A new species of click beetle, Lissomus arawak, has been identified in the Dominican Republic. This finding, detailed in a recent morphological taxonomic study, is based on a female holotype and four female paratypes collected from the provinces of Monseñor Nouel, Pedernales, and Puerto Plata.
The researchers employed an ocular micrometer under magnifications ranging from 7 to 90 times to examine the five specimens. Measurements were taken from the anterior margin of the frons to the elytral apices for body length, while width was measured across the elytral humeri. Specimens were dissected when necessary to analyze genitalic and terminal abdominal structures.
L. arawak measures between 7.9–9.0 mm in length and 4.4–4.8 mm in width. It features a strongly convex dorsum, a shiny dark red-black to black integument, and short pale hair-like pubescence. Notable characteristics include smooth elytral striae and intervals, constricted anterior pronotal angles, polished humeral bosses, and a deep ninth elytral sulcus separated from the humeral sulcus by a carinate bridge. The length of the female ovipositor is 4.3 mm, featuring a dorsoventrally compressed baculus approximately four times longer than the coxite. Male specimens have not yet been identified.
The researchers found L. arawak to be closely related to the Lissomus gagatinus group, which includes L. impressifrons. The range of this group extends from Costa Rica and Colombia to Guyane and Guadeloupe. However, L. arawak differs in several respects, including a more domed body form, stronger humeral bosses, subparallel lateral margins when viewed dorsally, and yellow intermediate antennomeres.
Additionally, the new species shows distinct morphological differences from the previously described Dominican Republic species, L. quisqueya and L. woodruffi. The authors suggest that L. arawak may represent a second intrageneric lineage of Lissomus in the Greater Antilles, based on morphological evidence rather than molecular data.
The collection sites are associated with mesic tropical montane broadleaf forests, pine transitions, and cloud forests. The holotype was collected at an elevation of 700 meters along the Alcoa Road in the Sierra de Bahoruco, where a dense forest transitions from dry broadleaf forest at lower elevations to a forest dominated by the endemic species Pinus occidentalis at higher elevations.
Collection dates ranging from early May to late June suggest a primary adult activity period occurring in the early rainy season, although the authors described this as a tentative inference. The name arawak honors the Arawak culture of Indigenous peoples who inhabited Hispaniola and other Caribbean islands before the 16th-century colonization.
The findings are detailed in the article titled “Lissomus arawak sp. nov. (Coleoptera, Elateridae), a new species from the Dominican Republic,” set to be published in the journal Alpine Entomology.
