Neorthopleura cuspidis, nov.sp.
Creators: name: Opitz, Weston
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Cleridae
Neorthopleura
Neorthopleura cuspidis

description: Neorthopleura cuspidis OPITZ nov.sp. (Figs 35, 41, 173, 230, 310)
Holotype: ♀. Type locality: Rondon, Parana, Brazil, 34.38° Lat, 54.07° Long, III:--53, Fritz Plaumann leg. (WFBM). Paratypes: 19 specimens. Brazil: Estado do Paraná, Rondon, 24°38'LN 54°07'W, 2-XII-1952, Fritz Plaumann (WOPC, 1); idem, 2-XI-1952, Fritz Plaumann (WOPC, 1); idem, 17-XI-1952, Fritz Plaumann (WFBM, 1); idem, 18-XII-1952, Fritz Plaumann (FMNH, 1); idem, 5-XII-1952, Fritz Plaumann (BMNH, 1); idem, 25-XI-1952, Fritz Plaumann (TAMU, 1); idem, 3-I-1953, Fritz Plaumann (EMEC, 1); idem, 4-I-1953, Fritz Plaumann (CMNC, 1); idem, 28- I-1953, Fritz Plaumann (CMNH, 1); idem, 15-I-1953, Fritz Plaumann (CNCI, 1; WFBM, 1); 18-I- 1953, Fritz Plaumann (WOPC, 1); idem, Estado do Mato Grosso, Rio Caraguata, 21°48'N 52°27', 20-III- 1954, 400 m, Fritz Plaumann (WOPC, 1); idem,?- XII- 1953, 400m, Fritz Plaumann (WFBM, 2; WOPC, 1); idem, 4-XII- 1954, 400 m, Fritz Plaumann (WFBM, 1); idem, 6-II- 1954, 400 m, Fritz Plaumann (WFBM, 1); idem,?- I- 1954, 400 m, Fritz Plaumann (WFBM, 1).
D i a g n o s i s: The members of this species resemble superficially those of N. velutina (KLUG), from which N. cuspidis specimens differ by not showing a wide testaceous elytral fascia. The genus Neorthopleura BARR was revised by OPITZ (2013b).
D e s c r i p t i o n: Size: Length 8.0 mm; width 2.3 mm. Form: As in Fig. 310. Color: Cranium and antenna black, except gular region testaceous; prothorax red-testaceous, mesosternum testaceous; pterothorax brown; elytra brown; legs and abdomen brown. Head: Cranium densely finely punctate; lower frons indented; antenna capitate, funicular antennomeres progressively shorter to capitulum, capitular antennomeres 9 and 10 with short (Fig. 35, female) or long (Fig. 41, male) collateral branch; antennomere 11 oblong; eyes large, coarsely facetted, eye narrower (female) or wider (male) than frons (EW/FW 30/35, female; EW/FW 40/30, male). Thorax: Pronotum (Fig. 173) convex, transverse, side margins convex (PW/PL 115/105); elytra moderately convex, disc densely sculptured with small setiferous punctures; epipleural margin abruptly terminates at elytral middle (EL/EW 360/80). Abdomen: Pygidium quadrate/scutiform, posterior margin emarginate; aedeagus as in Fig. 230.
Variation: Length 6.0-8.0 mm; width 1.2-2.0 mm. There is sex dimorphism in the shape of the antennal capitulum and in width of the frons.
N a t u r a l H i s t o r y: Specimens were collected during December, January and March, several at 400 m.
D i s t r i b u t i o n: ThisspeciesisknownfromBrazil.
E t y m o l o g y: The trivial name, cuspidis, is a Latin noun with a meaning of "point"; with regard to the shape of the phallobasic lobes.
description: Published as part of Opitz, Weston, 2019, Descriptions of new genera and new species of Western Hemisphere checkered beetles (Coleoptera, Cleroidea, Cleridae), pp. 959-1076 in Linzer biologische Beiträge 51 (2) on page 992, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3746744