Agrilaxia (Agrilaxia) stephani, Bílý, Svatopluk, 2015

Bílý, Svatopluk, 2015, A study on the genus Agrilaxia Kerremans, 1903 from Venezuela (Coleoptera: Buprestidae: Buprestinae: Anthaxiini), Zootaxa 4039 (1), pp. 173-182 : 179-180

Agrilaxia (Agrilaxia) stephani sp. nov.

( Fig. 8 )

Type locality. Venezuela, Falcon Province, 3.5 km NW of Maicillal, Cerro Togogo, 11°13′39.8′′N 68°53′10.2′′W, 64 m.

Type specimen. Holotype (female, NMPC): “ Venezuela, Edo. Falcon, 3.5 km NW of Maicillal, Cerro Togogo, 11°13′39.8′′N 68°53′10.2′′W, 64 m, 14.vii.2008, M. Hornburg leg.”.

Diagnosis. Medium-sized (4.5 mm), convex, elongate, subcylindrical, lustrous ( Fig. 8 ); frons red-bronze, pronotum black with bronze reflections and with medial, golden green stripe; elytra yellow, base and tips darkened, elytral suture darkened with green lustre; ventral surface dark bronze; antennae and legs black with intense bronze tinge, scutellum green; entire body asetose.

Description of the female holotype. Head large, somewhat wider than anterior pronotal margin, frontoclypeus not prognathous, anterior margin straight; frons flat with shallow, almost triangular, postclypeal depression, vertex weakly, shallowly grooved, 1.8 times as wide as width of eye; eyes large, reniform, not projecting beyond outline of head; antennae short, compact, reaching midlength of lateral pronotal margins when laid alongside; scape claviform, almost 4 times as long as wide, pedicel ovoid, 1.3 times as long as wide; third antennomere weakly triangular, 1.3 times as long as wide, antennomeres 4–10 trapezoidal, 1.2–1.4 times as wide as long, terminal antennomere rhomboid, 1.3 times as long as wide; sculpture homogeneous, consisting of oval and polygonal cells with large, flat central grains.

Pronotum moderately convex with large, wide lateroposterior depressions, 1.1 times as wide as long; lateral margins finely rounded, almost straight anterior to rectangular, posterior angles, maximum width at midlength; anterior margin shallowly biarcuate, posterior margin almost straight; “agriloid” carina short, poorly defined, prescutellar pit small but rather deep, basal callosities almost indistinct; sculpture consisting of fine, polygonal cells without central grains laterally and weakly developed, almost indistinct cells on disc. Scutellum very small, pentagonal, almost twice as wide as long.

Elytra flattened along suture, 2.6 times as long as wide, lateral margins almost straight at posterior third, widely rounded and very finely serrate apically; each elytron with 3 very indistinct, longitudinal carina, interstices with rows of rather rough, simple punctures; humeral callosities small, basal, transverse depression deep, wide, reaching scutellum; subhumeral carina long, reaching posterior third of elytra but little elevated, poorly defined; elytral epipleura very narrow, not reaching elytral apex.

Ventral surface lustrous, pro- and metasternum with coarse ocelliform sculpture, abdominal ventrites with only very fine ocelliform sculpture; prosternum flat, anterior margin finely, perpendicularly elevated; anal tergite widely rounded, finely serrate, anal ventrite roughly serrate, with medial, apical, rounded emargination. Legs relatively long and slender, meso- and metatibiae straight, protibiae slightly curved with short, dense brush of pale setae on inner margin. Tarsal claws fine, hook-shaped, only very slightly enlarged at base.

Male unknown.

Measurement. Length: 4.5 mm; width: 1.0 mm.

Differential diagnosis. In its yellow, elytral colouration, Agrilaxia (A.) stephani sp. nov. resembles A. (A.) boliviana , A. (A.) acuminata , A. (A.) panamensis and the male of A. (A.) biformis sp. nov. From all of these it differs by the rough elytral sculpture with rows of large, coarse punctures, longer pronotum of a different colouration and by the slender body. From A. (A.) panamensis it differs also by the depressed frons, non caudiform elytra and also by the almost completely yellow elytra (only humeral portion yellow in A. (A.) panamensis ).

Etymology. This species is dedicated to my friend and colleague, Stephan Gottwald (Berlin, Germany).

Distribution. Ven ez uel a.

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.