Onocephala chicomendes, Botero, Marcela L. Monné Miguel A. Monné Juan P. & Carelli, Allan, 2016

Botero, Marcela L. Monné Miguel A. Monné Juan P. & Carelli, Allan, 2016, Two new species and new records of Cerambycidae (Insecta, Coleoptera) from Itatiaia National Park, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Zootaxa 4137 (3), pp. 339-356 : 341-345

Onocephala chicomendes sp. nov.

( Figs. 1–5 )

Holotype male ( Figs. 1–4 ). Integument brown, entirely covered with short, dense pale yellowish pubescence. Antennae brownish-yellow; antennal tubercles, scape, pedicel and antennomeres III–IV covered with pale yellowish pubescence. Elytra with a premedian, pale yellowish macula, slightly oblique, reaching external margin, posterior margin of macula dentate.

Head ( Fig. 4 ) with coronal suture from occiput to clypeus; surface sparsely, finely punctate; front slightly convex, separated from genae by longitudinal carina; genae twice longer than height of lower ocular lobe, with median longitudinal sulcus under eye; antennae exceeding elytral apex at apex of antennomere VI; antennal tubercles strongly projected, acuminate at apex, covered with long, dense pubescence which extends to antennomere IV; distance between apex of tubercles five times width of an upper ocular lobe; scape densely and coarsely punctate; antennomere III 1.2 times length of scape and as long as antennomere IV; antennomere IV covered with pubescence only in internal face, 1.3 times length of antennomere V; antennomeres V–VI subequal in length, with sparse and long setae on internal face; antennomeres VII–XI increasing in length.

Prothorax cylindrical, unarmed, transverse, 1.3 times wider than long; surface punctate, except ventrally; pronotum transversely rugose; prosternal process depressed, as wide as 1/3 of procoxal cavities. Mesosternal process as wide as 3/4 of mesocoxal cavities. Scutellum with apex truncate. Elytra sparsely granulate at base, entirely finely punctate, more shallowly toward apex; humeri tuberculate. Pro-, meso- and metafemora fusiform; metafemora not reaching elytral apex. Last visible urotergite and urosternite trapezoidal, with apical margin sinuous.

FIGURES 6–13. 6–8, dorsal view; 6, Onocephala diophthalma ; 7, O. rugicollis ; 8, O. tepahi . 9–11, lateral view; 9, O. diophthalma ; 10, O. rugicollis ; 11, O. tepahi . 12–13, detail of head in frontal view; 12, O. diophthalma ; 13, O. tepahi .

Female paratype ( Fig. 5 ). Differs from the male by front without carina separating it from genae; distance between apex of tubercles seven times width of an upper ocular lobe; antennomeres V–XI decreasing in length; last visible urotergite trapezoidal, slightly curved ventrally, with sinuous apex; last visible urosternite trapezoidal, with longitudinal median sulcus and apex slightly excavated.

Measurements, in mm. Holotype male/ paratype female. Total length, 17.4/19.3; prothorax length, 3.0/3.5; prothorax width at its widest point, 3.7/4.3; elytral length, 11.05/13.4; humeral width, 6.1/6.7.

Etymology. We name this species for Francisco Alves Mendes Filho, better known as Chico Mendes (December 15, 1944 – December 22, 1988), a Brazilian rubber tapper and environmentalist. He fought to preserve the Amazon Rainforest, and advocated for the human rights of Brazilian peasants and indigenous peoples. He was murdered by a rancher on December 22, 1988. The epithet is a noun in apposition.

Type material. Holotype male, BRAZIL, Rio de Janeiro: Itatiaia (Parque Nacional de Itatiaia, 816 m), VI.1973, L. Zikán leg. ( MNRJ). Paratype female: BRAZIL, Rio de Janeiro: Itatiaia (Estação Biológica), 21.I.1930, J.F. Zikán leg. ( MNRJ).

Remarks. Based on the pattern of the elytra, three groups of species can be defined in Onocephala : one group with a premedian yellow spot of pubescence ( Onocephala chicomendes sp. nov. ( Figs. 1, 5 ), O. diophthalma (Perty, 1832) (Figs. 6, 9), O. tepahi Dillon & Dillon, 1946 (Figs 8, 11), O. rugicollis (Thomson, 1857) (Figs. 7, 10), another group with only longitudinal stripes of pubescence ( O. aulica Lucas, 1857 , O. suturalis (Bates, 1887) , O. thomsoni , O. vitipennis ), and the last with an oblique median macula and longitudinal stripes of pubescence ( O. lacordairei Dillon & Dillon, 1946 , O. obliquata Lacordaire, 1872 ).

Onocephala chicomendes sp. nov. ( Figs. 1–5 ) differs from O. diophthalma (Figs. 6, 9, 12), O. tepahi (Figs. 8, 11) and O. rugicollis (Figs. 7, 10) in the yellow spot on the elytra that does not reach the external margin and in the fine shallow punctuation on the base of the elytra; in the other three species the yellow spot reaches the external margin of the elytra and the punctuation on the base of the elytra is deep and coarse. Onocephala chicomendes sp. nov. also differs from O. diphthalma and O. tepahi in having the IV antennomere unicolor (in the other two species the basal half is yellowish). It differs from O. tepahi in the well-separated antennal tubercles, with the distance between them greater than the width of an upper lobe. In O. tepahi the tubercles are very close, separated by less than the width of an upper lobe.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 5. Onocephala chicomendes sp. nov. 1 – 4, holotype, male, 1, dorsal view, 2, lateral view, 3, ventral view, 4, detail of head in frontal view; 5, paratype, female, dorsal view.