Eurypeplus quadrimaculatus KC & Pollock, 2025

Kc, Sajan & Pollock, Darren A., 2025, Review of the Hemipeplinae (Coleoptera: Mycteridae) fauna of the world with descriptions of twenty-nine new species, Zootaxa 5574 (1), pp. 1-140 : 55-56

Eurypeplus quadrimaculatus KC & Pollock , gen. nov., sp. nov.

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(Figs 24, 63)

Type Material. Holotype, female, labeled: ‘ Madagascar: (Sud) Pays Androy (Nord) Alluaud 1900|36 / [blue label] MUSEUM PARIS Coll. Ch. Alluaud / [blue label] ♀ / [red label] HOLOTYPE ♀ Eurypeplus quadrimaculatus KC & Pollock’, in MNHN .

Derivation of Specific Epithet. The specific name (adjective in the nominative case, in gender agreement with substantive) is given in allusion to the presence of four pale spots on the elytra of this species.

Diagnosis. Eurypeplus quadrimaculatus gen. nov., sp. nov. can be distinguished by its elongate pronotum with straight anterior margin and four pale spots on the elytra. Eurypeplus quadrimaculatus gen. nov., sp. nov. has the following diagnostic features: temples short and rounded; eyes large (longer than scape + pedicel), wide, and strongly convex; head wide; pronotum elongate, laterally sinuate, without anterior emargination; anterolateral angles indistinct, broadly rounded; pronotal pad absent; posterolateral angles square, rounded; pronotal lobe short, rounded without median notch; elytra less flat than in Hemipeplus , laterally expanded; color rufopiceous with four large elliptical pale spots on elytra; distribution: Madagascar.

Description. Measurements (in mm)—GHW: 0.83; HL: 0.66; AL: 1.58; GPW: 0.73; PL: 0.78; GEW: 1.26; EL: 3.09; TL: 4.53.

Head (Fig. 24C) wide, (GHW/HL: 1.26) wide; eyes large (longer than scape + pedicel), wide and strongly convex; temples distinct, short and rounded; occiput without raised areas; antennae longer than head and pronotum length combined; antennal scape short and moniliform; pedicel small moniliform; antennomere III more elongate than II; IV–VII subfiliform and apically dilated; VIII–X subtriangular; XI subpyriform with apex narrowed; lateral mandibular tooth unobservable in the specimen. Pronotum (Fig. 24B) narrow and elongate (GPW/PL: 0.94); anterior margin without emargination; anterolateral angles rounded, indistinct; lateral margins sinuate; posterior half contracted; posterolateral angles rounded and square; pronotal lobe short, rounded without median notch; pronotal pad (Fig. 24F) absent; pronotal pits shallow without visible grooves. Scutellar shield raised above elytral level, pentagonal, transverse, less than twice as wide as long. Elytra (Fig. 24A) elongate (EL/GEW: 2.45), widened laterally at the halfway point, disc convex; vestiture moderate; apical patch absent. Ventral surface (Figs 24D–E). Prosternal process short, not extending to the posterior of procoxae (Fig. 24E); hypomeral edges widely separated; mesanepisternum broad and flat; mesosternal plate much narrower than in Hemipeplus and Holopeplus ; mesosternal process linear and wider than in most Hemipeplinae ; abdominal process wider than in Hemipeplus and Holopeplus ; (at least) female with a median fovea in V4 (Fig. 24D). Color dull, rufopiceous with four large elliptical pale spots on elytra; antennomeres II–VII pale while rest of the antenna rufopiceous; ventrally labial palpi, glossal sclerite, tibia, tarsi pale; abdominal sternites I–III less dark otherwise rufopiceous.

Remarks. Eurypeplus quadrimaculatus gen. nov., sp. nov. is the only species of Hemipeplinae with elytra exhibiting distinctive light-colored maculae.

Geographical Distribution (Fig. 63). Madagascar.

FIGURE 24. Eurypeplus quadrimaculatus gen nov., sp. nov. (Holotype). A. Dorsal habitus (with scale bar); B. Dorsal head and prothorax; C. Dorsal head view in horizontal plane; D. Ventral habitus; E. Ventral habitus closeup; F. Lateral view of head and prothorax; G. Female genitalia (with scale bar).