Deltaspis aeruginis Chemsak, Hovore & Eya

Eya, Bryan K., 2017, A new species of Deltaspis Audinet-Serville (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae) from Mexico, Zootaxa 4247 (2), pp. 181-184 : 182

Deltaspis aeruginis Chemsak, Hovore & Eya , new species ( Figs. 1 –6)

Description. MALE: Length, 17.5– 23 mm. Form moderate-size, integument subopaque, dark metallic blue-green, appendages slightly darker, pronotum orange with five black spots, apical and basal margins narrowly dark blue-green, pubescence short, pale, dense, depressed. Head small, front short, deeply impressed transversely, median line short, extending only to vertex; clypeus emarginate; mandibles robust, arcuate, apex emarginate-truncate; palpi unequal, apical segments small; antennal tubercles large, contiguous, apices subacute; eyes moderate sized, finely faceted, upper lobes narrow, well separated; antennae slender, 1 ¾ times longer than body, 11-segmented, terminal segment often appendiculate at apical one-third, scape cylindrical, finely, densely punctate, segments with a row of short, erect hairs beneath, sparser on outer segments, third and fourth segments slightly enlarged at apices, third segment longer than scape, fourth subequal to third, fifth longer than fourth, basal segments, shallowly excavated longitudinally on dorsal and ventral surfaces, carinate laterally, apices feebly produced externally. Pronotum broader than long, sides rounded to subangulate; disk with five feebly elevated black spots, two at anterior ½ and three at posterior ½, median spot near basal margin; apical margin thinly collared, narrowly impressed, basal margin narrowly impressed; disk opaque, densely, coarsely, contiguously punctate, pubescence short, erect, dark, base and sides with a few longer erect hairs; prosternum impressed, a dark, deeply, densely punctate area extending to sides of pronotum, prosternal process arcuate, abruptly declivous behind, slightly tuberculate over coxae, coxal cavities open behind, rounded externally; mesosternum with intercoxal process arcuate, medially impressed anteriorly, level with surface of coxae; metasternum finely, densely punctate, densely clothed with pale, subdepressed hairs. Scutellum triangular, acute apically, finely pubescent. Elytra about 2.5 times longer than broad, sides shallowly impressed near middle; punctures fine, dense, contiguous to confluent, becoming smaller towards apex; pubescence dense, short, depressed, base with a few longer, suberect haris; apices broadly rounded to subtruncate. Legs slender; hind femora linear, not extending to apices of elytra, finely punctate, pubescence short, subdepressed; tibiae slender, with two apical spines; posterior tarsi slender, first segment about as long as two following together, third segment cleft to base. Abdomen finely, densely punctate at sides, densely clothed with subdepressed pale pubescence; fifth sternite broadly, shallowly emarginate.

FEMALE: Length, 17–23 mm. Form more robust than male, elytra parallel sided. Antennae about as long as body, segment 5–10 moderately produced at apices. Abdomen with fifth sternite broadly truncate at apex, lightly impressed medially.

Etymology. The name refers to the dark blue-green coloration of the elytra.

Types. Holotype male, allotype and 15 paratypes (11 males, 4 females) from MEXICO : Nayarit, 5–10 km W Jala , 4–5000 ft., 27 Sep–6 Oct 1991, E. Giesbert ; 10 males, 7 females, Volcan Ceboruco, vic Jala , 13–18 Oct 1999, R.L. Wescott, A.D. Mudge ; 8 males, 7 females, vic. Jala, Rd to Vol. Ceboruco, 4 Oct 1990, 27 Sep 1991, 7–8 Oct 1992, J. Wappes ; 2 males, 3 females, 8–12 km S. Jala, 8 Oct 1990, 4 Oct 1990, 10 Oct 1992, R. Turnbow; 4 males, 2 females, Volcan Ceborunco [sic] 4–12 km w. Jala , 27 Sep 1991, Morris, Wappes, Giesbert ; 34 males, 8 females, 5–15 km W Jala , 16/ 17 Oct 2001, F. Hovore, R. Penrose. Holotype and allotype deposited in EMEC . Paratypes in ACMT, CSCA, EBCC, EMEC, LGBC, RHTC, RLWC.

Remarks. The subparallel body form, opaque, finely punctate, dark blue-green elytra, and orange pronotum with rounded to feebly subangulate sides, even, contiguous punctuation, and five black discal calluses make D. aeruginis distinctive within the genus. The species superficially resembles D. thoracica White and D. rufostima Bates , but the former species is more narrow, has feebly emarginate elytral apices, the pronotum is laterally tuberculate with only four black spots, and the disk is uneven and irregularly punctate; the latter species (based upon the holotype) is more stout bodied, with coarsely punctate metallic green elytra, black appendages, and the pronotum is broadly angulate laterally.

Some males of D. aeruginis (as well as those of several other Deltaspis ) have the eleventh antennal segment appendiculate, often to such an extent as to appear to form a short twelfth segment. This tendency appears to be correlated to allometry, as it occurs most distinctly in the largest specimens, which coincidentally have the longest antennae relative to the overall body length.

Adults of D. aeruginis have been taken primarily from white composite flowers ( Asteraceae ) on the low to midelevation slopes of Volcan Ceboruco, an isolated member of a chain of ancient volcanoes lying along the western foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 3. Deltaspis aeruginis Chemsak, Hovore & Eya, holotype male: dorsal, 1; lateral, 2; and ventral, 3 profiles. FIGURES 4 – 6. Deltaspis aeruginis Chemsak, Hovore & Eya, allotype female: dorsal, 1; lateral, 2; and ventral, 3 profiles.