Chlamisus tuberculithorax ( Gressitt, 1942 )

Su, Liang & Zhou, Hong-Zhang, 2017, Taxonomy of the genus Chlamisus Rafinesque (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) from China with description of three new species, Zootaxa 4233 (1), pp. 1-138 : 121-124

Chlamisus tuberculithorax ( Gressitt, 1942)

(Figs 29-1, 29-2; 29-3; 29-4)

Gressitt, 1942b: 356 (orig.: Chlamys tuberculithorax ; type locality: Tai-pin-ts’uen, Lai-mo-ling, Kiung-shan, Hainan; type deposited: LINGNAN); Gressitt , 1946: 97 (as Chlamisus tuberculithorax ); Gressitt & Kimoto , 1961: 188; Medvedev , 1968: 564 (as Chlamysus tuberculithorax , Vietnam); Kimoto & Gressitt, 1981: 362.

Material examined. CHINA: Yunnan Province: 1♀, Xishuangbanna , Gan-nan-ba, 540 m, 18. III. 1957, coll. Dahua Liu ; 1♂, Xishuangbanna , Da-meng-long, 650 m, 15. IV. 1958, coll. Zhuwu Meng (IZ-CAS.).

Measurements. BL = 3.4 mm, BW = 2.1 mm, HL = 1.05 mm, HW = 1 mm, PL = 1.5 mm, PW = 2 mm, EL = 2.2 mm, PYL = 1 mm, PYW = 1 mm, AL = 0.8 mm, AA =130°, SL = 0.4 mm,

Redescription. Body (Figs 29-1A; 29-2A) moderate sized, narrow, and opaque. Labrum, antennae and tarsi covered with short white hairs, other body parts mostly glabrous; elytra with very short golden-haired punctures. General color black with metallic-blue or brassy shinning; head mostly black, with T-shaped reddish spot in the center of vertex; pronotum mostly black, sides with slight metallic blue, disc scattered brassy shinning, a small red spot on each side of median longitudinal groove at anterior margin; scutellum black with metallic blue, elytra black with metallic blue on basal margin, near suture, and on each side, disc slightly brassy; ventral side black, marked with metallic blue on each side; pygidium black with slightly metallic blue.

Head (Figs 29-1D; 29-2E) nearly round, slightly wider than long, densely and shallow-roundly punctured, vertex slightly depressed near occiput; labrum yellowish brown, rectangular, three times as broad as long, eyes black.

Antennae (Figs 29-1I; 29-2C) reddish brown, darker on underside of scape, pedicel, 3rd and last five segments; scape three times as long as broad, pedicel small and globular, 3rd and 4th very long and slender, 5th slightly dilated apically, 6–10th flat and broad, not so strongly serrated, 11th ovate, acute apically.

Pronotum (Fig. 29-1F) deeply, finely and densely punctured, sparser on lateral portions; a pair of sharp low tubercle on each lateral portion; disc very strongly diamond-shaped elevated, a deep depression behind anteriormargin; median longitudinal groove deep and throughout, with a pair of sinuous ridges on each side, a pair of brownish tubercles at the anterior end, and another pair of longitudinal sinuous ridges beside the median pair, connecting posteriorly, with a pair of transverse ridge connecting them at middle. Scutellum (Fig. 29-1H) sharply produced anteriorly, weakly produced posteriorly, posterior-lateral angles strongly extended and acute. Prosternum (Figs 29-1E; 29-2B) infundibular, moderately dilated medially, prosternal process slightly dilated apically, apex acute.

Elytra (Fig. 29-2G) apex truncate and slightly curved inwards, lateral sides slightly oblique; finely and sparsely punctured; suture teeth rather large, only absent at apex; basal margin from scutellum to near median row raised and weakly rugose, humeri weakly rugose; longitudinal ridges sharp but broken, tubercles very sharp; sutural row consisting of three tubercles, 1st obsolete, 2nd small and indistinct, 3rd merging with 3rd tubercle of median row into a transverse tubercle, 4th longitudinal and small, next to suture; median row consisting of four tubercles, weakly ridged, 1st situated near basal margin, 2nd merging with 2nd tubercle of humeral row into a transverse tubercle, 4th obsolete, 5th largest and very sharp; humeral row consisting of two tubercles, 1st obsolete, 3rd small; lateral row with two tubercles, 1st large and transverse, 2nd small; a particularly large sharp tubercle at posterior-lateral angle, with a large tubercle consisting of several small tubercles above it. Legs (Fig. 29-1J) rather slender, but the hind legs are robust; black on front and middle-femora, also front tibiae marked with reddish brown on the underside.

Abdomen (Fig. 29-1G) roundly and densely punctured. 1st visible abdominal segment with a short transverse ridge and a small tubercle near lateral margin, 5th segment with a shallow but broad fovea in the middle. Pygidium (Figs 29-1C; 29-2F) as broad as long, shallowly and densely punctured on carinae, sparsely and coarsely punctured on depressed areas; median longitudinal carina weak, only present at apical half, lateral carinae broad and punctured, with a very low and broad transverse carina connecting at basal one-third, interspaces of these carinae shallowly depressed, and the lateral portions deeply depressed, basal margin strongly ridged.

Aedeagus (Figs 29-3B, 29-3C, 29-3D; 29-4B, 29-4C, 29-4D) with apical part of median lobe strongly dilated, restricted and rounded apically, with sparse pubescence on each side of the restriction, and with no punctures on ventral side of distal part; median orifice with middle sclerite bending inwards from beneath surface at one-seventh of median lobe, truncate at top, outline close to outer margin; inner sac very large and oblong, slightly restricted near base, base moderately acute, apex closely bilobed, rather obtuse on both ends; tegmen moderately sclerotized.

Spermatheca (Figs 29-3A; 29-4A) strongly hook-shaped, bending from two-fifth near apex, acute at apex, remaining of the spermatheca evenly thickened; duct weakly sclerotized. Rectal sclerites lost in the only female specimen.

Distribution. China (Hainan, Yunnan); Vietnam.

Diagnosis. This species can be distinguished from other members by its metallic blue and brassy shinning scattered on body surface, the generally narrowed body form and the strongly produced posterior-lateral angle of elytra.