1–7, 11)
Type Material. Holotype ♂ labeled “ BOLIVIA: Nor Yungas, / Caranavi, iii.2010 / local collector // Coll. Matthias / Seidel 2020” and with our red holotype label. Three ♂ paratypes with the same data and with our yellow paratype label. Holotype deposited in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (NHMW), Austria. One paratype deposited in National Museum Prague (NMPC), Czech Republic; one paratype deposited in Matthias Seidel Collection (MSPC), Wien, Austria; and one paratype deposited in the B. C. Ratcliffe Collection (BCRC), Lincoln, NE, USA.
Diagnosis. This species will key to couplet 55 for Cyclocephala pereirai Martínez (Figs. 8–10) in Endrödi (1985) where the protarsi are considered scarcely thickened and with a slightly curved inner claw versus strongly thickened and with a strongly curved inner claw. Cyclocephala pereirai was described from Argentina and remains rare in collections, and its parameres are similar to those of C. ignota (compare Figs. 6 and 10).
We characterize the male protarsi of our new species as slender and only slightly curved, thus suggesting C. ignota is closest to C. pereirai. However, in dorsal view the proportions of the pronotum and elytra are different between the two species (compare Figs. 1 and 8), and in lateral view C. ignota is dorsoventrally compressed, whereas C. pereirai is not (as is typical for most Cyclocephala species) (compare Figs. 2 and 9). In addition, C. ignota has long, dense setae on the ventral surfaces of the metatibiae and metatarsomeres, and C. pereirai does not (compare Figs.1, 3, and 5 vs. Fig. 8). Lastly, the color of C. ignota is light brown, and the color of C. pereirai is testaceous to reddish brown, although color may be unreliable depending on age of the specimens and method of specimen preservation.
Description of Holotype (Figs. 1–7). Male. Length 12.0 mm; width 6.5 mm. Head dark brown, reminder of body light brown. Body dorsoventrally compressed (Fig. 2). Head: Surface completely, densely rugopunctate with long, yellowish brown setae on frons either side of middle. Frontoclypeal region with a slender, transversely biarcuate carinula not reaching lateral margins. Clypeal apex broadly parabolic, distinctly and narrowly reflexed. Interocular width equals 8.0 transverse eye diameters; ocular canthi short. Antenna with 9 antennomeres, club subequal in length to antennomeres 2–6. Mandibles projecting beyond clypeal apex (Fig. 1). Mentum slightly convex, strongly narrowed to apex, and with long, dense, yellowish brown setae. Pronotum: Widest just before middle (Fig. 1). Surface with punctures moderate in size and density, setigerous; setae long, dense, yellowish brown (Fig. 4). Base with marginal bead. Elytra: Surface weakly roughened and disc with small, dense, shallow, setigerous punctures; setae long, sparse, yellowish brown. Sides weakly, transversely wrinkled; setae along lateral margins dense (Fig. 3). Pygidium: Disc with minute to small, sparse punctures; basal half and lateral angles more densely punctate and with long, sparse, yellowish brown setae (Fig. 5). In lateral view, surface weakly convex. Legs: Protibia tridentate. Protarsomere 5 and median claw slightly enlarged; claw weakly arcuate, slender, apex narrowly cleft. Metatarsus longer than metatibia, both with long, dense, yellowish brown setae on their ventral surfaces (Figs. 1, 3, 5). Venter: Prosternal process, if present, small and obscured by long, dense, yellowish brown setae. Thoracic ventrites and coxae with long, dense, yellowish brown setae (Fig. 3). Parameres: In caudal view, shape subtriangular, apices rounded (Figs. 6, 7).
Variation. Male (3 paratypes). Length 12.0–12.5 mm; width 6.2–7.0 mm. The paratypes do not significantly differ from the holotype.
Etymology. The specific epithet is from the Latin ignotus, an adjective referring to unknown or strange and used here in reference to the atypical body morphology of this species relative to other species of Cyclocephala.
Distribution. Cyclocephala ignota is known only from Caranavi in the Department of La Paz in the Yungas region of Bolivia (Fig. 11).
Locality Records. Four specimens examined. BOLIVIA (3): LA PAZ (3): Caranavi Department, Caranavi.
Temporal Distribution. March (4).
Natural History. Nothing is known of the life history of C. ignota. Adults of other species of Cyclocephala are nocturnal and commonly collected at lights.
description: Published as part of Ratcliffe, Brett C. & Seidel, Matthias, 2023, Cyclocephala ignota, a New Species of Cyclocephala Dejean, 1821 from Bolivia (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae: Cyclocephalini), pp. 19-23 in The Coleopterists Bulletin 77 (1) on pages 20-22, DOI: 10.1649/0010-065X-77.1.19, http://zenodo.org/record/13242666