Agrilus incredulus Curletti

Hespenheide, Henry A., 2012, New Mexican and Central American species of Agrilus Curtis (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) mimetic of flies, Zootaxa 3181, pp. 1-27 : 17

Agrilus incredulus Curletti

(Figs. 38–40)

Agrilus incredulus Curletti 2005:553 ; Curletti & Brûlé 2011:39.

Description. Male: Relatively slender, in cross-section flattened above, convex below, elytra slightly convex from side, 4.70 mm long, 1.05 mm wide; front, epistoma, and profemora green, antennomeres 1–4 black with green reflections, 5–11 black, vertex of head and anterior 2/3 of pronotum red, posterior 1/3 of pronotum and basal 1/5 of elytra bright greenish-blue, scutellum black; middle 3/10 of elytra black with golden reflections, posterior 1/2 of elytra black with bluish reflections, beneath black, metepisterna and abdomen with more or less strong golden-coppery reflections, meso- and metafemora with golden-greenish or coppery reflections; dorsal 4/5 of head, pronotum, elytral humeri, basal 1/5 of elytra, and lateral 2/5 of elytral margins glabrous; setae recumbent, short and golden on rest of elytra, setae golden and moderately dense in narrow band above epistoma, setae white on anterior 1/2 of pronotal epipleurae, metasternum, epimeron, dorsal 1/2 of episterna, metacoxal plate, in spot at posterior end of dorsal portion of abdominal ventrite 1, and on lateral portions of abdominal ventrites 3–5.

Head with front slightly convex from above, with weak transverse depression above epistoma, surface rugose and shagreened; epistoma 1/3 as wide as distance between inner margins of eyes, transversely carinate between middle of antennal insertions and above ventral margin, ventral margin weakly emarginate, eyes large, oval; antennae elongate, nearly reaching posterior angles of pronotum, serrate from antennomere 5, antennomeres 5–11 triangular, longer than wide, 5 more narrowly so.

Pronotum subequal in width to elytra at posterior margin, with sides nearly straight, broadening slightly; when viewed from side marginal carina nearly straight and submarginal carina weakly undulate, narrowly separated for anterior 5/6; from above anterior margin emarginate at sides then produced as narrowly rounded lobe; basal margin weakly angulately emarginate at middle of each elytron, very shallowly rounded before scutellum; anterior portion of disc with very weak depression along midline before apex and moderately deep transverse depression at basal 1/3, deeper at posterior angles and more broadly so at margins at middle; small pore a margin anterior to scutellum; prehumeral carinae very fine, parallel and close to margin for 3/4 length of pronotum; disc finely rugose. Scutellum shagreened, pentagonal, narrowly acuminate behind, and with strong transverse carina.

Elytra broadest at humeri, lateral margins weakly emarginate to middle, then narrowing to apices, apices narrowly rounded-angulate and denticulate; each elytron with oblique triangular-oval depression at base and short raised area along suture posterior to basal depression, disc weakly costate for posterior 4/5, with lateral posthumeral ridge for 1/3 length of elytra; surface finely imbricate throughout.

Metacoxal plate with posterior margin very weakly emarginate, upper exterior angle subquadrate. Abdomen with dorsal portion of ventrite 1 slightly broader behind and visible from above, dorsal portions of ventrites 2–5 very narrow. All legs with femora obsoletely denticulate on ventral margin; metatarsomere 1–1/3 length of metatibia, longer than 2–4 combined, tarsal claws similar on all tarsi, cleft with shorter acute inner tooth. Genitalia as in Fig. 40.

Specimens examined. Panamá: Panamá, Pr. Nat. Metropolitano, 14.May 1996, F. Oedegaard, on Tynnanthus croatianus [A.H. Gentry, Bignoniaceae ] (FOC), Cerro Campana, 850 m, 0 8o 40’ N 79o 56’ W, 9.vii.1998, H.A. Hespenheide (CHAH).

Discussion. This species is the only one in the basalis group to have the medial portion of the base of the elytra bright greenish blue; others have only the humeri or basal depressions with bluish reflections. The male specimen is 4.60 mm in length, the female 5.40 mm. In his original description Curletti (2005) compared A. incredulus to A. nevermanni Fisher , but the two differ in a number of characters, most conspicuously in the pattern of setae on the elytra (cf. Figures 38 and 45). He also states that “One female has a thin stripe of pubescence that joins the humeral with the other elytral pubescence,” a character of the very similar A. alajuelensis n. sp., below. Although I have examined the holotype of A. incredulus , I have not seen the other paratypes in the original type series, and it is possible that more than one species is included. Agrilus incredulus has also recently been reported from French Guiana in South America ( Curletti & Brûlé 2011), but this material should be studied carefully to be certain it is conspecific with the Panamanian type.