A new cryptic species of metallic Chrysina Kirby (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae) from western Honduras
Author
Sierra, José Monzón
Laboratorio de Entomología Sistemática Departamento de Biología Universidad del Valle de Guatemala Apartado Postal 82, Guatemala Guatemala, C. A. 01901 jmonzon @ uvg. edu. gt
Author
Hawks, David C.
Department of Entomology University of California Riverside, CA 92521 U. S. A.
text
Insecta Mundi
2020
2020-10-09
2020
802
1
5
journal article
7866
10.5281/zenodo.4565299
a6e43a18-39e0-47b3-b003-00d9aa617f1f
1942-1354
4565299
D0ABF5EE-F0AD-4E9F-AC09-9F2F2F3F7901
Chrysina porioni
Monzón and Hawks
,
new species
Figures 1–13
,
18
.
Type data.
Holotype
male (deposited at
FSCA
) labeled: a) “
HONDURAS
,
Cortés
/ San Pedro
Sula
, camino / antenas,
1532 m
alt. /
15 JUNIO 2010
/ 15.506480 –88.109614”; b) on red paper, “
HOLOTYPE
/
Chrysina porioni
/ Monzón & Hawks, 2019”
.
Paratypes
(
46 males
and
13 females
) with data as follows:
Same
data as holotype except “
MAY 1996
” (
2 males
and
1 female
)
;
same data except “
JUNE 1998
” (
6 males
and
5 females
)
;
same data except “
JUNE 1999
(
5 males
and
2 females
); same data except “
APRIL 2008
” (
2 males
); same data except “
15 OCTOBER 2009
” (
4 males
); same data except “
SEPTEMBER 2011
” (
1 male
and
1 female
); same data except “
JUNE 2014
” (
6 males
); same data except “
15 JUNE 2015
” (
7 males
and
1 female
); same data except “
JULY 2015
(
1 male
and
1 female
)
;
same data except “
JULY 2017
” (
2 males
)
;
“
HONDURAS
,
Cortés
:
El Merendón
(
11 km
al
Oeste
de S.P.S.), bosque nuboso, CG N150°20.774
′
W88°07.032
′
EPE 12 mts,
1575 m
, trampa de luz,
01/VI/2011
,
J. Blackaller
&
D. Robacker
col” (
9 males
and
2 females
)
;
“
HONDURAS
,
Cortés
:
Cusuco National Park
,
Visitor Center
,
1550 m
.,
4–5 JUNE 1997
, D. C. Hawks, MV light” (
1 male
)
.
Paratypes
deposited in the collections of
EAPZ
,
UVGC
,
MdCL
,
DCHC
,
JMSC
,
KPC
,
MDC
and
THPC
.
Description,
holotype
male.
Length 23.0 mm; width at elytral humeri
10.5 mm
; maximum width (middle of elytra)
11.5 mm
. Dorsal surface brilliant and polished metallic yellowish silver (
Fig. 1
); clypeus anterior margins, ocular canthi and lateral pronotal margins pink; antennae dark brown, scape dorsally pinkish silver; ventral surface (
Fig. 2
), pygidium, epipleuron and legs light brown with iridescent golden and green reflections.
Head
weakly convex, frons very finely and sparsely punctate, punctures shallow, becoming denser and deeper along free clypeal margins; clypeus (
Fig. 5
) semicircular in dorsal view and apically reflexed; interocular distance 1.8 times wider than antennal club length.
Mentum
laterally rounded with anterior fourth laterally expanding with rounded edges and angulate anterior margin; posterior margin almost flat and slightly concave, longitudinal middle furrow complete; surface with punctures scattered and deep (
Fig. 6
).
Pronotum
at base 2.6 times as wide as interocular distance, polished with sparse, fine punctures visible only at high magnification;
5.5 mm
long and 9.0 mm wide, widest at posterior angles, marginal bead effaced between inner borders of eyes and weak in front of scutellum.
Elytra
16.0 mm long, smooth, striae weakly impressed, visible only under magnification; apical umbone conical in dorsal view, slightly prominent; lateral margin completely beaded.
Pygidium
shagreened with dense, finely rugose punctation laterally, disc smooth; subapically convex and prominent towards apex (
Fig. 7
).
Venter
with metasternum with abundant long pale setae; mesometasternal process long and extending past mesofemoral base, rounded in dorsal view (
Fig. 8
), sharp and slightly depressed in lateral view (
Fig 9
).
Legs
with protibiae clearly tridentate, apical and medial teeth well developed, third tooth smaller.
Genitalia
with parameres fused, asymmetrical; length of genital capsule 9.0 mm (
Fig. 10–13
).
Figures 1–4.
Dorsal and ventral habitus of
Chrysina porioni
, scale in mm.
1–2)
Holotype male from type locality.
3–4)
Paratype of golden color morph from the same locality.
Figures 5–9.
Chrysina porioni
, structures of holotype male.
5)
Clypeus.
6)
Mentum.
7)
Pygidium.
8)
Mesometasternal process, ventral view.
9)
Mesometasternal process, lateral view.
Female.
Similar to male except body more convex; tarsi slightly less robust; abdominal apical sternite not depressed. Inferior genital plates simple (
Fig. 18
), slightly asymmetrical (based on female with database label JMS11843).
Variation.
The
type
series of
60 specimens
exhibits little size variation. Males: length 22.0–
23.5 mm
; width at elytral humeri 10.0–11.0 mm; maximum width 10.5–12.0 mm. Females: length 23.0–24.0 mm; width at elytral humeri 11.0–
11.5 mm
; maximum width 12.0–13.0 mm. Fifteen male specimens (35% of all males) represent a
Figures 10–17.
Chrysina porioni
and
C. ericsmithi
male genital capsules, scale in mm.
10)
C. porioni
dorsal view.
11)
C. porioni
ventral view.
12)
C. porioni
right lateral view.
13)
C. porioni
left lateral view.
14)
C. ericsmithi
dorsal view.
15)
C. ericsmithi
ventral view.
16)
C. ericsmithi
right lateral view.
17)
C. ericsmithi
left lateral view.
Figure 18.
Chrysina porioni
female inferior
genital plates, scale in mm.
metallic golden color morph (
Fig. 3–4
). One of the fifteen golden males has a very bright red venter and anterior half of the clypeus, and the legs have a paler reddish tint.
Diagnosis.
Chrysina porioni
is a (typically) silver species in the Chrysargyrea Group (sensu
Hawks 2001
), of which there are four species in
Honduras
and
Guatemala
. Among these four species, the most distinctive is
C. strasseni
(Ohaus)
, which is metallic both dorsally and ventrally, and the only silver
Chrysina
species that has the head and pronotum golden.
C. pastori
(Curoe)
can be easily separated by its dorsal and ventral greenish-silver color and by its unique male genitalia, in which the parameres narrow to a thin, sharp apex. The only species with which
C. porioni
can be confused is
C. ericsmithi
. These can best be separated by the male genitalia, which have similar but differently shaped parameres (
Fig. 14–17
). The most conspicuous differences in the parameres are wide, flat, obtusely triangular lateral flanges in
C. porioni
(
Fig. 10
), and narrower, more acutely triangular flanges in
C. ericsmithi
(
Fig. 14
).
Distribution.
Chrysina porioni
is known only from western
Honduras
on the eastern slope of the Sierra del Merendón west of San Pedro Sula and in Cusuco National Park, at elevations between 1500 and 1600 meters above sea level.
Chrysina ericsmithi
occurs in a low elevation (
1100 m
) cloud forest on the western slope of the Sierra del Merendón in eastern
Guatemala
,
Izabal Department
, near Negro Norte. Both of these species occur at low to moderate elevations and apparently are separated by the high elevation north-south crest of the Sierra del Merendón.
Etymology.
It is our pleasure to name this beautiful species for our friend and great insect collector Thierry Porion from
France
.