Araeodontia picipennis Barr, 1952a

Burke, Alan & Zolnerowich, Gregory, 2017, A taxonomic revision of the subfamily Tillinae Leach sensu lato (Coleoptera, Cleridae) in the New World, ZooKeys 179, pp. 75-157 : 87-88

Araeodontia picipennis Barr, 1952a

Synonyms.

Cymatodera picipennis Barr, 1950b, Proc. California Acad. Sci., ser. 4, vol. 24, no. 12, p 495.

Type material not examined.

Type locality.

Venancio, Lower California. Type depository: California Academy of Sciences (CASC).

Distribution.

Mexico: Baja California.

The following is Barr’s (1950a) original description for Cymatodera picipennis .

Female: Medium size, somewhat elongate; piceous; pronotum faintly paler at sides and across middle; elytra with brownish subapical spots, right elytron with a broad, faintly indicated, brownish ante-median area along lateral margin at middle; undersurface dark testaceous. Head finely, somewhat sparsely punctured, finely wrinkled at base, sparsely clothed with short, erect brownish hairs; front feebly bi-impressed; antennae brown, stout, reaching basal fourth of elytra, second segment two-thirds as long as third, third segment slightly longer than fourth, segments 5 to 10 nearly equal in length, longer than those preceding, cylindrical, outer margin of each of these segments broadly rounded, slightly incrassate at apex. Pronotum one-third longer than basal width; surface finely, sparsely punctured, sparsely clothed with short, fine pale hairs, intermixed with moderately long, erect brown hairs; ante-scutellar impression wanting. Elytra two and one-half times longer than basal width, nearly twice as wide as pronotum at base; humeri distinct; sides widest behind middle; apices nearly conjointly rounded; surface with striae consisting of fine punctures, extending to subapical spots, interspaces much wider than punctures, sparsely clothed with short, suberect pale hairs. Legs dark testaceous, piceous at apices of femora and bases of tibiae, finely, densely punctured, densely clothed with short, brown hairs; middle tibiae dark. Metaventrite finely and very sparsely punctured. Abdomen finely, densely punctured; fifth sternite rounded at apex, deeply incised at middle; sixth sternite semicircular in shape; sixth tergite longer and broader than sixth sternite, narrowly rounded at apex. Length: 7 mm.

Holotype, female (C. A. S. No. 5622) from Venancio, July 17, 1938, collected by Michelbacher and Ross. C. picipennis belongs to the Xanti group in Wolcott’s key and will run to C. tuta Wolcott and C. laevicollis Schaeffer. It may be separated from these two species by the dark piceous color with the brown, subapical elytral spots and by the structure of the antennae. This species is described from a single female which is in a somewhat damaged condition, the left antenna is broken off at the fourth segment, one of the hind legs is missing, and several of the tarsi are gone. However, the critical characters are present and the species appears to be sufficiently distinct to warrant a name at this time.

Remarks.

Barr (1952a), in his revision of the genus Araeodontia , stated that this species is restricted to an area in the vicinity of San Venancio, Baja California Sur, Mexico, and it is only known from the female holotype. Barr indicated that A. picipennis is most similar to A. peninsularis ; however, the two species can be differentiated by the structure of the tarsal claws and the elytral disc pattern; specifically, in A. picipennis , the two inner tarsal denticles are slender and closely approximated and the elytral disc is immaculate, in a pale testaceous tone. In A. peninsularis , the tarsal denticles are thicker and distinctly separated, and each elytron has two irregular testaceous maculae, the first located on the anterior half, reaching the middle third of elytral disc, and the second maculae adjacent to epipleural apex. Barr pointed out that the validity of the species is questionable and perhaps its rarity is due to its close resemblance with A. peninsularis , with the holotype possibly just a case of the maculae being absent. If so, A. picipennis would be treated as a junior synonym of A. peninsularis .