Elacatis stephani Pollock 2018, new species
Creators: name: Pollock, Darren A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Salpingidae
Elacatis
Elacatis stephani

description: Elacatis stephani, new species
(Figs 13–14, 26–27, 33, 39)
Holotype, male, labeled: “ Arizona, Huachuca Mts., Copper Cyn. [31.361944, -110.300277] June 8 I975 K. Stephan leg. // HOLOTYPE ♂ Elacatis stephani Pollock ”, in FSCA.
Allotype, female, labeled: “ Arizona, Huachuca Mts., Copper Cyn. June 8 I975 K. Stephan leg. // ALLOTYPE ♀ Elacatis stephani Pollock ”, in FSCA.
Paratypes (all with blue “ PARATYPE ” label): 4 females, labeled: “ Arizona; Cochise Co. East Stronghold [31.922333, -109.967333] April 30 1972 K.Stephan leg.”, in FSCA; 1 male, labeled: “ Arizona, Dragoon Mts. East Stronghold May 10 1975 K.Stephan leg.”, in FSCA; 1 male, labeled: “ Arizona, Dragoon Mts. W. Stronghold [31.930017, -109.998] May 30 1973 K.Stephan leg.”, in FSCA; 7 males and 5 females, labeled: “ Arizona, Huachuca Mts., Copper Cyn., June 8 1975 K.Stephan leg.”, in FSCA; 1 female, labeled: “ Arizona; St. Catalina Mts. Bear Cyn. [32.315639, -110.786593] 6000ft April 11 1971 K.Stephan leg.”, in FSCA; 1 female, labeled: “ TEXAS: Hudspeth Co. Indio Mts. Research Sta., vic. Indio Ranch House [30.776667, -105.015833], IV-12-13-2002, 4040 ft. Coll. E. G. Riley // EGRC // Elacatis sp. Det. E. G. Riley, 06”, in TAMU.
Derivation of specific epithet. This species is named in honor of the late Karl H. Stephan, collector extraordinare of many obscure groups of “little brown beetles” (among others). I had the privilege of visiting him in 1986, in the company of Milt Campbell; his multiple beetle trap lines and boxes of prepared beetles, many of which were labeled “Red Oak, Oklahoma ”, were very impressive.
Diagnosis. Elytra with irregular, lighter colored fasciae anteriorly and isolated spots posteriorly (Figs 13–14); antennae dimorphic, more elongate in males, extended beyond posterior pronotal margin; lateral pronotal margins with 2 tubercles anterad hind angle; male tegmen (Fig. 33) relatively long and narrow, basal piece of tegmen relatively short (length of apicale> 1.5x length of basale).
Description. TL 4.1–5.0 mm; GEW 1.2–1.5 mm; TL/GEW (n=6) 3.1 5–3.46.
Color. Head and pronotum medium to dark brown dorsally; base color of elytra medium to dark brown; light areas consisting of irregular fasciae (Figs 13–14), in most specimens broken into isolated spots in posterior half of elytra; antennae and mouthparts dark red-brown; legs brown.
Head with eyes relatively large, distinctly convex; frons relatively flat, with slight swellings mediad eyes; punctation relatively coarse and deep, punctures separated by less than diameter of single puncture; setae relatively short, directed anteriorly and medially, of two different colors – white/silver and golden; antennae elongate (TL/AL 2.41–2.50 males, 3.47–3.61 females), extending posteriorly to, or posterior of (in some males) pronotal base; antennomeres 4–8 moniliform/subfiliform, slightly sexually dimorphic, shorter in females; antennomeres 9–10 slightly longer than wide in males, slightly wider than long in females.
Pronotum. GPW/PL 1.11–1.30; disc slightly convex; punctation relatively deep and dense, punctures separated by much less than single puncture diameter; lateral margins evenly arcuate (in some specimens, lateral margins somewhat sinuate between lateral tubercles), widest point near midlength, marked by tubercle; each lateral carina with 2 or 3 tubercles, the posterior-most of which represents the hind angle; hind angles distinct, short, acute; setae moderately elongate, directed anteriorly and/or medially, color mixed white and golden; posterior bead distinct.
Elytra. TL/EL 1.69–1.75; EL/GEW 1.81–2.04; disc moderately convex, evenly sloping to lateral margins; punctation relatively dense and coarse; setae moderately elongate, colors corresponding to dark and light base colors of elytra.
Male genitalia (Fig. 33) with apicale very elongate, ca. 1.8X length of basale; apicale relatively slender, ca. 4.0X longer than wide; basale very slightly wider than long.
Natural history. No natural history information is known for this species; months of collection range from April to June.
Taxonomic notes. This species is very similar structurally to E. larsoni; for details, see “taxonomic notes” above, for E. larsoni.
Distribution (Fig. 39). All but a single specimen of this species are known from a relatively small area in southeastern Arizona.
description: Published as part of Pollock, Darren A., 2018, Review of the Nearctic (north of Mexico) species of Elacatis Pascoe (Coleoptera: Salpingidae: Othniinae), pp. 301-333 in Zootaxa 4420 (3) on pages 330-331, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4420.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1455307