Indapiodes Miroshnikov & Tichý, 2018

Niisato, Tatsuya & Heffern, Daniel, 2021, Taxonomic revision of the genus Indapiodes Miroshnikov & Tichý (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Cerambycinae), with description of a new species, Zootaxa 5005 (3), pp. 329-338 : 330-331

Indapiodes Miroshnikov & Tichý, 2018

Indapiodes Miroshnikov & Tichý, 2018: 155 ; type species: Indapiodes bifasciatus Miroshnikov & Tichý, 2018 (by original designation and monotypy).

Redescription. Color black to brown, not shiny in general. Body sparsely clothed with long setae, and partly with silvery white pubescence on elytra and ventral sides.

Head ( Figs. 15–16 ) large and wholly expanded; frons slightly wider than long, not bordered on sides, with median groove fine or vestigial and not attaining anterior margin; clypeus transverse though not markedly reduced in length; mandibles ( Figs. 7 –8 ) large and thick, simply arcuate in both outer and inner margins; maxillae ( Figs. 9 –10 ) each with galea and lacinia well developed, palpi thick, palpomere IV strongly dilated apicad as in a right triangle in male or weakly so in female; labrum emarginate on apical margin; labium ( Fig. 11 ) with palpomere III as in palpomere IV of maxillae; genae approximately half depth of eyes in frontal view; tempora arcuate on sides, more than half length of head; vertex shallowly concave near middle, slightly raised on sides near antennal socket s; eyes almost ovate and located on sides of head. Antennae stout, with last antennomere extending beyond elytral apices in male, barely reaching or almost reaching elytral apices in female; scape longest, distinctly longer than antennomere III, weakly clavate apicad; antennomeres III‒X gradually decreasing in length towards apical segments; antennomeres III and IV cylindrical, thickened at each apex; antennomere VIII distinctly arcuate; antennomeres V‒IX or XI slightly flattened.

Pronotum elongated, markedly divergent apicad, bluntly tuberculate at sides before middle; disc strongly elevated towards apex, with indistinct swellings, faintly depressed on sides before base. Scutellum large.

Elytra elongate and pair-shaped, markedly sinuously dilated posteriad in a sinuate line, wholly convex in general, rounded humeral angles whose width is narrower than basal width of pronotum, widest at approximately apical fourth, widely subtruncate on apices. Apterous ( Fig. 12 ).

Prosternum distinctly concave near middle, then strongly raised towards middle of intercoxal process, which has pronounced apical part; coxal cavities rounded externally, completely closed by inner projections of pleural processes. Mesocoxal cavities close to mesepimera. Metasternum reduced in length, shorter than basal width.

Legs long and stout; femora strongly clavate in each apical half; tarsi thick, with tarsomere I strongly dilated apicad.

Male abdomen with ventrite I long and slightly dilated posteriad, almost same or slightly shorter than following four segments combined; ventrites II‒V reduced in length, with ventrite V transverse semicircular, emarginate on apical margin. Female abdomen ( Figs. 13 & 14 ) ample posteriad due to wide anal ventrite; ventrite I very long and dilated apicad, less than 1.5 times as long as following four segments combined; ventrite II transverse, provided with rake organ along apical margin for almost entire width; rake organ ( Figs. 17 & 18 ) composed of dense rows of two kinds setae, of which the median rows are formed by spoon-like setae with shallow emargination near the center of each apical part, the lateral rows are formed by long wavy setae on each sides of the median rows; ventrites III and IV very reduced, not visible from above due to setae on rake organ; anal tergite and ventrite large, semicircular.

Male genitalia. Median lobe ( Figs. 19, 20, 25 & 26 ) spindle-shaped, hardly convex; apical lobe (ventral plate) with lateral walls produced internally on dorsal side; dorsal plate formed by small trapezoidal plate attaining about apical third of ventral plate; median orifice dehiscent in short distance. Endophallus ( Figs. 21, 22, 27 & 28 ) armed with a set of trifurcated sclerites, comprising a fine and elongate median stem, and a pair of subtransverse plates that are provided with forwardly extending arcuate stems on each side, supplemented with a pair of warped plates or a fine plate immediately near anterior part of the trifurcated sclerite. Tegmen ( Figs. 23 & 29 ) small, with vestigial paramere. Eighth abdominal segment ( Figs. 24 & 30 ) formed as a pair of ordinary bilobed plates in both tergite and ventrite.

Notes. This genus was erroneously placed in the tribe Tillomorphini (Cerambycinae) in the original description; however, the presence of a very long abdominal ventrite I, a spindle-shaped median lobe, a vestigial paramere in the male genitalia, and a rake organ in the female abdomen indicates that this genus should properly be placed in Obriini . Beetles of Tillomorphini genera do not have such highly specialized reproductive organs in both sexes as in Indapiodes .

Although the species of Indapiodes appear to be very unique, in terms of their general appearance among the genera of the tribe Tillomorphini , this genus may be related to Oxilus Buquet, 1860 in Obriini , which is distributed from Central to Southern Africa. The two genera have numerous common features, such as having almost ovate eyes on the sides of head, relatively long neck, each terminal palpomere of the labium and maxillae forming a right triangle, flattened antennomeres V–XI, pronotal disc being markedly elevated apicad, elytra with broadly truncate apices, and male genitalia with a broad spindle-shaped median lobe and unilobed, but vestigial, paramere. However, these two genera also differ markedly from each other; in Indapiodes , the base of the elytra are constricted and members of the genus are apterous, while in Oxilus , the humeri of the elytra are broad and the hindwings are fully developed.

Indapiodes may have some relationship to the Australian members of Iphra Pascoe, 1866 , particularly in I. moestula (White, 1855) and I. triangulifera (Aurivillius, 1917) . According to Ślipiński & Escalona (2016), the large first ventrite and developed rake organ in the female abdomen of I. moestula are quite similar to those of Indapiodes . However, Indapiodes is clearly distinguished from the Australian Iphra by the almost ovate eyes, the elongated pear-shaped elytra, stout antennae and legs. Whatever the case, Indapiodes is only known apterous genus in Obriini .

Figures

FIGURES 15–18. 15–17, Indapiodes bifasciatus Miroshnikov & Tichý, 2018 (SEM images): 15, head, male, dorsal view; 16, ditto, ventral view; 17, rake organ of female abdomen, ventral view. 18, Indapiodes carolusi n. sp. (SEM image): rake organ of female abdomen, ventral view. Scale: 0.50 mm.

FIGURES 7–14. Indapiodes bifasciatus Miroshnikov & Tichý, 2018: 7, mandibles, dorsal view; 8, ditto, ventral view; 9, maxilla, male, ventral view; 10, maxillary palpus, female, ventral view; 11, labium, male, ventral view; 12, hind body, dorsolateral view (showing apterous metanotum); 13, female abdomen, ventral view. 14, I. carolusi n. sp.: female abdomen, ventral view. Scale: 0.50 mm for Figs. 7–11; 2.00 mm for Figs. 12 & 13.

FIGURES 19–30. 19–24, Indapiodes bifasciatus Miroshnikov & Tichý, 2018, male genitalia. 25‒30, Indapiodes carolusi n. sp., male genitalia. 19 & 25, median lobe, dorsal view; 20 & 26, ditto, lateral view; 21 & 27, copulatory piece on endophallus, dorsal view; 22 & 28, ditto, lateral view; 23 & 29, tegmen, dorsal view; 24 & 30, abdominal segments VIII–IX, ventral view. Scale: 0.50 mm for Figs 19, 20, 23–26, 29 & 30; 0.25 mm for Figs 21, 22, 27 & 28.