Xenicotela griseomaculata, Xie & Barclay & Chen, 2022

Xie, Guanglin, Barclay, Maxwell V. L. & Chen, Bin, 2022, Taxonomic study on the genus Xenicotela Bates from China (Cerambycidae, Lamiinae, Lamiini), ZooKeys 1122, pp. 145-158 : 145

Xenicotela griseomaculata sp. nov.

灰斑殷天牛 Figs 5 , 6 , 14 , 15 , 24 , 25

Type material.

Holotype: male, China: Chongqing, Wuxi County, Xiabao township, Shuanghe Village, 31°21'4"N, 109°11'24"E, July 26, 2019, coll. by Bin Chen. The holotype is temporarily stored in the Entomological Museum of Yangtze University (YZU).

Description.

Male. Body length 12.5 mm, humeral width 4.1 mm. Body mostly black, with greyish yellow, greyish white, brown and black pubescence, with slight mottled maculae. Head with greyish yellow pubescence, denser on gena and around the eyes, and with a subrounded black velvet spot on each side of occiput behind eyes. Antennae mostly clothed with greyish yellow pubescence, fringed with sparse short greyish yellow setae ventrally from first to fifth antennomere; base of scape naked, black, apex of scape and pedicel with slightly greyish white pubescence, bases and extreme apices from antennomeres III-X, base and apical two-fifths of antennomere XI with greyish white pubescence. Pronotum with pubescence greyish yellow mixed with greyish white and brown giving a mottled appearance, each side behind the middle with an oblong black velvet spot edged with mottle of greyish yellow and greyish white, of which the apices obliquely extended outwards and widely separated from each other, the inner edge curved outwards anteriorly. Scutellum with greyish white pubescence, thicker on edge. Elytra with fine and close greyish yellow to brown pubescence, decorated with greyish white pubescent spots as following: each elytron with a conspicuous oblique band after basal fourth, and an incomplete transverse band composed of several irregular spots, before and after the two bands scattered with several small irregular spots. Legs mostly with greyish yellow pubescence, femora only the extreme apex slightly greyish white, tibiae with four pubescent rings alternating black and greyish yellow from base to apex. Ventral surface with non-uniform greyish yellow pubescence, posterior margin of each abdominal sternite fringed with ochraceous pubescence.

Head finely and closely punctate, frons transverse, slightly convex, with a smooth fine longitudinal medium sulcus extending to occiput. Eyes coarsely faceted, lower lobe longer than broad, shorter than gena. Antennae slender, about 2.5 times as long as body; antennal tubercles rather elevated, separated from each other; scape stout, slightly flat, with base strongly decrescent and apex distinctly constricted before cicatrix; antennomere III longest, about 2.5 times as long as scape; antennomere IV longer than antennomere V. Pronotum broader than long, anterior margin subequal to posterior margin; each side with a short spine, coniform, blunt apically; disc slightly convex, finely punctate. Scutellum lingulate. Elytra slightly elongated, about 2.0 times as long as width across humeri, gradually narrowing towards apex, apices individually rounded; surface coarsely punctate on base, gradually finer towards apex, middle of basal fourth slightly longitudinally raised. Ventral surface without distinct punctures, procoxal cavities closed posteriorly, mesocoxal cavities open at side, mesosternal process obliquely sloping anteriorly, not tuberculate; apex of terminal abdominal ventrite nearly straight, emarginate medially. Legs moderately long, femora slightly clavate, claws divaricate.

Male genitalia. Tergite VIII (Figs 14 , 15 ) with both sides relatively circularly converge to apex, apex slightly emarginated, clothed with short to medium straight setae along apical and lateral sides. Tegmen (Figs 24 , 25 ) length approximately 1.92 mm, one paramere length approximately 0.48 mm, basal width approximately 0.26 mm, the length-width ratio of paramere about 1.85, rounded at apex, about apical two-fifths clothed with sparse setae of different lengths and thicknesses (tegmen was damaged during dissection and another paramere was lost). Median lobe (Figs 24 , 25 ) slightly longer than tegmen, slightly arcuate in lateral view, apical margin of dorsal plate and ventral plate nearly straight; median struts relatively broad, about two-fifths length of median lobe.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution.

China: Chongqing.

Etymology.

The species is named for the pattern of the elytra, with greyish white pubescent maculae.

Comments.

The new species is differentiated from the other species of the genus by the elytra with two incomplete greyish white bands. The new species is similar to M. binigricollis in general appearance (it will be transferred to the genus Xenicotela in a separate work); however, it can be easy distinguished from the latter by each elytron with apical fourth mostly dull dark brown, furnished with an incomplete greyish white band consisting of several pubescent spots of different sizes, instead of mostly light in colour, dotted with dark spots of various sizes and shapes.

Figures

Figure 5, 6. Habitus of Xenicotela griseomaculata sp. nov. Holotype, male, from Chongqing: Wuxi.

Figures 11 - 25. Habitus of Xenicotela spp. 11 - 15 tergite VIII with sternites VIII & IX 16, 17 tegmen 18 - 20 aedeagus 21 female genitalia 22 - 25 phallus 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 24 ventral view 12, 14, 16, 20, 22 dorsal view 18, 23, 25 lateral view 11, 16 - 21 Xenicotela convexicollis (Gressitt, 1942) comb. nov. 12, 13, 22, 23 Xenicotela distincta (Gahan, 1888) 14, 15, 24, 25 Xenicotela griseomaculata sp. nov. Scales: 0.5 mm (11, 16 - 20); 1 mm (12 - 15, 21 - 25).