Walterianella tapuiae 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 : 42-46

Walterianella tapuiae Begha & Prado sp. nov.

zoobank.org:act: 9E501FB3-6013-4A85-B4A9-9134AE2D276C

( Figs 2D , 4D , 3H , 6H , 7D , 8D , 9D , 10D )

Length: 3.71–4.08 mm, based on two males and two females.

Head: oval. Interocular space slightly wider width of eye. Height of eye slightly longer than to 1,5 times its width. Width of head subequal to height in frontal view. Interantennal space projected slightly beyond antennal bulbus. Vertex smooth, a group of punctures near the superior margin of eyes. Antennal calli trapezoid, supracallinal sulcus and midfrontal sulcus well-marked. Supracallinal sulcus nearly reaching the margin of the eye. 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 horizontal evenly spaced setae. Antennae: filiform, with 11 antennomeres. Antennomere I shorter as II and III combined. Antennomeres I–III dark yellow, antennomeres IV–XI dark brown.

Prothorax: yellow, sides 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 strongly convex. Prosternum with the same color as the pronotum, anterior and inner margin of prosternum emarginated, prosternal process subrectangular. Lacking prosternal keel. Metathorax and mesothorax: yellow, mesothorax short, metathorax rectangular with metathoracic suture visible. Fine setae present throughout. Elytra: semi-translucent, epipleura explanate, bent upwards except for the distal third of elytra. Covered with confused punctuation. Elytral integument yellow, lacking any maculae. Scutellum yellow. Legs: yellow, pro- and mesothoracic tibiae similar, lacking spurs. Metafemur wide, nearly as wide as long, somewhat triangular. Metatibia with distal recess and sharp denticle medially near apex, tibial spur slender. Distal metatarsomere strongly globose.

Abdomen: yellow, five visible segments. Fine setae present throughout.Abdominal process between metacoxae narrow. Aedeagus, median lobe: apical hood reduced exposing complex structures on the dorsal face. Long and laterally slender, total length about four times the length of the exposed apical portion. Dorsal median process and oblique dorsal process forming an elongated trident shape. Spermatheca: receptacle and pump distinguishable from each other. Receptacle reniform. Pump convex, acuminate, less sclerotized than receptacle. Spermathecal duct long, coiled.

Holotype material: BRAZIL, GO, Goianápolis Parque Altamiro de Moura Pacheco-PEAMP | Malaise Mata, próximo ao reservatório – Trilha da Mangueira -16,555119 -49,172473 | 18.i.2023 - 16.ii.2023 | Cols. Oliveira, S.S. & Lopes, W.R. ♀ ♂ ( MZSP).

Paratype material: BRAZIL, GO, Goianápolis Parque Altamiro de Moura Pacheco-PEAMP | Malaise Mata, próximo ao reservatório – Trilha da Mangueira -16.555119 -49.172473 | 18.i.2023 - 16.ii.2023 | Cols. Oliveira, S.S. & Lopes, W.R. ♂ ( MZSP); (Same location as previous) 08.ix.2022 - 05.x.2022 | Cols. Oliveira, S.S. & Lopes, W.R. ♀ ( ZUFG) .

Additional material: BRAZIL, GO, Goianápolis Parque Altamiro de Moura Pacheco-PEAMP | Malaise Mata, próximo ao reservatório – Trilha da Mangueira | -16.555119 -49.172473 | 05.viii.2022 - 08ix.2022 | Cols. Oliveira, S.S. & Lopes, W.R. ( ZUFG). This specimen was a host of Erithraeidae mites, this record of ectoparasitism is described in Begha et al. (in preparation) .

Etymology: The specific epithet is a patronym, derived from the Tapuio indigenous people of Brazil, who originated from the forced concentration and subsequent miscegenation of different native cultures (Xavante, Caiapó do Sul, Xerente, Karajá, Javaé) and enslaved individuals in the Carretão village in the Cerrado instituted by the Portuguese Crown in the then colony of Brazil in the late 18th Century. It has been latinized in the feminine form to agree with the generic combination.

Distribution: Brazil – state of Goiás.

Remarks: We compared this species to specimens studied by Konstantinov et al. 2022 and Van Roie et al. 2023 and identified it as a Walterianella sharing the following characters: straight supracallinal sulcus reaching the margins of the eyes and then curving upwards, anterofrontal ridge gradually sloping towards labrum, making more than 90-degree angle between frons and labrum, large eyes, similar width of interocular space ( Konstantinov et al. 2022; Roie et al. 2023). When compared to W. interruptovittata ( Fig. 10F ) and W. marae sp. nov. ( Fig. 10C ), the spermatheca of W. interruptovittata is much slenderer, and the spermatheca of W. tapuiae sp. nov. ( Fig. 10C ) is similar to W. marae , but its pump points downwards and the base of the receptacle is narrower than the apex. As this species lacks the prosternal keel pointed out by Konstantinov et al. (2022) as a diagnostic character for the Walterianella , we are still unsure how this character appears in other species in the Cerrado.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Oedionychina sampled in Malaise trap in the Parque Estadual Altamiro de Moura Pacheco, Goiás, Brazil, dorsal view.A, Omophoita magniguttis (female); B, Paranaita opima (male); C, Walterianella maraesp. nov. (female); D, Walterianella tapuiae sp. nov. (male). Scale bar 1 mm.

FIGURE 3. Oedionychina sampled in Malaise trap in the Parque Estadual Altamiro de Moura Pacheco, Goiás, Brazil, dorsal view. A, Alagoasa burmeisteri (female and male, morphotype 1); B, Alagoasa burmeisteri (female, morphotype 2), arrow pointing the triangular metafemur; C, Alagoasa burmeisteri (female, morphotype 3); D, Omophoita mateusi sp. nov. (male), arrow pointing the fusiform metafemur. Scale bar 1 mm.

FIGURE 4. Oedionychina sampled in Malaise trap in the Parque EstadualAltamiro deMoura Pacheco, Goiás, Brazil,dorsal view. A, Omophoita magniguttis (female); B, Paranaita opima (male); C, Walterianella marae sp. nov. (female); D, Walterianella tapuiae sp. nov. (male). Scale bar 1 mm.

FIGURE 6. Oedionychina sampled in Malaise trap in the Parque Estadual Altamiro de Moura Pacheco, Goiás, Brazil, frontal view of the head. A, Alagoasa burmeisteri (female, morphotype 1); B, Alagoasa burmeisteri (female, morphotype 2); C, Alagoasa burmeisteri (female, morphotype 3); D, Omophoita mateusi sp. nov. (male); E, Omophoita magniguttis (female); F, Paranaita opima (male); G, Walterianella marae sp. nov. (female); H, Walterianella tapuiae sp. nov. (male). Scale bar 1 mm.

FIGURE 7. Dorsal view of median lobe of aedeagus of male Oedionychina sampled in Malaise trap in the Parque Estadual Altamiro de Moura Pacheco, Goianápolis, Goiás, Brazil. A. Alagoasa burmeisteri; B. Omophoita mateusi sp. nov.; C. Paranaita opima; D. Walterianella tapuiae sp. nov. Scale bar 1 mm.

FIGURE 8. Lateral view of median lobe of aedeagus of male Oedionychina sampled in Malaise trap in the Parque Estadual Altamiro de Moura Pacheco, Goianápolis, Goiás, Brazil. A. Alagoasa burmeisteri; B. Omophoita mateusi sp. nov.; C. Paranaita opima; D. Walterianella tapuiae sp. nov. Scale bar 1 mm.

FIGURE 9. Lateral view of median lobe of aedeagus of male Oedionychina sampled in Malaise trap in the Parque Estadual Altamiro de Moura Pacheco, Goianápolis, Goiás, Brazil. A. Alagoasa burmeisteri; B. Omophoita mateusi sp. nov.; C. Paranaita opima; D. Walterianella tapuiae sp. nov. Scale bar 1 mm.

FIGURE 10. Spermatheca of female Oedionychina sampled in Malaise trap in the Parque Estadual Altamiro de Moura Pacheco, Goianápolis, Goiás, Brazil. A. Alagoasa burmeisteri; B. Omophoita magniguttis; C. Walterianella marae sp. nov.; D. Walterianella tapuiae sp. nov. Scale bar 1 mm. E. Alagoasa libentina; F. Walterianella interruptovittata; photos from Konstantinov et al. (2022), figures 5J and 29E from that publication, respectively, for comparison (not in scale).