Bioacoustics of Parochodaeus perdidus

Description. Length : 7.5 mm. Width : 4.0 mm. Head : Surface shiny, everywhere sparsely, setigerously punctate. Frons with vertex tuberculate. Clypeus trapezoidal, long (length equal to 1/2 width), anterior margin with an erect, horn-like tubercle on each end ( Fig. 4 ), margin between tubercles distinct, thickened. Labrum emarginate. Mandibles rounded externally; left mandible with bicuspid tooth just behind apex and 1 strong basal tooth; right mandible with acute apex and 1 strong subapical tooth. Mentum with distinct longitudinal furrow in anterior half. Pronotum : Form evenly convex. Surface with tile-like tubercles; tubercles large, setigerous with short setae; surface between tubercles punctate; punctures moderate, lacking setae. Elytra : Striae moderately impressed, punctate with moderate punctures lacking setae. Interstriae tuberculate, intervals 1–2 with tubercles larger than strial punctures, elsewhere tubercles moderate. Legs : Protibia tridentate with basal tooth strongly developed, median; internal apical tooth (pollex) large, obtuse, directed ventrally ( Fig. 4 ). All femora unarmed. Metatibia straight, narrow (>4x longer than wide) expanding gradually to apex. Metatarsomere 1 not greatly enlarged. Abdomen : Stridulatory peg present. Pygidium tuberculate.

Remarks. The species is based solely on the largest male from Vista Alegre, although all specimens examined are tentatively and conservatively assigned to this single species. Unfortunately, there are not enough specimens available for study to be confident that the variation present in the remaining material is intraspecific. Although the armature of the internal sac of the male genitalia can be useful for species determination the three males available did not display any obvious differences in this structure. Many species of Parochodaeus demonstrate a large range in body size, and this can lead to differences in armature and punctation. The three smaller specimens from the type locality ( 2 females , 1 male ) have much smoother pronota and less well-developed pollices, but these differences may be related to their smaller size ( 5 – 6 mm ). The large female specimen from Camagüey (7.6 mm) most closely approximates the holotype , but has the mentum more weakly furrowed and the elytra less strongly tuberculate. Because the form of the mentum usually is a reliable character for distinguishing species of Parochodaeus and the specimen is from quite far away ( Fig. 5 ), this female specimen may not be conspecific. The partial specimen from Guantánamo lacks a head and thorax but does display a similar stridulatory peg and large elytral tubercles. In the female specimen from Cienfuegos the mentum is weakly notched anteriorly and not distinctly longitudinally furrowed, with no evidence of a pollex; this specimen is the most likely to belong to another species, however no males from this locality are known. More specimens are necessary, and especially males, to discern if there may be additional species of Parochodaeus in Cuba . Because it is possible that more than one species is present, specimens of the remaining material are not included in the type series.