Agrilaxia (Agrilaxia) balloui Fisher, 1942

Bílý, Svatopluk, 2015, A study on the genus Agrilaxia Kerremans, 1903 from Venezuela (Coleoptera: Buprestidae: Buprestinae: Anthaxiini), Zootaxa 4039 (1), pp. 173-182 : 174

Agrilaxia (Agrilaxia) balloui Fisher, 1942

( Figs. 1 , 10 )

Agrilaxia balloui Fisher, 1942:89 .

Agrilaxia balloui: Blackwelder, 1944: 314 (catalogue). Anthaxia (Agrilaxia) balloui: Cobos, 1972: 93 ; Bílý, 1999: 232 (catalogue). Agrilaxia balloui: Bellamy, 2008: 1499 (catalogue).

Type specimen studied. Holotype by monotypy (female, USNM): “El Valle, Venez 734, C. H. Ballou [p] // on Meliccocus bijugatus, ix-25 -39 [h] // Lot. no. 41-18418 [h] // Type No. 56420 U. S. N. M. [red, p+h] // Agrilaxia balloui Fisher [h] ”.

Additional specimens studied. COLOMBIA: Cesar, Valledupar, xii.1994 (1 male, 1 female—Fig. 1, NMPC). VENEZUELA: Aragua, 31.v.1988 // coll. J. M. Gonzalez // a la luz (1 male, NMPC); Carabobo, 12.vi.1985 // Palmichal, cr. Carabobo, 1000 m // J. A. Clavijo, A. Chacon. H. col. (1 female, MIZA; 1 female, NMPC); Estación Experimental San Nicolas, 56 km de Guanare, 180 m, 17.vi.1970 // F. Fernandez Y. col. (1 male, NMPC); El Limón. AR, 450 m, 22.ii. [19]60 // M. Gelbes col. (1 female, MIZA); El Valle D. F., 6.vii.1938, C. H. Ballou // 734 // En Datura stramonium // Agrilaxia balloui Fisher según det. W. S. Fisher // Col. C. H. Ballou, Div. Entomologia MAC (1 male, MIZA).

Description of the male. Since the species was described for the single female ( Fisher, 1942) and also Cobos (1972) did not mention a male I am hereby giving a brief diagnosis of the male. It differs from the female by the unicolorous, green elytra without the circumscutellar triangle, entirely green frons with poorly defined, dark, medial stripe, less bright ventral colouration, slightly truncate anal ventrite and by the strongly dentate anal tergite. Aedeagus ( Fig. 10 ) long, slender, almost spindle-shaped, dorsal surface of parameres uneven.

Note. According to Cobos (1972), also one female deposited in USNM was collected on Datura stramonium L. ( Solanaceae ) which is most probably not a host plant. More reliable is the record of Meliccocus bijugatus ( Sapindaceae ) as the host plant of this species ( Fisher, 1942).

Distribution. Colombia (new country record), Venezuela.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 9. 1 — Agrilaxia (Agrilaxia) balloui Fisher, 1942, female (Colombia, Valledupar), 5.0 mm; 2 — A. (A.) costaricensis Obenberger, 1922, female (Venezuela, El Limon), 7.5 mm; 3 — A. (A.) glabra Bílý & Brûlé, 2013, female (Venezuela, Nubia), 5.4 mm; 4 — A. (A.) simillima (Cobos, 1972), male (Venezuela, Aragua), 6.0 mm; 5 — A. (A.) biformis sp. nov., holotype, 4.5 mm; 6 — A. (A.) biformis sp. nov., allotype, 4.9 mm; 7 — A. (A.) michaeli sp. nov., holotype, 4.4 mm; 8 — A. (A.) stephani sp. nov., holotype, 4.5 mm; 9 — A. (A.) venezuelana sp. nov., holotype, 7.3 mm.

FIGURES 10 – 15 (not to scale). Figs. 10 – 12: aedeagi. 10 — Agrilaxia (Agrilaxia) balloui Fisher, 1942 (Venezuela, El Valle); 11 — A. (A.) biformis sp. nov., holotype; 12 — A. (A.) venezuelana sp. nov., holotype; Figs. 13 – 15: anal tergites. 13 — A. (A.) biformis sp. nov., male, paratype; 14 — A. (A.) biformis sp. nov., female, paratype; 15 — A. (A.) venezuelana sp. nov., holotype.