Chrysobothris romeroi Westcott, 2014

Westcott, Richard L., 2014, Two Striking New Species Of Chrysobothris Eschscholtz (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) From Southern Mexico, With Mexican State And Host Records For Five Other Species In The Genus, The Coleopterists Bulletin 68 (1), pp. 31-36 : 33-36

Chrysobothris romeroi Westcott , new species ( Figs. 4, 8–10 )

Description. Holotype Female. Length 9.90 mm, width 3.86 mm, dorsal surface metallically kaleidoscopic ( Fig. 4), color, especially red of basal markings—which may appear purple—and of pronotum, varying with parameters of lighting, pronotum dark bronze with coppery reflections in certain lights; head and antennae black with vague brassy green reflections; ventral surface shiny black with distinct dark green reflection on prosternum, and with metepimeron, lateral portions of metepisternum and metacoxal plate and anterolateral projection of first abdominal ventrite red; legs black, femora with green or light blue reflection on posterior surface, tibiae and tarsi with dark purplish blue reflection. Head: Front coarsely, reticulately to confluently punctured, becoming densely and much more finely punctured on vertex which bears an extremely fine median line, lower 2/3 of face moderately clothed with forward-projecting, subrecumbent white setae, clypeal margin broadly triangularly emarginate at middle, broadly shallowly rounded externally; antennae geniculate, bluntly serrate from antennomere 4. Pronotum ( Fig. 4): Apparently glabrous except for a few minute setae within apical angles, surface slightly swollen anterolaterally, lateral margins fine and sharp, abruptly curving apically to form triangular anterior angles, basal angles quadrate. Elytra ( Fig. 4): Apparently glabrous except for a few inconspicuous setae along lateral margins, with deeply depressed basal median foveae, moderately depressed area just inside humeral umbones and subtransverse depression before middle, all within each basal arm of purpureous C-shaped marking. Pygidium: Blue-green, unmodified, densely punctate, apex broadly evenly rounded. Underside: Punctures mostly fine and moderately to sparsely placed; setae white, minute and sparsely placed except longer and subrecumbent to recumbent on hypomeron and abdominal ventrite 5; prosternum more coarsely punctured on swollen anterolateral portions, finely transversely depressed at base of prominent broadly arcuately produced median part of front margin; abdomen with weak smooth elongate lateral callosities on ventrites 2–4, ventrite 5 with lateral margins entire, terminating in a short spine, without submarginal ridges, the apex bisinuate and with a shallow, purplish blue, crescentiform excavation on either side of middle. Legs: Profemur having a broad bluntly triangular tooth that is denticulate externally and for a short distance internally; fore- and middle tibiae slightly arcuate, hind tibia straight.

Allotype Male. Length 9.90 mm, width 3.73 mm, differing from female holotype by having head bright green on front, coppery reflections above and on vertex, antennae mostly green except for sensory areas; pronotum with anterior angles bright green; color of legs much brighter, profemora with anterior surface green, coppery above, posterior surface green, dorsal surface green varying to bluish, meso- and metafemora with anterior surface green, dorsal surface with bluish reflections, posterior surface dark blue; tibiae green externally, fore and middle tibiae with coppery tones; middle and hind tibiae with row of minute setiferous teeth on inner face, hind tibia notched internally just before apex; beneath, prosternum bright green, mesosternum and portion of metasternum with distinct green reflections, apex of abdominal ventrite 5 broadly shallowly arcuate, with a small, blue lateral depression inside base of each apical spine. Genitalia as in Figs. 8–10 .

Specimens Examined. Holotype [ UNAM] labeled “ MEXICO: Chiapas, 6 km SW Rizo de Oro, 23 Aug 1982, Clark & Cave/ HOLOTYPE ♀ Chrysobothris romeroi Westcott 2014 ” [red on white card]; allotype [ RLWE] labeled “ Microondas Villa Morelos, km 48 car Tehuantepec-Cintalapa , Chis., MEX, 29/IX/2007, 732 msnm, 16°31′17.9″ N, 93°54′07.5″ W, Col. J Romero N. / ALLOTYPE ♂ Chrysobothris romeroi Westcott 2014 ”.

Discussion and Comparison. The type locality for this species may seem problematical, as I have found three such place names (Rizo de Oro) in Chiapas. However, partly based on information from the collectors, the specimen was collected along Hwy. 190, 2.4 km from the Oaxaca border, at an elevation of about 750 m. Today this Rizo de Oro is called Nueva Tenochtitlán. Jesús Romero and I drove through here during June 2011 and found spots with quite lush tropical forest, while much of the countryside to the south, at a higher elevation, was quite dry. According to Jesús Romero (personal communication), he collected the allotype by miscellaneous sweeping/beating in the area, where the vegetation type is tropical deciduous forest. The precise location is at the base of the hill on the road leading to the microwave station.

The dorsal elytral color pattern of C. romeroi resembles that of C. fabulosa , but there the similarity ends. The latter is a robust species that is densely setose beneath like in C. chuckbellamyi ( Fig. 3 ). Structurally, C. romeroi seems closely related to Chrysobothris trisignata Waterhouse , though in the latter the dorsal elytral color of green with violaceous black fasciae is completely different.

Etymology. It is my pleasure to name this strikingly beautiful species in honor of my friend and colleague, Jesús Romero Nápoles, who collected one of the only two known specimens of this species, and who has over the years greatly facilitated my ability to collect and do research on Mexican Buprestidae .

DISTRIBUTION AND HOST RECORDS IN MEXICO

New state and host plant records are indicated in bold.

Chrysobothris acaciae Knull. Durango, 5 mi E Donato Guerro, 6100′, 1-VII-71 [RLWE].

Chrysobothris basalis LeConte. Hidalgo, Jacala [no date] [BYUC]; same except 4000′, 31-VIII- 63 [OSAC]. Oaxaca, 5.2 km SW Huapanapan

on H w y 1 25, 1 8°06′3 0″N, 9 7° 4 1′13″W, elev. 6,015′, 21-X-2004, beaten ex dead branch Leucaena diversifolia (Schltdl.) Benth. [TCMC].

Chrysobothris lucana Horn. Sonora, Bahía San Carlos, 8/12-VIII-89 [RLWE].

Chrysobothris paratabalipa Nelson. San Luis Potosí, k m 2 6 0, C a r r. C h a p u l h u a c a n – Tamazunchale, 21°13′22″, 98°52′55″, 305 m [CEAM].

Chrysobothris schaefferi Obenberger. Baja California (Norte), Isla Cedros, Punta Norte, 14-IV- 83, emerged from Dudleya pachyphyta, 2-I- 84 [SDMC] (new larval host). This species was recorded from the Baja California peninsula in “ Dudleya sp.” by Westcott (2007), which provided the first known buprestid host records for the family Crassulaceae to which the genus Dudleya Britton & Rose belongs.

Figures

Figs. 5–10. Aedeagi of Chrysobothris species. 5–7) C. chuckbellamyi, holotype: 5) Dorsal view; 6) Ventral view; 7) Lateral view; 8–10) C. romeroi, allotype: 8) Dorsal view; 9) Ventral view; 10) Lateral view.

Figs. 1–3. Chrysobothris chuckbellamyi. 1) Holotype, male, dorsal habitus; 2) Allotype, dorsal habitus; 3) Allotype, ventral habitus.