Falsocis sooretama, Araujo & Lopes-Andrade, 2016

Araujo, Lucimar Soares de & Lopes-Andrade, Cristiano, 2016, A new species of Falsocis (Coleoptera: Ciidae) from the Atlantic Forest biome with new geographic records and an updated identification key for the species of the genus, Zoologia (e 20150173) 33 (1), pp. 1-6 : 2-3

Falsocis sooretama sp. nov.

Figs. 1-7

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:CA01335C-2114-47FF-9229-D24FEC041255

Type locality. Sooretama , state of Espírito Santo, southeastern Brazil (19°23’S, 40°04’W).

Diagnosis. Falsocis sooretama sp. nov. differs from F. aquilonius and F. opacus in possessing a narrow and not explanate epipleura. It differs from F. brasiliensis and F. egregius in the coarser and denser pronotal punctation, disc punctures separated by less than the width of a puncture, and male pronotal plate rounded at apex, instead of somewhat straight. Falsocis sooretama is closely related to F. occultus , but differs in possessing sparser stout bristles (distant from each other by about five punctures) and very minute setae (~ 0.01 mm) on elytra, and apex of anterior male pronotal plate rounded rather than acute. The male genitalia of F. sooretama and F. occultus are conspicuously different: in the former, the penis is enlarged at apex and the apical lobes of tegmen are not emarginated (each lobe has only a small excavation in the outer edge).

Description, male holotype ( Figs. 1-3 ). Measurements in mm: TL 2.05; PL 0.68; PW 1.05; EL 1.36; EW 1.18; GD 0.92. Ratios: PL/PW 0.65; EL/EW 1.15; EL/PL 1.99; GD/EW 0.78; TL/ EW 1.73. Body convex; dorsal and ventral surfaces dark brown; legs reddish brown; mouthparts and antennae yellowish brown; dorsal surface moderately shiny; vestiture of stout yellowish bristles. Head mostly concealed by anterior pronotal projection when seen from above, except for anterolateral angles; frontoclypeal ridge projected forward in a broad lamina, bearing two small tubercles at middle separated by about an eye-width and one short triangular plate at each side. Antennae (left antenna measured; FL 0.26mm; CL 0.20mm; CL/FL 0.77) with length of antennomeres (in mm) as follows: 0.08; 0.05; 0.05; 0.03; 0.02; 0.02; 0.01; 0.06; 0.06; 0.08. Eyes coarsely facetted, with about 80 ommattidia; GW 0.15 mm. Pronotum with lateral edges slightly crenulate, bearing a row of stout bristles, not visible for their entire lengths from above, except for part of anterior-lateral angles; anterior margin (beyond anterior angles) explanate, strongly produced forward forming a broad subtriangular plate when seen from above ( Fig. 1 ), conspicuously concave, with apex rounded; punctation single, irregular, coarse and relatively deep, usually separated by a puncture-width or less; surface between punctures moderately shiny and barely microreticulate (almost not visible on disc); punctures comparatively smaller, shallower and more regular on the anterior plate, and microreticulation conspicuous; vestiture of sparse, suberect to decumbent stout yellowish bristles (~ 0.03 mm), better seen in lateral view ( Fig. 2 ); it is important to note that most punctures bear a very minute seta (<0.01mm) only discernible in very high magnification (>300x, with special objective), so difficult to observe that one can consider these punctures as glabrous. Scutellum small, triangular; BW 0.05 mm. Elytra with edges subparallel at their basal two-thirds, posterior sides broadly rounded and apex somewhat blunt; pseudoepipleura tapering from base to basal two-thirds, then continuing as a narrow line; punctation a bit smaller than that of pronotum, more regular and separated by one to two puncture-widths; vestiture consisting of three types of setae: the most frequent one being minute setae (~ 0.01 mm long), barely seen even in high magnifications (more than 300X), the second type consisting of sparse, stout yellowish bristles (0.04-0.05 mm), and the third type being erect slender setae (~ 0.03 mm); punctures with bristles are less frequent and distant from each other by about five punctures. Hind wings developed, apparently functional. Ventral surfaces of thorax and abdomen finely granulate ( Fig. 3 ). Prosternum flat; prosternal process laminate, almost as long as procoxae. Protibia subparallel-sided; apex devoid of spines and outer apical angle produced into a stout tooth. Meso and metatibia similar to protibia, but comparatively narrower and devoid of outer apical tooth. Metaventrite very short at disc, with discrimen about half of its length. Abdominal ventrites with vestiture of slender decumbent, yellowish setae; punctation shallow, barely visible; length of ventrites (in mm, from base to apex at the longitudinal midline) as follows: 0.24; 0.09; 0.09; 0.09; 0.17; first abdominal ventrite bearing a circular, margined, setose sex patch, located at its center and with a diameter of about one-fifth the length of the ventrite at midline. Male terminalia in paratypes (Figs. 4-7) with sternite VIII ( Fig. 4 ) isosceles trapezoid, with laterals diverging from posterior to anterior angles; posterior angles rounded and bearing several slender setae; posterior edge curved inward and bearing sparse small setae. Basal piece ( Fig. 5 ) nearly two-fifths the length of tegmen. Tegmen ( Fig. 6 ) with posterior portion bearing a deep V-shaped emargination that extends to about the middle of tegmen, forming two lateral lobes; lateral edges slightly curved; anterior one-fifth subtriangular. Penis ( Fig. 7 ) about four times as long as broad, subcylindrical, lateral margins parallel in the anterior two-thirds of their lengths, and apex subtriangular and membranous.

Variation. Males, measurements in mm (n = 08, including the holotype): TL 1.66-2.26 (1.09 ± 0.17); PL 0.57-1.00 (0.73 ± 0.14); PW 1.01-1.19 (1.07 ± 0.06); EL 0.92-1.36 (1.20 ± 0.15); EW 1.00-1.25 (1.11 ± 0.08); GD 0.76-0.94 (0.89 ± 0.06). Ratios: PL/PW 0.53-0.84 (0.68 ± 0.10); EL/EW 0.83-1.21 (1.08 ± 0.14); EL/PL 1.23-1.99 (1.69 ± 0.45); GD/EW 0.74-0.85 (0.80 ± 0.04); TL/EW 1.50-1.93 (1.74 ± 0.13). Females, measurements in mm (n = 14): TL 1.64-2.08 (1.87 ± 0.15); PL 0.51-0.78 (0.62 ± 0.08); PW 0.61-1.13 (0.93 ± 0.17); EL 1.01-1.50 (1.25 ± 0.13); EW 0.98- 1.24 (1.16 ± 0.10); GD 0.76-1.14 (0.92 ± 0.11). Ratios: PL/PW 0.48-0.78 (0.62 ± 0.07); EL/EW 0.92-1.15 (1.08 ± 0.07); EL/PL 1.52-2.42 (2.04 ± 0.36); GD/EW 0.77-0.97 (0.81 ± 0.09); TL/EW 1.50-1.83 (1.61 ± 0.08).

Type series. BRAZIL: Espírito Santo, Sooretama, male holotype ( CELC), labeled “ Brasil: ES Sooretama, Reserva Biológica de Sooretama 30.XI.2011 leg. L. S. Araujo [printed]\Código Trans.: Parcela: Fungo: [printed] 2 E 1 [handwritten]\ Falsocis sooretama Araujo & Lopes-Andrade HOLOTYPUS [printed on red paper]” . Paratypes: 7 males (1 dissected) and 14 females ( CELC), same locality data as holotype and additionally labeled\ Falsocis sooretama Araujo & Lopes-Andrade PARATYPUS [printed on yellow paper]\ . Among the paratypes, 1 female was collected together with the holotype (collection code “2 E 1”) and is labeled accordingly, 1 female (very damaged, found dead in the basidiome) is labeled “Código: Trans.: Parcela: Fungo: [printed] 1 B 2 [handwritten]”, and the males and 12 females are labeled “Código: Trans.: Parcela: Fungo: [printed] 2 B 1 [handwritten]”.

Host fungus. The holotype and one female (collection code “2 E 1”) were found in a large basidiome (~ 15 cm of diameter) of Hymenochaetaceae , possibly a species of Phellinus . Most paratypes (code “2 B 1”) were found in a basidiome similar in size and possibly belonging to the same fungus species. A fully pigmented female was found in Ganoderma sp. (code “1 B 2”, basidiomes in very advanced decaying stage), possibly an unsuccessful colonization of the fungus and thus we prefer not to consider this as a host record.

Etymology. The specific epithet is a name in apposition referring to Sooretama, in the state of Espírito Santo (southeast Brazil), terra typica of the species. The word “Sooretama ” comes from the Tupi language and means “land and shelter for forest animals” (from “soo”, “çoó” – animal, hunt; and “retama” – place, land, motherland).

Remarks. This new species is known only from the type locality, found in three samples from “Reserva Biológica de Sooretama”, a conservation unit of about 24,000 ha of Atlantic Forest. Most specimens (collection code “2 B 1”) were reared in the laboratory in the basidiome they were collected, without adding any other substrate. Specimens of this new species were firstly identified as F. occultus . However, when we dissected and examined the sclerites of the male terminalia, we realized that it is a distinct species. Among the reared specimens, we also found a teneral and three fully pigmented males of F. brasiliensis , making this the first record of two different species of Falsocis found in the same individual fungus. Falsocis sooretama sp. nov. seems to be closely related to F. occultus , and they are barely discernible before careful examination. Besides the diagnostic features mentioned above, F. occultus is distinct by the comparatively larger elytral bristles (0.07-0.08 mm long, not 0.1 mm as cited in the original description, the difference due to microscope resolution and magnification capacity) and minute setae (0.03 mm long). In F. sooretama , elytral bristles are 0.04-0.05 mm long and minute setae about 0.01 mm, the latter being decumbent and only discernible in very high magnification (>300X). Interestingly, in F. sooretama a third type of seta is discernible, which is erect, slender and about 0.03 mm long, but much less frequent than minute setae.

Figures

Figures 1-3. Adult male holotype of Falsocis sooretama sp. nov.: (1) dorsal view; (2) lateral view; (3) ventral view. Scale bar: 0.5 mm.

Figures 4-7. Dissected male terminalia of a paratype of Falsocis sooretama sp. nov.: (4) sternite VIII; (5) basal piece; (6) tegmen; (7) penis. Scale bar: 0.1 mm.