Hidden Brazilian Amazon diversity: four new species, redescription and notes on natural history of Termitozophilus Silvestri, 1901 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae)
Author
Silva, Ruan Felipe Da
0000-0002-7096-226X
Programa de Pós-graduação em Biodiversidade e Evolução. & Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Coordenação de Zoologia. Av. Perimetral, 1901, 66077 - 830, Belém, Pará, Brazil.
silvaruanbio@gmail.com
Author
Zilberman, Bruno
0000-0003-2613-4827
Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, Caixa Postal 42494; 04218 - 970, São Paulo, Brazil. & Programa de Pós-graduação em Sistemática, Taxonomia Animal e Biodiversidade.
brunozilberman@usp.br
Author
Carvalho-Filho, Fernando Da Silva
0000-0002-2480-3874
Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Coordenação de Zoologia. Av. Perimetral, 1901, 66077 - 830, Belém, Pará, Brazil.
fernandofilho@museu-goeldi.br
text
Zootaxa
2022
2022-11-21
5209
5
501
534
journal article
193695
10.11646/zootaxa.5209.5.1
80fa12f4-e62b-487d-91b1-b1ec37da5ba4
1175-5326
7469353
360B047E-5396-48AE-B26F-00B34BCB835A
Termitozophilus parapilosus
sp. nov.
(
Figs. 10–13
,
27B
,
28
)
Type material.
HOLOTYPE
♂
(
MPEG
): Brasil [=
Brazil
],
Pará
,
Peixe-Boi
/
Fazenda Abalém
[= Abalém Farm],
15.VII.2021
/
R
.
F. Silva
[collector], hospedeiro [= host]:
Cornitermes pilosus
.
PARATYPES
. Same data as holotype,
1 ♀
in
MPEG
(in alcohol),
1 ♀
and
1 ♂
in
MZSUP
(
MZSP 21302
) (dissected in slides)
.
Diagnosis
. Paratergites fused neither to each other nor to tergites and sternites; sclerotized parts of the abdomen mostly light brown, with a large white-colored membranous area exposed in dorsal view. Head with three pairs of bristles, one behind the eye, one on medial-posterior region, and one below medial-posterior area. Elytra subquadrate with a heavily scaled anteromesial border. Apex of sternite VIII with six bristles.
Description.
Male—length ~
1.4 mm
(
Figs. 10A–B
); female—length ~
1.7 mm
(
Figs. 10C–F
).
Head
subquadrate, about as wide as long, widest behind eye, almost narrowing posteriorly; eye about 1/3 of head length; three pairs of bristles on vertex, one bristles behind eye, one bristle on medial-posterior region, and one bristle below the medial-posterior region (
Fig. 11A
).
Antenna:
scape almost longer than remainder antennomeres, except antennomere XI; antennomere XI about three times longer than wide and more than twice longer than antennomere X; antennomeres II–VI elongate, gradually decreasing in length, antennomere VII–X moniliform.
Mouthparts. Labrum
more than twice wider than long, with slight sinuous anterior margin; five main long bristles on each lateral half, arranged in two diagonal rows each with two bristles and one bristle on middle of labrum length (
Fig. 11C
); epipharynx covered with sensilla and numerous short bristles, two of which longer.
Mandible
apex narrow, bearing a tooth on mesal region; with many punctuations on basal 2/3 (
Fig. 11B
).
Labium
with ligula narrowed at base and with a median-apical emargination, resulting in two lobes; mentum and submentum distinct, both trapezoidal, with three bristles distributed on each lateral margin, as follows: apical, pre-apical, and proximal (
Fig. 11E
).
FIGURE 10.
Termitozophilus parapilosus
sp. nov.
A)
Habitus
, male, lateral view.
B)
Habitus
, male, dorsal view.
C)
Habitus
, female, lateral view.
D)
Habitus
, female, dorsal view.
E)
Abdomen, dorsal view.
F)
Abdomen, ventral view.
FIGURE 11.
Termitozophilus parapilosus
sp. nov.
A)
Head, dorsal view.
B)
Left and right mandibles, dorsal view.
C)
Labrum, dorsal view.
D)
Maxilla, dorsal view.
E)
Pré-mentum, mentum and sub-mentum, ventral view. Scales: A
=
2 mm; B–D
=
0,5 mm; E
=
1,5 mm.
Thorax. Elytra
subquadrate, almost longer than wide and almost wider at posterior region (
Fig. 12C
), covering mesonotum and metanotum; anteromesial border densely scaled in internal view (
Figs. 13A–B
); covered with long bristles.
Hind wing
membrane shed in post-imaginal stage, present as a stump (
Fig. 12B
).
FIGURE 12.
Termitozophilus parapilosus
sp. nov.
A)
Meso-metaventrite, ventral view.
B)
Meso-metanotum and tergite I, dorsal view.
C)
Elytron, dorsal view.
D)
Tergite VII, dorsal view.
E)
Male tergites IX and X, dorsal view.
F)
Male sternite IX, ventral view.
G)
Tergite VIII, dorsal view.
H)
Sternite VIII, ventral view.
I)
Female tergites IX and X, dorsal view.
J)
Median lobe of aedeagus, lateral view.
K)
Aedeagus, paramere, lateral view.
L)
Spermatheca, lateral view. Scales: A–E, G–I
=
2 mm; F
=
1,5 mm; J–K
=
0,1 mm; L
=
0,5 mm.
Abdomen
with short tergites and with secondary sclerotization not reaching inner paratergites; outer paratergites close to margin of sternites by the former secondary sclerotization; inner and outer paratergites not fused (
Fig. 27B
); first segment represented by a weak sclerotized tergite joined to metanotum (
Fig. 12B
); sternites III–V with pores sparsely distributed; tergite VII (
Fig. 12D
) subquadrate, wider than long, with two rows of bristles, two bristles on medial region and six bristles on apical region, anterior margin with conspicuous glandular area; tergite VIII (
Fig. 12G
) almost subquadrate, with two rows of bristles, each with six main long bristles on medial and posterior regions, and four moderated sized bristles on posterior margin; sternite VIII (
Fig. 12H
) subquadrate, with acute posterior margin; with a row of six medial bristles, a row of eight posterior bristles, and six moderated sized bristles on posterior margin; male sternite IX (
Fig. 12F
) elongate and tongue-shaped, with four bristles on posterior half; female sternite IX represented by a pair of hemisternites laterally attached to tergite IX (
Fig. 12I
); tergite X (
Fig. 12E
) not bilobed, with three long bristles on each side and with two bristles on medial region.
Etymology.
The specific epithet “
parapilosus
”
is a combination of “para”, of Greek origin, which means “close to” and “pilosus”, referring to the species
T. pilosus
sp. nov.
, due to the morphological similarity between these species.
Geographic distribution.
Brazil
(
Pará
).
Host termites.
This species was found in epigeal (above-ground) nests of
Cornitermes pilosus
Holmgren.
This is the first record of a termitophilous rove beetle in the nest of this termite species.
Discussion
.
Termitozophilus parapilosus
sp. nov.
is similar to
T
.
pilosus
sp. nov.
and
T
.
favachoi
sp. nov.
in having paratergites fused neither to each other nor to tergites and sternites (
Figs. 27A–E
).
Termitozophilus parapilosus
sp. nov.
can be easily distinguished from
T. pilosus
sp. nov.
in having six bristles on vertex (
Fig. 11A
) (
T. pilosus
sp. nov.
has four bristles). In addition, it has four bristles on posterior margin of tergite VIII (
Fig. 12G
) (six in
T. pilosus
sp. nov.
) and six bristles on the posterior margin of sternite VIII (
Fig. 12H
) (four in
T. pilosus
sp. nov.
).
Termitozophilus parapilosus
sp. nov.
also has anteromesial border of elytra densely scaled in the internal view (
Figs. 13A–B
). See the discussion under
T
.
favachoi
sp. nov.
for differences between these similar new species.