Ceracis zarathustrai sp . nov . ( Coleoptera : Ciidae ) from the Atlantic Forest biome

Ceracis Mellie, 1849 is the second most speciose genus of Ciidae, with 51 described species. Here we describe Ceracis zarathustrai sp. nov. based on adult individuals collected in three remnants of the Atlantic Forest biome (states of Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo). We provide information on its host fungi and briefly discuss the morphological affinities with other species of the genus.

Species of Ceracis have oval to elongate body, antennae with 8 to 10 antennomeres, prothorax with narrow sides and obtuse to rounded anterior angles, prosternum concave with posterior process laminate, protibia apically expanded and bearing several spines along the outer apical angle, metaventrite strongly convex, the discrimen short or absent, and vestiture consisting of very short and fine setae, usually inconspicuous.Males have a sex patch at the middle of the first abdominal ventrite, a common feature to most male Ciinae, and usually have conspicuous horns or tubercles at both pronotal apex and frontoclypeal ridge (LAWRENCE 1967).
Four species-groups were defined for the genus (C.cucullatus, C. furcatus, C. furcifer, and C. singularis), but they encompass only 21 species (LAWRENCE 1967, LOPES-ANDRADE et al. 2002).These groups are based exclusively on external anatomical similarities of the species and leave 30 species without group assignment.
Our objective in this work is to describe Ceracis zarathustrai sp.nov.(Ciinae) and to provide information on its host fungi and geographic distribution.This new species does not fit in any of the four defined species-groups of Ceracis and is known only from remnants of the Atlantic Forest (states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo).

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Three paratypes were dissected, being one male and one female from Viçosa (Minas Gerais) and one male from Tiradentes (Minas Gerais) in southeastern Brazil.The holotype was not dissected.Images of dissected sclerites are of paratypes.Terms for external morphology and male terminalia of ciids follow LOPES-ANDRADE & LAWRENCE (2005, 2011); controversial terms common in the taxonomy of Ciidae are detailed explained there.Description of male frontoclypeal horn follows OLIVEIRA et al. (2013).The term "single" refers to the punctation consisting of uniformly-sized punctures following the usual nomenclature in taxonomic works on Ciidae (e.g., LAWRENCE 1971, LOPES-ANDRADE & LAWRENCE 2005, LOPES-ANDRADE 2011).The following symbols are used for measurements (in mm) and ratios: (BW) basal width of the scutellum; (CL) length of the antennal club (measured from base of the seventh to apex of the ninth antennomere); (EL) elytral length (at midline, from base of scutellum to elytral apex); (EW) greatest elytral width; (FL) length of the antennal funicle (measured from base of the third to apex of the sixth antennomere); (GD) greatest depth of the body (from elytra to metaventrite); (GW) greatest diameter of the eye; (PL) pronotal length along midline; (PW) greatest pronotal width; (SL) longitudinal length of the scutellum along midline; (TL) total length (= EL + PL, head not included).The ratio GD/EW was recorded as an indication of degree of convexity; TL/EW indicates degree of body elongation.
Labels were printed on white paper, unless otherwise specified between square brackets.Pin label transcriptions are placed within quotations marks, with each label separated by a backslash.The number and gender of specimens bearing these labels are stated immediately before the label data.
Specimens were studied, measured and photographed under a Zeiss Discovery V8 stereomicroscope equipped with a Zeiss Axiocam MRc digital camera.Final images of the body were the result of joining about 30 slices at different focal lengths using the extended focus module of Zeiss Axiovision 4.8 software.Whole mount preparations of male terminalia followed the protocol described by LOPES-ANDRADE ( 2011) and photographies of dissected sclerites were made under a Zeiss Axiolab optic microscope equipped with a Zeiss Axiocam ERc 5s digital camera.We estimated latitude and longitude coordinates by tracking localities in the online database Geo-Names (WICK 2010) and plotted them onto a map.The specimens were deposited in the following institutional collections (with acronyms used in this paper): (CELC) Coleção Entomológica do Laboratório de Sistemática e Biologia de Coleoptera, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Minas Gerais; (MCNZ) Museu de Ciências Naturais da Fundação Zoobotânica, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul.
Diagnosis.Body elongate (TL/EW 2.13-2.38),glabrous dorsally.Elytral punctation single and dense.Males with frontoclypeal ridge strongly produced, forming a long and narrow, strongly elevated, subcylindrical median horn, which is subtruncate and bears a conspicuous tuft of yellowish bristles at apex; anterior edge of pronotum varying from strongly pro-duced forward, forming two rounded lateral lobes, to weakly or not produced, with its anterior edge almost rounded; first abdominal ventrite with a broad, transversely oval setose sex patch (Fig. 5, arrow).

DISCUSSION
Ceracis zarathustrai sp.nov.resembles species of the C. furcifer group, like C. cornifer, C. cylindricus (Brèthes, 1922), C. hastifer (Mellié, 1849), C. monocerus Lawrence, 1967, C. simplicicornis, andC. unicornis Gorham, 1898, in which antennae have nine antennomeres and apex of the frontoclypeal horn of males is rounded, truncate or shallowly emarginated.These and C. zarathustrai sp.nov.have similar body shape, fine and scattered pronotal and elytral punctuation and a rounded or shallowly emarginate pronotal apex.Other two species of the C. furcifer group, C. ruficornis Pic, 1916 and C. furcifer possess these same features, but differ in the frontoclypeal horn of males usually deeply incised at apex, forming a short bifurcation, and antennae with eight antennomeres.Besides superficial similarities, C. zarathustrai sp.nov.differs from all species in the C. furcifer group in having a more elongate body and concave prosternum, and males with frontoclypeal horn subcylindrical (it is laminar in the C. furcifer group), with a conspicuous tuft of yellowish bristles at apex, anterior portion of pronotum produced forward, concealing the head when seen from above (except for the horn), and anterior pronotum edge shallowly emarginate at middle, forming two short lobes.We dissected and examined sclerites of the male terminalia of C. furcifer, C. cornifer, and C. ruficornis.In these species, the tegmen has a deep longitudinal emargination at apex forming two wide parallel lobes, with rounded or blunt apices; the penis is cylindrical with rounded apex; and the sternite VIII has a conspicuous, deep concave emargination at the middle of the posterior edge.In C. zarathustrai sp.nov. the sternite VIII has a shallow V-shaped emargination at the posterior edge (Fig. 6), the lateral lobes of tegmen are narrow and acute at apex and the penis has a triangular sclerotization at the middle of the apical portion (Fig. 7 The continuous deforestation of the Atlantic Forest is possibly keeping populations of C. zarathustrai sp.nov.isolated in separate small forest remnants, thus the species can be seriously threatened.There are other ciids considered to be restricted to forests in the Neotropical region, as species of Falsocis Pic, 1916 and Phellinocis Lopes-Andrade & Lawrence, 2005(LOPES-ANDRADE 2007, LOPES-ANDRADE & LAWRENCE 2005, 2011).It is important to note that we and our colleagues have collected ciids in the Atlantic Forest biome for more than a decade, but C. zarathustrai sp.nov.was found in only three remnants and never in open areas.It is necessary to evaluate the feeding habits of the species, obtain further biological information, and access its conservation status.
We conclude that, despite superficial similarities of males, Ceracis zarathustrai sp.nov.does not belong to the C. furcifer group.It' is possible that this ciid belongs to the C. cucullatus group or another species-group in the genus, but an assignment would be premature at this time because detailed information on male terminalia of most Ceracis species is not available yet.
), features that resemble most those of species in the C. cucullatus group (see ANTUNES-CARVALHO & LOPES-ANDRADE 2011, 2013).The basal piece is subtriangular in C. ruficornis, C. furcifer, and C. zarathustrai sp.nov., but in the latter it has more closed angles.In C. cornifer, the basal piece is subrectangular, being very different from the other examined species.Both C. furcifer group and C. zarathustrai sp.nov.occur in Polyporaceae s. str.host fungi.However, species of the C. furcifer group are most frequently found in basidiomes of Pycnoporus sanguineus (L.) Murrill, 1904 (LAWRENCE 1973, GUMIER-COSTA et al. 2003, GRAF-PETERS et al. 2011), a very common fungi occurring in open areas of tropical Brazil, seldom observed inside forests (C.Lopes-Andrade, pers.obs.).Therefore, because of the almost strict association of species of the C. furcifer group with P. sanguineus, they are more frequently found in open natural (e.g., in the Cerrado biome), rural and urbanized areas than in forests.In contrast, the few host records for C. zarathustrai sp.nov.were in Trametes sp.collected in forest remnants, without any record from open areas.It is possible that this ciid does not survive under the conditions of open areas and is depended upon hosts occurring only inside forests.