Neoampagia, Zimmerman, 1942

Zimmerman, Elwood C., 1942, Curculionidae of Guam, Insects of Guam I, Honolulu, Hawaii: Bernice P. Bishop Museum, pp. 73-146 : 107

Genus NEOAMPAGIA , new genus

Body subrhomboidal in lateral outline, strongly convex dorsally, densely squamose. Head with crown exposed from above; interocular area expanding from top to apex, narrowest part distinctly narrower than breadth of base of rostrum; eyes large, coarsely faceted, subcontinuous in outline with head. Rostrum slightly shorter to slightly longer than pronotum, slightly arcuate, depressed dorso-ventrally. Antennae inserted at or slightly beyond middle of rostrum, with scape reaching eye, about as long as funicle excluding club; first and second funicular segments each at least twice as long as any two of the following segments, subcqual or 1 slightly longer than 2, 3-7 subequal; club stout, ovate, shorter than funicle. Prothorax subconical, strongly transverse, base slightly bisinuate; ocular lobes obtuse. Srntell 11m distinctly visible, but small. Elytra subcontinuous in lateral outline with prothorax, base distinctly bisinuate, humeri not prominent, striae fine, intervals broad. Wings completely developed for flight. Legs with femora sublinear, not clavate, shallowly grooved below, not toothed; tibiae angulate at base, otherwise almost straight, carinate, terminal uncus strongly developed, without a tooth at inner apical angle; tarsi with segment 1 elongate, 2 longer than broad, 3 broadly bilobed, 4 slender and projecting well beyond tl1e apex of 3, claws small. Sternum with pectoral canal deep, terminating between the mesocoxae; mesosternal receptacle cavernous, the walls comparatively stout but only slightly projecting below level of metasternum, ends of side walls touching fore coxae, mesocoxae narrowly separated from fore coxae; metasternum distinctly narrower between mid and hind coxae than breadth of a mesocoxa; metepisterna distinct throughout, separating metacoxae from elytra and reaching first ventrite behind and there about two thirds as broad as base of a hind femur, distinct in front and separating at least basal half of mesepimera from elytra. Venter with first two ventrites fused but suture between them fine and distinct, not obliterated; first ventrite longer than 2 plus 3 along median line, intercoxal process broadly A-shaped, broader than length of ventrite 2 or length of the metasternum along median line, continuous in contour with second ventrite, not carinate or sulcate, ventrite 2 slightly longer than 2 plus 3, 2 and 3 equal; 5 as long as 2.

Genotype: Neoanipagia imitator , new species.

At first sight the genotype of this genus appears to be a normal Ampagia Pascoe (Ent. Soc. London, Trans., 208-209, 1870), but when the legs and venter are examined the species seem referable to Anipagioides Zimmerman (1936) . However, the genotype cannot be assigned to either of those genera for the following reasons: the metepisterna are distinct and entire and conspicuously separate the hind coxae from the elytra and the mesosternal receptacle hardly projects below the level of the metasternum instead of being prominent with very high walls that project to a level near or below that of the apices of the mesocoxae. Moreover, this genus differs from Anipagia in not having the hind femora broadly expanded and angulate and in not having a median area on the first ventrite bounded by impressed lines from the coxae to the apex. The genus also seems to be somewhat allied to Alatidotasia * Lea (Deutsche Ent. Zeitschrift, 523, 1910), insofar as I can tell from descriptions alone. However that genus has a different type of mesosternal receptacle, the metacoxae are closer together, the body is glabrous except for isolated patches of squamae, and it is more closely allied to Trigonopterus Fauvel (Soc. Linn. Norm. 8: 157, 1862).