Meridiotroctes Martins & Galileo, 2007

Machado, Vanessa S. & Monné, Marcela L., 2009, Synopsis of the genus Meridiotroctes Martins & Galileo (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), Zootaxa 2261, pp. 66-68 : 66-67

Meridiotroctes Martins & Galileo, 2007

Meridiotroctes Martins & Galileo, 2007: 188 ; Monné & Bezark, 2009: 218.

Type species: Meridiotroctes meridionale Martins & Galileo, 2007 (original designation).

The original description was based only on males. Here we add the following characters: Antennae in females do not exceed the elytral apices. Frons vertical, with a row of brown hairs near the inner margin of the lower ocular lobe. Clypeus with a few long brown hairs. Genae short, rounded. Antennal tubercles feebly prominent. Prothorax transverse, lateral tubercles with some coarse punctures ornamented with brown hairs. Pronotum with a row of coarse punctures on anterior and posterior margins. Humeri rounded and slightly prominent. Elytra with narrow longitudinal sulcus, near suture, in the apical half. Hind legs slightly longer than forelegs. Pro- and mesocoxae rounded. Femora pedunculateclavate. Fifth urosternite in females with a longitudinal median sulcus on basal third, and long, erect setae near apical margin.

Remarks. Meridiotroctes is similar to Formozotroctes , Ozotroctes , Psapharoctes , Punctozotroctes , and Spinozotroctes in the truncated apical segment of the labial palps. Ozotroctes ( O. punctatissimus Bates, 1861 , Fig. 3 ) differs from Meridiotroctes by the coarse punctures on the pronotum, the elytra similar in size, and the elytra with a regular surface covered by pubescence, except in the punctation. In Meridiotroctes the pronotum punctures are smaller than on the elytra, and the elytral surface is irregular and completely covered by pubescence.

Martins & Galileo (2007) distinguished Psapharoctes from Meridiotroctes by the unarmed elytral apex. However, only in Psapharoctes hermieri Tavakilian & Néouze, 2007 ( Fig. 4 ) is the elytral apex unarmed, whereas P. fanchonae Tavakilian & Néouze, 2007 (the type species) has a small apical spine. Psapharoctes differs from Meridiotroctes by the pronotum with a longitudinal median carina and the elytra with a narrow sulcus near the epipleura, in the apical half. In Meridiotroctes the median region of the pronotum is planar and lacks a sulcus near the epipleura.

Meridiotroctes differs from Punctozotroctes by the lateral tubercles of the prothorax towards sides and the elytra with a median crista near its base. In Punctozotroctes ( P. guianensis Tavakilian & Néouze, 2007 , Fig. 5 ), the lateral tubercles on the prothorax are directed posteriorly and the elytra has only a slight elevation, without a crista.

Meridiotroctes is distinguished from Formozotroctes Tavakilian & Néouze, 2007 and Spinozotroctes Tavakilian & Néouze, 2007 by the rounded and unarmed elytral apices. In Formozotroctes the elytral apices are obliquely truncate, and in Spinozotroctes the outer angles each bear a projecting spine.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 5. 1, Meridiotroctes bicristata, male holotype; 2, Meridiotroctes meridionale, male; 3, Ozotroctes punctatissimus, male; 4, Psapharoctes hermieri, male; 5, Punctozotroctes guianensis, male.