Laccophilus sonorensis Zimmerman 1970

Laccophilus sonorensis
DIAGNOSIS. — A comparison of elytral patterns will permit separation of sonorensis from all other species. It most resembles the sympatric L. q. quadrilineatus, but the pattern is almost a "negative" of that form. Anatomically, the two are extremely similar and, obviously, closely related. The postcoxal processes of quadrilineatus appear to project slightly more posteriorly than they do in sonorensis, however. Megascopically, sonorensis might be mistaken for the more common L. fasciatus terminalis, but a microscopic examination will readily show the differences. L. vacaensis thermophilus occurs in the same area and, like sonorensis, lacks a metacoxal file in the male and has widespread teeth on the ovipositor; but it is an irrorated species with a different elytral pattern and is generally much smaller. No other sympatric Laccophilus species would be confused with sonorensis.
DESCRIPTION. — Medium to large (length, 4.5 to 6.0 mm; width, 2.5 to 3.2 mm), yellow and brown, non-irrorated species; metacoxal file absent; prosternal process short; ovipositor more rakelike than sawlike. COLOR. Head and pronotum: pale yellow, faded near margins. Elytra: yellow with brown markings; elytral suture dark reddish-brown; epipleura pale anteriorly and sometimes darkened to translucent reddish-brown posteriorly. Tergite VIII: brown at base, but posterior half yellow. Venter and genitalia: pale yellow tinged with reddish-brown. ANATOMY. Microreticulation: weakly double on head and pronotum with inner cellules nearly as distinct as secondary network; elytra single and more pebbled, especially females. Head: supraclypeal seam deeply impressed and closely parallel to the margin. Pronotum: mid-discal depression longitudinally elongate; WH/PW, 0.69; LP PW, 0.42; posterior mar
q. moyae TOTAL LENGTH (mm) sonorensis. Males are shown crosshatched; females, stippled.
gin sharply deflected forming a more acute apical angle than is common in the genus. Elytra: apices somewhat truncated; epipleura of females with anterior wide portion extending and widening posteriorly as far as the third abdominal segment instead of constricting at about the first as in most of the genus. Venter: prosternal process short and broad with raised median crest; postcoxal processes projecting only slightly beyond the midline; outline of last ventral seg
ment subtriangular with rounded crest in females; more rounded with produced apex in males; an asymmetrical curving crest present; lateral surfaces of last segment in both sexes sloping rather sharply upward when viewed ventrally causing the posterior margin to be less rounded and more angular; apex of female segment reflexed ventrally; a few rugae and numerous setigerous punctures accumulating toward posterior margin. Legs: proand mesotarsi enlarged in a dorsoventral plane and dilated slightly laterally; fifth protarsal segment at least twice as long as corresponding fourth and fifth mesotarsal segment slightly more than twice as long as corresponding fourth; palettes easily visible at 20 power magnification; proand mesofemoral marginal setae very long (some at least as long as femur is wide); profemoral ones (6 to 7) shorter and finer than mesofemoral ones (7 or 8). Genitalia: oval plate with elongated tip; its ventral crest distinct only near apex; numerous fine raised lines on either side of crest; aedeagus wider in distal than in basal half, but narrowing near apex to a small slightly bent and rounded tip; parameres of nearly equal length; right one with elongated apex; ovipositor with about 11 pair of widely spaced, but triangular teeth.
NOMENCLATURAL NOTES. — It is obvious that sonorensis is closely related to L. q. quadrilineatus. Anatomically, they are virtually identical; but the elytral patterns and size are different (Table 16, 17). L. sonorensis males are about 0.45 mm smaller than quadrilineatus males, and the females are 0.3 mm smaller than the latter (fig. 20). In the absence of intergrades and with a considerable area of overlap, it seems necessary at the present time to consider the two as distinct.
VARIATION. — Males are smaller than females, but the smallest individual from a sample of about 85 specimens was a female which measured only 4.97 mm long. The next smallest individuals were two males that measured 5.18 mm. Also, the largest male was as large as the largest female (about 6.05 mm long). The population from La Paz, Baja California, may be larger than those from Sonora, Arizona, and New Mexico; but the samples are too small to give conclusive results (Table 17). There seems to be no difference between the elytral patterns of males and females. The elytra have a discal blotch that has a variable amount of clearing in the center and is extended anteriorly in fingerlike projections similar to that of quadrilineatus. The degree to which the projections are joined to the blotch varies from extensive to almost none. — The northern limit of this species is confined to southern New
Mexico and Arizona (fig. 19). The easternmost records are in Dona Ana County, New Mexico, and Samalayuca, Chihuahua, which lies about 30 miles south of El Paso, Texas. The northwestern record is Mono County, California; and in Sonora, it has been taken about as far south as Hermosillo. It has been collected on two occasions near La Paz, Baja California, but nothing is known about its distribution farther north on the peninsula. The gap in southwestern Arizona is due to a lack of good collections from that area.
This species, which occurs in the same ponds as quadrilineatus, seems to prefer temporary situations in the flat areas between the isolated ranges in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It is a desert species that can, apparently, tolerate the high water temperatures that must frequently occur. It must be highly mobile and readily fly from one drying puddle to another which may be 20 or more miles distant. Holotype male, allotype female, and five paratypes with the following data are in the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco: La Paz, Baja California Sur, viii.28.60, A. G. Smith. Two more males and one female paratypes (8.2 m. W. of La Paz, Baja California Sur, xii.31.58, H. B. Leech) are also in the California Academy of Sciences. A male and female paratype from 5 miles south of Animas, Hidalgo County, vii.24.61, J. R. Zimmerman, are in each of the following: the United States National Museum, the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Ann Arbor, and the Departmento de Entomologia, Laboratorio de Vegetal Sanidad, Coyoacan, D. F., Mexico.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. — ARIZONA. Cochise County. Huachucha City, 2 <?, 1 2, ix.6.61 (NMSU). Tombstone, 5 m. N, 1 S, ix.6.61; Rodeo (N.M.), 2 m. NW„ 4 <$ , 4 2, ix.5.61, JRZ (NMSU). Maricopa County. Gillespie Dam, 1 2, viii.18.64, Arnett & Van Tassel (CUA). Pima County. Tucson, 1 $, ix. — .33, O. Bryant (CAS). Pinal County. Superior,
1 <$, vii.15.27, E. G. Graham (CNL). Picacho Pass, 1 2, ix.12.54, J. C. Hall (DAV). Santa Cruz County. Pena Blanca, 1 S, viii.9.61; 1 2, viii.5.62, Arnett & Van Tassel (CUA). CALIFORNIA. Mono County. Mammoth,
2 S, viii. 17.52, P. S. Bartholomew (CAS). Riverside County. Blythe, 1 2, vi.7.62, R. M. Hardman (BERK). NEW MEXICO. Dona Ana County. Jornada Range, Taylor Wells, 1 S, vii.20.63; 3 S, vii.28.63, K. L. McWilliams (NMSU). Hidalgo County. Animas, 5 m. S., 14 8, 12 2, vii.24.61, JRZ (NMSU); 1 m. S., 1 $, 1 2, vii.31.65, H. B. Leech (CAS). Gary, 5 m. W., 8 S, 7 2, vii.24.61; Roadforks, 4 $, 2 2, ix.5.61, JRZ (NMSU). Double Adobe Ranch, Animas Mtns., 2 2, viii. 15.52, H. B. Leech (CAS).
schwarzi.
Distribution of Laccophilus biguttatus, L. undatus, and L.
MEXICO. — BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR. La Paz, 7 <S, 2 9, viii. 28.60, A. G. Smith; 8.2 m. W., 2 S, 1 9, xii.31.58, H. B. Leech (CAS). CHIHUAHUA. Samalayuca, 1 9, viii. 6.50, R. F. Smith (AMNH). SONORA. Hermosillo, 1 9, viii.15-20.53; 50 km. W., Rancho San Francisco, 3 9, viii.2.53, B. Malkin; San Carlos Bay, 1 S, viii. 10.60, Arnaud, Ross, & Rentz; Rancho Montijo, 25 m. E. Puerto Kino, 1 9, viii. 1.50, J. Figg-Hoblyn (CAS).