Research Article |
Corresponding author: David Král ( kral@natur.cuni.cz ) Academic editor: Andrey Frolov
© 2018 David Král, Lucie Hrůzová.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Král D, Hrůzová L (2018) Glaresis hespericula sp. n. from the Cape Verde Islands (Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea, Glaresidae). ZooKeys 792: 91-97. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.792.28870
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Glaresis hespericula sp. n. from the Cape Verde Islands (Boa Vista Island) is described and its diagnostic characters are illustrated. The new species is compared with similar and probably closely related species Glaresis walzlae Scholtz, 1983. The differential diagnosis is mainly based on the different shape of meso- and metatibiae.
Afrotropical region, Coleoptera , Glaresidae , Glaresis , new species, Republic of Cabo Verde, Scarabaeoidea
The scarabaeoid family Glaresidae includes only the single genus Glaresis Erichson, 1848 widespread in all zoogeographical regions except Australia and Antarctica. The genus comprises more than eight dozen of described species of small, uniformly looking beetles that usually prefer sandy, often arid habitats. Adults are active in the evening, often attracted by light sources. The immature stages and biology of this hidden living group are not yet known (e.g.,
The Afrotropical fauna of the family Glaresidae is inadequately known. Only 19 species have been formally described from this region (see e.g.,
Recently collected Glaresis material from the Boa Vista Island, Cape Verde Archipelago, revealed another, undescribed species whose formal description we present below.
Specimens were examined with an Olympus SZ61 stereomicroscope, measurements were taken with an ocular grid. The habitus photographs were taken using a Canon MP-E 65mm/2.8 1–5× Macro lens attached to a Canon EOS 550D camera. Partially focused images of each specimen were combined using Zerene stacker software. Male genitalia images were taken with a Provis AX70 (Olympus) microscope with digital image processing capability using Micro Image (Olympus) software.
Specimens of the newly described species are provided with one printed red label:
“Glaresis | hespericula sp. nov. | HOLOTYPUS ♂ [or] PARATYPUS ♀ | David Král & Lucie Hrůzová 2018”. Both type specimens are deposited in the National Museum Praha, Czech Republic.
Exact label data are cited for the type material examined. Lines within each label are separated by a single vertical bar “|”. Information in quotation marks indicates the original spelling. Our remarks and additional comments are placed in brackets.
For morphological terms used in the description we largely follow
Cape Verde, Boa Vista Island, 10 km S of Sal Rei, near Praia de Chavez 16.12°N 22.91°W, [ca. 7 m a. s. l.].
Holotype (♂) and paratype (♀), “CAPE VERDE Boa Vista | Isl., 10 km S of Sal Rei, N | 16°12' W22°91'; near Praia | de Chavez, 28.-29.x.2015, | on light, V. Novák lgt.”
Body robust, strongly convex, weakly widened posteriad, brownish yellow coloured, weakly shining, macrosetation pale (Figs
Head (Figs
Pronotum (Figure. 1) transverse, moderately convex, pronotal grooves absent, medial longitudinal groove shallow; margins not bordered; anterolateral, lateral and basal margins serrate and with row of approximately clavate macrosetae, posterior corners rectangular; surface covered with densely almost regularly longitudinal carinae, each carina bearing thick, recumbent macroseta.
Scutellar plate small, almost triangular, alutaceous, smooth, and bare.
Elytra (Figs
Macropterous.
Pygidium weakly shining, scabrous.
Ventral surface (Figs
Legs. Posterior-superior margin of metafemora with blunt, broadly triangular teeth, anterior-superior margin of metafemora with a row of long macrosetae (Figs
Male external genitalia (Figure
Glaresis hespericula sp. n. 1 habitus, holotype, ♂, dorsal view 2 habitus, paratype, ♀, ventral view 3 aedeagus, dorsal view 4 head, dorsal view 5 meso-metaventral area, ventral view 6 detail of left elytron, dorsal view 7, 8 – left middle leg (7 dorsal view, 8 ventral view) 9, 10 right hind leg (9 dorsal view, 10 ventral view). Not to scale.
Female paratype differs from male by body indistinctly broader posteriad (Figure
Total body length: 4.0–4.3 mm (holotype 4.2 mm; paratype 4.3 mm).
The new species is similar to Glaresis walzlae Scholtz, 1983, described from Sudan, mainly in having the following characters: absence of the pronotal grooves beside the medial longitudinal groove (Figure
– mesotibia with prominent median projection situated approximately in middle of length of mesotibia (Figs
– distal part of outer edge of mesotibia broadly, shallowly emarginate, with row of 9–10 spines (Figs
– metatibia with faint median projection on outer margin, with faint median ridge (Figs
The material was collected on sand dunes using a light trap approximately between 7–9 p.m., the temperature was around 24 °C and two days before it rained very strongly.
Hespericula means a small, yet juvenile hesperid; noun in apposition.
So far known only from the Boa Vista Island, the Cape Verde Islands.
Cape Verde Archipelago is classified together with other volcanic archipelagos (Azores, Madeira, Salvagens Islands and Canary Islands) and a thin strip of the Atlantic coast in southern Portugal, Morocco and the Western Sahara as the Macaronesian biogeographic subregion (e.g.,
The present study was supported by the SVV grant no. 260 434/2018 (Lucie Hrůzová).