Barra tocantinensis Vilhena, Lopes & Mermudes, 2025

Vilhena, Poliana De Mesquita, Lopes, Marcela Paes De Azevedo Machado & Mermudes, José Ricardo Miras, 2025, Synopsis of Barra Jordan, 1904 (Coleoptera: Anthribidae) with description of a new species from Brazil with an updated key to the genus, Zootaxa 5575 (4), pp. 563-570 : 564-567

Barra tocantinensis Vilhena, Lopes & Mermudes sp. nov.

http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:328DE4FF-D087-4032-9E0A-847DEF0B2D12

( Figs 1–6 )

Type locality. Tocantins, Brazil [22°29’40.5’’N, 42°59’52.6’’W]

Type material. Holotype, male ( Figs 1–6 ) deposited at MCNZ: Brazil, TO [Tocantins]— Palmas, Sa [=Serra] do Lageado , Fazenda Céu , XI.1992, Exp. MCN-MZSP leg., Coll. MCN 153764 .

Diagnosis. Distance between the scrobe and the eye is short, at least ¼ of the eye length ( Figs 3–4 ). Pronotum ( Figs 1, 3 ) with a short lateral carinae, not prominent and without a vestigial extension, slightly convex, presence of a blunt tubercle on disc of pronotum ( Fig. 3 ). Tibiae with an elongated dark ante-apical spot, with dense whitish scales forming a median annular pattern and at the apical margin, erect setae, golden at the tip ( Figs 2–3 ).

Description. Holotype, male ( Figs 1–6 ). Measurements (in mm): Total body length—3.87. Head: total length— 1.07, length of rostrum—0.46, maximum width of rostrum—0.78, length of eye—0,37, maximum width across eyes—1.36, minimum distance between eyes—0.50. Antenna: length of segments: 2—0.14, 3—0.22, 4—0.17, 5—0.16, 6—0.15, 7—0.13, 8—0.14, 9—0.16, 10—0.14, 11—0.16. Pronotum: maximum length—1.24, maximum width—1.65. Elytra: maximum length—2.57, width in umeral part—1.89. Pygidium: maximum length—0.40, maximum width—0.58.

Coloration ( Figs 1–4 ). General integument dark brown to light brown. Head and lower part of the pronotum dark brown. Antennae light brown with yellowish joints; antennomeres 9-10 dark, with 10 dark at the basal half and yellowish at the apical half. Elytra, abdominal ventrites, and pygidium light brown.

Vestiture. Rostrum ( Fig. 4 ) with sparse whitish and yellowish scales, without any spot or stripe pattern, with thick dark brown scales on the apical margin above the mandibles. Antennae ( Fig. 5 ) with fine, erect, and elongated light brown setae, becoming denser from antennomere 3 and more concentrated in the apical third of the antennomeres. Pronotum ( Fig. 1 ) covered with dark brown, light brown, and whitish scales, with patches of dark brown scales along the posterior margin of pronotum, two extending beyond the antebasal carinae. The lateral side of the pronotum is covered with thicker, denser whitish scales extending to the prosternum. Elytra ( Fig. 1 ) covered with dark brown and whitish scales. Scutellum covered with dense whitish scales. Odd-numbered interstriae with small patches of dark brown scales interspersed with whitish scales without a pattern, more noticeable on interstria 3, and humeri covered with dense dark brown scales. Prosternum ( Fig. 2 ) covered with dense whitish scales on the sides and sparser, finer scales in the center. Mesosternum and metasternum covered with fine, sparse whitish scales. Ventrites ( Figs 2–3 ) covered with dense, fine whitish scales. Femora covered entirely with whitish scales. Tibiae ( Figs 2–3 ) with dense whitish scales forming a moderately annular pattern at the apical margin, erect at the apical margin, and with a golden hue at the apex. Tarsi ( Figs 2–3 ) covered with dense pale yellow scales on the proximal and apical margins. Pygidium ( Fig. 6 ) covered with sparse dark brown scales and few yellowish scales.

Structure. Head ( Fig. 4 ), frons, and dorsal surface of the rostrum with micro-corrugated integument, featuring irregular wrinkles. Rostrum 1.7 times wider than long, with parallel lateral margins. Lateral scrobes foveiform. Scape pear-shaped, obliquely truncated at the base, with the peduncle inserted perpendicularly to the scrobe. Eyes dorso-lateral, sub-elliptical. Mentum bilobed, 1.7 times wider than long, with sharp lobes.

Antennae ( Fig. 5 ) moderately long, reaching the posterior margin of the pronotum. Antennomere 1 thickened, 2 thinner and slightly longer, 3-8 thinner and nearly equal in length, with 3 being the longest, 1.5 times longer than 2, 8 thicker at the apical part, 9-10 triangular, wider and subtruncate at the apex, 11 elliptical. The club is loose, formed by antennomeres 9–11.

Pronotum ( Fig. 1 ) wider than long, trapezoidal in shape, with straight sides and longer along the antebasal carina line. Antebasal carina substraight, with an incline at the sides and continuous with the basal carina. Lateral carina short. Pronotum slightly convex, blunt tubercle in the center. Prosternum flat, 3.3 times wider than long, with sparse circular punctuations. Prosternal process triangular, wider at the anterior margin, sharp and short, reaching the apical third of the procoxae, 1/3 the size of the coxal cavities. Mesosternum 2 times wider than long, depressed anteriorly, with subrounded to elongated punctuations, slightly grouped. Mesosternal process broad, with lobed lateral-apical margins and a truncated apical margin, 1.6 times smaller than the coxal cavities, reaching halfway along the mesocoxae. Metasternum wider than long, with a median groove and rounded punctuations close to the anterior margin.

Elytra ( Figs 1‒3 ) sub-oval, with subparallel sides, developed humeri, and uniformly rounded apical margin. Scutellum rounded. Presence of a tubercle in the proximal third between interstriae 2–3 and smaller tubercles on interstria 3 in the median and apical thirds.

Abdomen ( Figs 2–3 ). Ventrites similar in width, narrow, subequal in length, I–III connate, V 1.2 times longer than IV. Pygidium ( Fig. 6 ) slightly convex, 1.4 times wider than long, with lateral margins converging from the proximal margin and uniformly rounded at the apical margin. Terminalia male ( Fig. 6 ): externalization of the genitalia shows the apex of tergite VIII: sub-rounded lateral margins, subtruncated apical margin, and the presence of moderately elongated and sparse setae, with a membranous center.

Etymology. “ tocantinensis ” is derived from the name of the state of Tocantins in the Central-West region of Brazil, where the species was collected.

Distribution and ecology. The newly described species is likely endemic to this specific forested area located in the central region of Brazil ( Fig. 7 ) as mentioned by Miranda in 1992. This forest is situated on a small elevation, surrounded by typical Cerrado vegetation, a biome that faces extremely serious threats. On the other hand, the species Barra gounellei is indisputably endemic to the Serra do Mar mountain range in the Atlantic Rainforest of Bahia and Rio de Janeiro states ( Fig. 7 ), another equally threatened biome. Similarly, the species B. salamandrina is also exclusive to this biome. Barra baruskae is known from Las Flores, Nicaragua, endemic to a Tropical Dry Forest biome, the most globally threatened ecosystem ( Dryflor et al. 2016). These facts make the preservation of these areas even more crucial, considering their ecological importance.

The species is only known from Tocantins — Brazil ( Fig. 7 ).

Remarks. Barra tocantinensis is easily distinguishable from all other species in the genus particularly by the disc of pronotum with a tubercle and elytra pattern with less noticeable alternate spots between or in interstria, as all of the other species presents an evident pattern of color, tibia vestiture pattern and a longer distance between the scrobe and the eye. It resembles Barra gounelle i Jordan, 1904 in having a substraight antebasal carina on the pronotum, but in the new species, the lateral carina is short, whereas B. gounellei has a vestigial extension.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Map of distribution of Barra. Barra gounellei Jordan, 1906 (red), Barra salamandrina Frieser, 1983 (yellow), Barra baruskae Trýzna, Carrasco & Blažej 2022 (pink) and Barra tocantinensis sp. nov. Vilhena, Lopes & Mermudes (blue).

FIGURES 1–3. Barra tocantinensis sp. nov., holotype male from Palmas; 1, habitus in dorsal view; 2, habitus in ventral view; 3, habitus in lateral view. Scale bars 0.5 mm.

FIGURES 4–6. Barra tocantinensis sp. nov., holotype male from Palmas; 4, head in dorsal view; 5, right antennae in dorsal view; 6, pygidium in dorsal view. Scale bars 4: 0.5 mm; 5–6: 0.25 mm.