Germarostes (Germarostes) carltoni Howden and Gill

Howden, Henry F. & Gill, Bruce D., 2005, An Unusual New Species of Germarostes Paulian from Peru (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Ceratocanthinae), The Coleopterists Bulletin 59 (2), pp. 272-274 : 272-274

Germarostes (Germarostes) carltoni Howden and Gill , new species

( Figs. 1–5 )

Description. Holotype. Male, extended length 5.6 mm, greatest width of pronotum 3.3 mm, greatest width of elytra 3.0 mm; length of fore tibia 1.6 mm. Dorsally brown, shiny, lacking setae except on labrum. Labrum extending beyond clypeus, anteriorly shallowly emarginate, surface with transverse, arcuate row of large, setose punctures across anterior third. Clypeus ( Fig. 1 ) with broadly arcuate anterior margin, adjacent disc with narrow, rugose area contiguous with margin; clypeofrontal area smooth, very minutely, sparsely punctate, medially convex; clypeogenal suture on each side also slightly elevated. Vertex anteriorly with Y-shaped depressed line of shallow Ushaped punctures, median stem of ‘‘Y’’ short, area on each side smooth, slightly convex; vertex near eye and gena rugose or with shallow, U-shaped punctures; eye large, only partly divided by canthus. Pronotum ( Fig. 2 ) with marginal bead complete, anterior angles abruptly rounded, posterior angles obsolete, lateral margins arcuate; pronotal disc shallowly convex, wide, with very slight, shallow depression on each side in anterior half one-third distance from midline to margin; disc in median third smooth, very minutely punctate, surface near margins laterally and posteriorly (except medially) with shallow crescent-shaped punctures, similar scattered punctures near shallow depressions. Scutellum impunctate, slightly longer than wide, apex acute. Elytron ( Fig. 3 ) with 10 distinct strial lines on disc; each line with small, shallow punctures, most separated by more than four diameters; intervals before tuberculate apex almost flat, smooth, minutely punctate, setae lacking; elytral apex slightly less broadly rounded than in other species in the genus; second and marginal intervals merging at apex, irregularly elevated; other intervals separately terminating before apex, seventh interval longest, third shortest, ninth interval carinate to basal third of elytron, eighth interval with numerous small tubercles in apical half, other intervals only tuberculate on elytral declivity ( Fig. 4 ). Mentum apically emarginate, relatively flat to basal transverse suture, then transversely concave; flattened surface irregularly rugose. Antenna 10-segmented. Prosternum laterally with surface closely, longitudinally strigulate except adjacent to margin; fore coxae contiguous; fore femur oval in cross-section, extending beyond lateral pronotal margin, surface smooth except for scattered, setose punctures; fore tibia long, slender, with two close apical teeth, outer margin distinctly serrate, inner margin slightly serrate, setae present at base of each serration on both margins; apical spur long, curved to acute apex. Mesosternum punctate-rugose, some punctures each with semi-erect seta; middle coxae separated by narrow carinate ridge; femur extending beyond edge of elytron, ventral surface with scattered coarse setose punctures concentrated along anterior and posterior margins; tibia slender ( Fig. 3 ), approximately twice as wide at apex as near base, outer surface with median longitudinal ridge, surface anterior to ridge smooth between scattered serrations; surface posterior to ridge longitudinally strigulate; tibial apex arcuate to abrupt inner angle. Metasternum rugose medially, longitudinally strigulate on lateral thirds; hind coxae narrowly separated, femur with distinct anterior and posterior lines of long setae along margins, apex of femur extending beyond elytral margin; tibia as described for middle tibia except apex truncate and with close fringe of small, short setae. All tarsi with dense fringe of setae on ventral surface. Abdominal sternites with numerous fine, semi-erect setae, posterior margin of each segment with transverse row of setae. Pygidium punctate-rugose, punctures with long pale setae, pygidium basally with median depression. Male genitalia as in Figure 5 .

Female. Unknown.

Type Material. Holotype, male, PERU: Dpto. Huánaco, Unchog , pass from Churubamba to Hda. Paty , NNW Acomayo , 18-VII-5-VIII-1984, Coll. L.J. Barkley ( CMNC) .

Remarks. The unique male of G. carltoni differs from described species of Germarostes in the following combination of characters: pronotum shallowly convex, medially smooth; elytra fused, apices slightly attenuated, metathoracic wings lacking; legs unusually long and slender. It does not appear to be very closely related to any other known species in the genus as discussed above. Characters in the genus Germarostes differ considerably, and the slender legs, which occur in unrelated genera of ceratocanthids does not seem sufficient to place G. carltoni in a separate genus. Paulian (1982) did not examine all of the species in Germarostes to see if they were fully winged, nor have we been able to examine all species. To the best of our knowledge, all of the species in the genus that we have seen have functional metathoracic wings except for G. carltoni .

Etymology. This species is named for Christopher Carlton who first called our attention to this species and allowed us to deposit the type in the Canadian Museum of Nature (CMNC).

Figures

Figs. 1–4. Germarostes carltoni, n. sp., Holotype. 1) Head, dorsal view; 2) head and pronotum, dorsolateral view; 3) elytron and hind tibia, lateral view; 4) elytron, apical lateral view.

Fig. 5. Germarostes carltoni, n. sp., holotype, male genitalia, lateral view.