Arsipoda agalma Samuelson, 1973

Gómez-Zurita, J., Cardoso, A., Jurado-Rivera, J. A., Jolivet, P., Cazères, S. & Mille, C., 2010, Discovery of new species of New Caledonian Arsipoda Erichson, 1842 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) and insights on their ecology and evolution using DNA markers, Journal of Natural History 44 (41 - 42), pp. 2557-2579 : 2564

Arsipoda agalma Samuelson, 1973

This species, characterized by its relatively large size (3.0 mm) and a distinct anterior sulcus on vertex, was described based on two male specimens collected in two nearby localities (∼ 65 km apart) on the eastern slope of the Massif du Panié , northeast of Grande Terre ( Samuelson 1973). Both types are deposited at the J.L. Gressitt Center for Research in Entomology ( Bishop Museum , Honolulu , HI, USA). The female was unknown so far. However , among the specimens investigated in our study, there was one female Arsipoda collected on the trail to the top of Mt Panié , below the limit of the National Park (Province Nord, New Caledonia) on the 23–28 November 2001 (K.A. Johanson, T. Pape and B. Viklund leg.), which conforms very well to the male holotypes of A. agalma in most respects, including the diagnostic supraocular groove reaching the region behind the antenna .

Differential description of female

Specimen slightly more slender than male holotype (3.08 mm long, 1.42 mm wide) and paler. Frons punctate-rugose, more impressed than in male, and antennae proportionally shorter, not reaching middle of elytra. Coarser punctation on disc of pronotum, with deeper, better-defined antebasal transversal furrow. Apex of last abdominal ventrite broadly rounded as in all female Arsipoda . The spermatheca ( Figure 3A ) of this species remained unknown. Its shape is perhaps more reminiscent of that in A. shirleyae , lacking as the latter a beaked apex (or appendix; present in all other species) and with a relatively thick and long ductus, inserted anteriorly to base of basal part, and strongly bent against the body of this basal part. It can be distinguished from the homologous structure in A. shirleyae by a less elongated form, with a relatively large and stout apical part and a shorter, more convex basal part.

Figures

Figure 3. Spermathecae of (A) Arsipoda agalma Samuelson and of (B) Arsipoda geographica Gómez-Zurita sp. nov.