Phalangogonia azaharensis Smith 2021, new species
Creators: name: Smith, Andrew B. T.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Rutelidae
Phalangogonia
Phalangogonia azaharensis

description: Phalangogonia azaharensis Smith, new species
zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: D4DE26EB-849A-433E-9FB0-8B15097AF045 (Figs. 1–6, 16)
Type Series. Holotype female (Figs. 1–6) at BMNH labeled: 1) “ Azahar Cartago / Costa Rica. Apr.1901.” (handwritten); 2) “♀” (handwritten); 3) “Nevinson Coll. / 1918–14.” (typeset). The left protarsus, right metatibia and metatarsus, both antennae, and an apical portion of the right elytron are missing from the holotype.
Diagnosis. This species is distinguished from all other species of Phalangogonia by the following combination of characters: dorsal color tan to light reddish brown; clypeus and lateral edges of frons moderately to densely setose, frons medially glabrous; eyes only weakly protruding past the side of the head in dorsal view; pronotum moderately (medially) to densely (laterally) punctate; pygidial disc densely punctate, apical half setose; mesometaventral process a nub that barely protrudes beyond the plane of the mesocoxae (the smallest of any Phalangogonia).
Description of Holotype. Female. Length 22.5 mm, width 12 mm. Color tan to light reddish brown dorsally and ventrally, tarsomeres slightly darker. Head: Dorsal surface densely punctate with moderate to dense setae on the clypeus and lateral edges of frons, frons medially glabrous (Figs. 4–5); clypeus quadrate, apex slightly reflexed; frontoclypeal suture complete. Eye weakly protruding beyond side of head (in dorsal view) (Fig. 4). Labrum evenly tapered to a point. Mentum setose, apex strongly reflexed into oral cavity. Pronotum: Surface moderately punctate medially to densely punctate laterally (where punctures sometimes confluent), setose along lateral margin in apical half (but worn down in this specimen), glabrous elsewhere on disc (Figs. 1–2, 4). Lateral borders distinct, apical and basal borders indistinct. Elytron: Surface glabrous; striae weakly defined, indistinct (Figs. 1–2). Pygidium: Surface densely punctate, giving a roughened appearance, shiny; apical half moderately setose with long setae (Fig. 6). Venter: Thorax densely setose with thick setae laterally, thinner setae medially; mesometaventral process a nub that barely protrudes beyond the plane of the mesocoxae (Fig. 3); sternites moderately setose with fine setae. Legs: Protibia with 3 teeth. Meso- and metatibiae with medial carina. Tarsomeres 1–4 approximately equal in length and width; setose but setae not forming a pad. Tarsomere 5 in all 3 pairs of legs elongate, with small ventrobasal tooth. Tarsal claws asymmetrical with modified claw distinctly elongate, thickened, with a bifurcate apex. Tarsal claws asymmetrical, modified claw with ventral tooth, not thickened when compared to other claw, apex not bifurcate.
Variation. Unknown.
Etymology. Named after Azahar, Costa Rica, the collecting locality for the holotype.
Distribution. Azahar, Cartago, Costa Rica. This locality was said to be “four or five miles from Cartago to the southwest, in the Candelaria Mountains, having an altitude of about 5,000 to 7,000 feet ” (Carriker 1910). Based on this description, the collecting locality was in the general vicinity of the geographic coordinates: 9.8°N, 84.0°W (Fig. 16).
Comments. Although is it difficult to determine with absolute certainty, P. azaharensis does seem to match certain aspects of the original concept of Phalangogonia debilidens Ohaus, 1904. This is primarily based on Ohaus’ (1904) description of the mesometaventral process: “the sharp, right-angled, brown-colored front corner of the mesosternal process does not protrude above the mesocoxae”. This mesometaventral process description is a good match with P. azaharensis, which has a small nub that does not protrude apically past the level of the mesocoxae, as opposed to P. sperata, which has an elongate process that projects apically to the procoxae. However, Smith and Morón (2003) designated a female specimen of P. sperata as the neotype for P. debilidens, which fixes P. sperata and P. debilidens in synonymy.
In spite of studying over 400 specimens of Phalangogonia from Costa Rica and Panama, Smith and Morón (2003) only saw specimens of P. sperata from these two countries during the course of their revision of the genus. They attempted to solve a complex taxonomic problem involving the name P. debilidens by designating a neotype, since they knew that this name was known only from a single specimen (the holotype) that was lost in the mail between Germany and Mexico decades ago (Smith and Morón 2003). Even though there was some uncertainty, they decided to select a specimen of P. sperata as the neotype of P. debilidens, partially based on their belief that there was only one species of Phalangogonia from Costa Rica. Now that the holotype of P. azaharensis has been discovered in the BMNH, it casts some doubts on whether the original concept of P. debilidens matches P. azaharensis or P. sperata. Regardless, the neotype designation by Smith and Morón (2003) does resolve the problem by fixing the synonymy between P. sperata and P. debilidens, which necessitates the description of P. azaharensis as a new species.
This species is similar to Phalangogonia punctata Franz, 1955, another species only known from a single female specimen. The justifications for these being different species include the very different form of the mesometaventral process (reduced nub in P. azaharensis versus robust and extending to procoxae in P. punctata) and the distant localities where they were found (Cartago, Costa Rica for P. azaharensis versus Santa Ana, El Salvador for P. punctata). It is desirable to study a series of males and females for both species to fully reveal their diagnostic characters and variation.
description: Published as part of Smith, Andrew B. T., 2021, Two New Species of Phalangogonia Burmeister, 1844 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae), pp. 259-265 in The Coleopterists Bulletin 75 (1) on pages 259-262, DOI: 10.1649/0010-065X-75.1.259, http://zenodo.org/record/4837141