Epectinaspis costaricensis Ramirez-Ponce & Curoe, new species
Creators: name: Ramírez-Ponce, Andrés
name: Curoe, Daniel
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Rutelidae
Epectinaspis
Epectinaspis costaricensis

description: Epectinaspis costaricensis Ramírez-Ponce & Curoe, new species
(Figs. 1–7)
Type material (2 ♂). Holotype (♂, INBIO) labeled: “ Costa Rica /Varablanca/ 10.v.91 " // " Epectinaspis costaricensis Holotype ♂", red label and male genitalia and metathoracic wing card mounted. Paratype (1 ♂, DJCC), same data as holotype except: " Epectinaspis costaricensis Paratype ", yellow label.
Description of holotype. Male. Length 10.1 mm; width 4.5 mm. Color. Head orange-brown with green and red reflections; pronotum, scutellum, elytra, pygidium, venter, and legs orange-brown (except green anteromedial blotch on pronotum) with green reflections; prosternum, mesosternum, and metasternum, coxae, trochanters, and abdomen coppery-red with weak green reflections (Fig. 1). Head. Surface of frons flat, with a central bulge, deeply and densely rugopunctate with 4 setae on each supraocular region (Figs. 2, 3); interocular width equals 4.6 eye diameters. Clypeus subrectangular, with lateral angles broadly rounded, apex moderately reflexed; surface slightly convex, alveolate, becoming punctate near apex (Fig. 2). Mentum punctate; punctures moderately dense, moderately small; free margins with 10 long and erect setae (4 on each lateral margin and 2 on apical margin); prementum glabrous. Terminal segment of maxillary palpus wider than 3 basal palpomeres (1.3:1.0) and longer than 3 basal palpomeres combined (1.3:1.0). Pronotum. Margins beaded; with 5 long, curved, and erect setae on each side; basal angles acute. Surface sparsely punctate, with a weak, wide, and irregular furrow on midline; punctures moderate in size, deep (Fig. 1). Scutellum. Width length ratio 1.0–0.88, apex rounded; surface punctate; punctures moderate in size, smaller towards apex (Fig. 1). Elytra. Each with 11 punctate striae, 1 next to sutural margin, 6 on disc extending from basal margin to apex, 2 from humeral umbone to apex, and 2 adjacent to lateral margin (Fig. 1). Epipleuron not reaching metepisternum. Margins glabrous. Propygidium. Completely covered by elytra, surface punctate, setose; setae short, scattered. Pygidium. Shape subtriangular in posterior view; surface narrowly convex near apex and uniformly, moderately densely punctuate; punctures large, shallow, setigerous; setae long, more so on apex. Venter. Sternites 2–4 subequal in length; sternite 5 1.17 as long as sternite 4; last sternite 0.87 as long as sternite 4. Sternites 2–6 irregularly punctate; punctures medially moderately large, laterally becoming larger. Most larger punctures setigerous; setae long and more abundant on sides. Legs. Protibia with 2 external teeth and a subapical spur; spur subequal in length to protarsomere 2. Protarsomere 5 subequal in length to protarsomeres 1–4 combined, with a conspicuous internomedial tooth. Protarsus with inner claw deeply cleft; inner ramus 3 times as wide as outer ramus (Fig. 7). Mesotibia with conspicuous, oblique carina at middle; carina with 2 setiform spinules on basal end, 7 along its length, and 1 on apical end; apex with 7–8 spinules. Metatibia with 18–19 spinules at apex. Male genitalia. In dorsal view, parameres simple, straight, without bends or setae, narrowing towards rounded apex (Fig. 4); in lateral view, phallobase-tectum-parameres length ratio 1.0:1.66:1.40 (Fig. 6).
Female. Unknown.
Variation in paratype (1 ♂, DJCC). The paratype is similar to the holotype but with the following differences: green reflections on frons more intense, punctures on pronotal disc shallower, metasternum and abdomen lighter, sternites with yellow area along apical margins, and apical teeth on external edge of protibia longer.
Diagnosis. This species is distinguished from all other species of the genus Epectinaspis by the following combination of characters: males with frons mostly flat and with a central bulge, pronotum glabrous, apex of mesotibia and metatibia with 7–8 and 18–19 spinules respectively, epipleuron not reaching metepisternum; male genitalia with apex of parameres simple, widely rounded, without setae (lateral view), bends or folds.
Epectinaspis costaricensis resembles E. chelifera Bates and E. guatemalensis Ohaus, sharing with both species (to a large extent) the brown or orange-brown dorsal coloration with green or red reflections and an anteromedial blotch on the pronotum. Additionally, it shares with E. guatemalensis the same number of elytral striae on disc (nine), but differs in interocular width (6.5 eye diameters in E. guatemalensis, 4.6 in E. costaricensis); the quadrate pronotal basal angles (basal angles acute in E. costaricensis); the rugopunctate pronotal surface (surface punctate in E. costaricensis); the absence of a weak pronotal furrow (furrow present in E. costaricensis), the number of metatibial apical spinules (13–15 in E. guatemalensis, 18–19 in E. costaricensis) and their areas of distribution, which appear very disjunct: E. guatemalensis occurs in Guatemala with one doubtful record for Costa Rica whereas E. costaricensis is known only from Costa Rica.
The only species (apart from E. costaricensis) that have the expanded epipleura not reaching posterior to the apical margin of the metacoxa are E. ambigens and E. chelifera. Epectinaspis ambigens, however, is very different in conspicuous characters such as the dark coloration, the abundant pilosity on the frons and pronotum and its distribution in Guatemala and Belize (E. costaricensis distributed in Costa Rica only).
Epectinaspis costaricensis shares more characters with E. chelifera as well as a nearer area of distribution. While most Epectinaspis species occur from Mexico to El Salvador, only E. chelifera (and E. moreletiana) have been recorded in Panama. The most conspicuous characters that E. costaricensis shares with E. chelifera are the expanded epipleura not reaching the metacoxa, the pronotum with a weak medial furrow and punctate (not rugopunctate) surface. The two species however, can be easily separated by their different interocular widths (4.6 eye diameters in E. costaricensis, 7.0 in E. chelifera), the pronotal basal angles (acute in E. costaricensis, obtuse in E. chelifera) and the number of spinules on the metatibial apices (18–19 in E. costaricensis, 12–15 in E. chelifera).
Etymology. This species is named after Costa Rica, the megadiverse Central American country where it was collected.
Distribution. The two specimens were collected near Varablanca, Heredia province (10°10'N, 84°09'W) at 1800 m of elevation on shrub flowers in cloud forest habitat.
Temporal data. The only two specimens known were collected in May.
Remarks. Epectinaspis costaricensis resembles E. chelifera Bates, E. guatemalensis Ohaus, and E. ambigens Bates, but its diagnostic combination of characters, including coloration, will easily distinguish this new species. Most of the species in this genus are distributed from Mexico to El Salvador, but only E. chelifera and E. moreletiana (Blanchard) have been recorded in Panama (the southernmost distribution).
description: Published as part of Ramírez-Ponce, Andrés & Curoe, Daniel, 2014, Description of two new species in the genera Epectinaspis Blanchard and Strigoderma Burmeister (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae: Anomalini), pp. 87-94 in Zootaxa 3827 (1) on pages 88-90, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3827.1.8, http://zenodo.org/record/286501