Chrysoprasis birai, Galileo, Maria Helena M., Santos-Silva, Antonio & Tirant, Stephane Le, 2015

Galileo, Maria Helena M., Santos-Silva, Antonio & Tirant, Stephane Le, 2015, New species of Cerambycidae (Coleoptera) from South and Central America, ZooKeys 530, pp. 101-111 : 103-106

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Cerambycidae

Chrysoprasis birai sp. n. Figs 5, 6, 7, 8

Description.

Female. Integument metallic green with golden reflex; elytra darker, without golden reflex, with narrow violaceous band on base and along suture (slightly wider on basal two-thirds of suture), and wide violaceous band laterally (less conspicuous depending on angle of incidence of light; anteclypeus most reddish; apex of labrum reddish; ventrites cupreous, with violaceous and green reflexes, more distinctly violaceous on ventrite V; scape with distinct violaceous reflexes, more distinct depending on angle of incidence of light; antennomeres dark violaceous with some green reflexes (distal antennomeres more opaque); legs violaceous with green reflexes.

Head. Frons moderately finely, abundantly, confluently punctate, with short, decumbent, abundant setae (very slightly conspicuous). Coronal suture well-marked from clypeus to anterior level of eyes. Postclypeus with microsculptured, subtriangular area at base (interspersed with some coarse punctures); remaining surface moderately finely, abundantly punctate; punctate area with very short, slightly conspicuous setae, and one long seta on each side. Anteclypeus narrow. Labrum smooth at base, moderately finely, abundantly punctate on remaining surface; on punctate area with short, moderately abundant setae (mainly at distal third), interspersed with long setae. Antennal tubercles with sculpture as on frons. Area between antennal tubercles and upper eye lobes transversely sulcate. Vertex with sculpture as on frons. Area behind upper eye lobes with sculpture as on frons, gradually slightly sparser towards behind lower eye lobes (somewhat striate close to prothoracic margin). Genae moderately finely, abundantly punctate, punctures finer toward apex. Gulamentum transversely striate on narrow area closer to thorax (centrally smooth), coarsely vermiculate-punctate on large area closer to maxilla; this latter with short, moderately abundant setae, interspersed with long setae. Distance between upper eye lobes 0.85 times length of scape; distance between lower eye lobes, in frontal view, 1.05 length of scape. Antennae as long as 1.5 times elytral length; reaching elytral apex at middle of antennomere XI; scape coarsely, densely punctate, with long, thick, sparse, dark setae; antennomeres III–VI with short, but distinct spine at inner apex; antennomeres VI-X with distal outer distal angle projected; antennomere XI somewhat divided at distal third, almost forming twelfth segment; antennal formula (ratio) based on antennomere III: scape = 1.84; pedicel = 0.15; IV = 0.56; V = 0.64; VI = 0.66; VII = 0.66; VIII = 0.58; IX = 0.50; X = 0.43; XI = 0.61.

Thorax. Prothorax wider than long; lateral sides divergent from anterior margin to about apex of anterior third, subparallel toward posterior margin; anterior margin notably narrower than basal margin. Pronotum moderately coarsely, densely punctate, except for narrow, transverse, smooth band close to basal margin; with short, abundant, but slightly conspicuous setae, interspersed with some long setae laterally. Lateral sides of prothorax moderately coarsely, densely punctate (punctures slightly larger and shallower than on pronotum); setae as on pronotum. Prosternum finely, densely punctate throughout, with short, abundant setae. Prosternal process longitudinally sulcate, centrally narrowed; with sculpture and setae as on prosternum. Mesosternum and mesosternal process with sculpture and setae as on prosternum. Apex of mesosternal process strongly emarginate. Mesepisterna moderately finely, densely punctate. Mesepimera finely, abundantly punctate. Metepisterna moderately finely, densely punctate; with short, decumbent, abundant setae. Metasternum moderately finely, abundantly punctate throughout (punctures slightly finer toward center); with short, abundant, decumbent setae. Scutellum finely punctate laterally, longitudinally sulcate, smooth at center. Elytra. Surface microsculptured; moderately coarsely, densely punctate; with short, abundant, decumbent setae, interspersed with thick, dark setae, mainly at base and distal third; apex truncate, with outer angle projected and sutural angle rounded. Legs. Femora moderately finely densely punctate on peduncle, coarsely, densely punctate on club. Metatarsi slightly shorter than metatibiae; metatarsomeres I and II cylindrical; metatarsomere I notably elongate, 2.1 times longer than II.

Abdomen. Ventrites finely, abundantly punctate; with short, moderately abundant setae interspersed with long setae; apex of ventrite V rounded.

Type material.

Holotype female from PANAMA, Panama: Barro Colorado Island, 13-20.V.1998, Don Windsor col. (USNM).

Dimensions in mm

(female). Total length, 12.3; length of prothorax at center, 2.5; anterior width of prothorax, 1.9; posterior width of prothorax, 2.9; largest width of prothorax, 3.1; humeral width, 3.6; elytral length, 7.7.

Etymology.

The new species is named after the late Ubirajara Ribeiro Martins de Souza (Bira).

Remarks.

Chrysoprasis birai sp. n. differs from Chrysoprasis quadrimaculata Gounelle, 1913, and Chrysoprasis suturalis Lameere, 1884, mainly by the prothorax wider than long (about as long as wide in those species), and by the spine of the antennomeres III–VI distinctly short (very distinct in both species). It differs from Chrysoprasis viridis Fisher, 1944 mainly by the sides of prothorax not uniformly rounded from anterior to basal margin (rounded in Chrysoprasis viridis ), and by the metasternum finely punctate ("coarsely foveolate-punctate" in Chrysoprasis viridis , according to Fisher 1944). It can be separated from Chrysoprasis aurata Aurivillius, 1910 by the sides of the prothorax not uniformly rounded (rounded in Chrysoprasis aurata ), by the punctures on pronotum and metasternum finer (coarse in Chrysoprasis aurata ).

All other species of Chrysoprasis occurring in Panama belong to the Group hypocrita : Chrysoprasis festiva Audinet-Serville, 1834; Chrysoprasis hirtula White, 1853; Chrysoprasis hypocrita Erichson, 1847; Chrysoprasis rotundicollis Bates, 1870; and Chrysoprasis seticornis Bates, 1880.

As the limits between the Groups chalybea and aurigena are narrow, and some species can be included in both, we are including Chrysoprasis birai in the key for both groups.

In the key to species of the Group aurigena the new species can be included in the alternative of couplet “3”, from Napp and Martins (1999) (translated):

In the key to species of the Group chalybea the new species can be included in the alternative of couplet “21”, from Napp and Martins (1997) (translated):