Walterianella marae Begha & Prado, 2025

Begha, Bruno Piotrovski, Prado, Laura Rocha & Oliveira, Sarah Siqueira, 2025, Oedionychina (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae: Alticini) from the Parque Estadual Altamiro de Moura Pacheco, a Cerrado remnant, Zootaxa 5659 (1), pp. 29-50 : 37-42

publication ID

https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5659.1.2

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:CCC3FF8A-F8B6-4A85-AFE7-065C7D2BDBAF

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15847841

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03A487DA-8D73-FFCA-3B89-F9DAFD37FB95

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Walterianella marae Begha & Prado
status

sp. nov.

Walterianella marae Begha & Prado sp. nov.

zoobank.org:act: E28381DF-172D-4CAB-8D1D-117E900B1D48

( Figs 2C View FIGURE 2 , 4C View FIGURE 4 , 5G View FIGURE 5 , 6G View FIGURE 6 , 10C View FIGURE 10 )

Length: 5.18–5.53 mm, based on four females.

Head: oval, vertex area dark brown. Interocular space slightly wider than width of the eye. Height of eye slightly longer than width to 1,5 times its width. Width of head subequal to height in frontal view. Interantennal space projected slightly beyond antennal bulbus. Labrum with small, curved recess in the median portion, with four horizontal evenly spaced setae. Vertex smooth. Antennal calli trapezoid, not reaching the margin of the eye, sides of the antennal cali nearly inconspicuous, except for the well-marked midfrontal sulcus. Anterofrontal ridge gradually sloping towards labrum, making more than 90-degree angle between frons and labrum. Gena with few, very short setae. Labrum rounded, with four horizontally evenly spaced setae Antennae: filiform, with 11 antennomeres. Antennomere I shorter than II and III combined. Antennomeres I–IV dark yellow, antennomeres V–XI dark brown.

Prothorax: yellow, with a dark brown macula, side margins of pronotum widely explanate, anterior angle of the pronotum extending beyond the head insertion, posterior angle of pronotum slightly pointed outwards. Anterolateral callosity short, truncated, pointing outwards, thin in lateral view. Pronotal margin convex. Prosternum with the same color as the pronotum, anterior and inner margin of prosternum emarginate. Lacking prosternal keel. Metathorax and mesothorax: dark brown, mesothorax short, metathorax rectangular with metathoracic suture visible. Fine setae present throughout. Elytra: explanate, epipleura bent upwards except for the distal third of elytra. Covered with confused punctuation. Elytral integument yellow, proximal third and distal third regions mostly covered by dark brown maculae. The dark brown maculae that almost entirely cover the proximal third region of the elytra have a distinct lobed aspect in their distal margins. Scutellum dark brown. Legs: yellow, pro and mesothoracic legs similar, lacking tibial spurs. Metafemur wide, nearly as wide as the length of metatibia, somewhat triangular. Metatibia with wide distal recess and blunt tooth like process, tibial spur robust and curved. Distal metatarsomere strongly globose, dark brown.

Abdomen: dark brown, five visible segments. Fine setae present throughout. Abdominal process between metacoxae narrow. Spermatheca (10C): receptacle and pump clearly distinguishable from each other. Apex of receptacle wider than the base, reniform. Pump convex, acuminate, less sclerotized than receptacle. Spermathecal duct long, with three coils.

Holotype material: BRAZIL, GO, Goianápolis Parque Altamiro de Moura Pacheco-PEAMP | Malaise Mata, próximo ao reservatório – Trilha da Mangueira | -16.555119 -49.172473 | 08.ix.2022 - 05.x.2022 | Cols. Oliveira, S.S. & Lopes, W.R. ♀ ( MZSP). GoogleMaps

Paratype material: BRAZIL, GO, Goianápolis Parque Altamiro de Moura Pacheco-PEAMP | Malaise Mata, próximo ao reservatório – Trilha da Mangueira | -16.555119 -49.172473 | 08.ix.2022 - 05.x.2022 | Cols. Oliveira, S.S. & Lopes, W.R. 2♀ ( ZUFG); GoogleMaps (Same label as previous) ♀ ( MZSP) GoogleMaps .

Etymology: The specific epithet is a patronym honoring Dr. Mara Cristina de Almeida (Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa - UEPG), for her valuable contributions to the cytogenetics of Coleoptera , which led to our initial taxonomic studies of Brazilian oedionychines.

Distribution: Brazil – state of Goiás.

Remarks: The general morphology is like other species in Walterianella , in particular the narrow interocular space and large eyes. This species does lack the prosternal keel and the anterofrontal ridge gradually sloping towards labrum, pointed out by Konstantinov et al. (2022) as a diagnostic character for the Walterianella in the neotropics. When compared to the spermatheca of W. interruptovittata ( Jacoby, 1905) ( Fig. 10F View FIGURE 10 ), dissected in Konstantinov et al. (2022), the receptacle of W. marae sp. nov. ( Fig. 10C View FIGURE 10 ) is comparatively thicker and curved in a crescent shape, while the former is elongated, slender and mostly straight. For the time being, we chose to keep this species in Walterianella for the general similarities to its congenerics, such as the general shape of the head, with width being subequal to height, and narrow interocular space.

MZSP

Sao Paulo, Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulo

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Coleoptera

Family

Chrysomelidae

SubFamily

Galerucinae

Tribe

Alticini

Genus

Walterianella

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