Agrilaxia (Agrilaxia) venezuelana, 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 : 180-181

Agrilaxia (Agrilaxia) venezuelana sp. nov.

( Figs. 9 , 12, 15 )

Type locality. Venezuela, Falcon, Curimagua, 1000 m.

Type specimens. Holotype (male, MIZA): “ Venezuela – Falcon, Curimagua, 1000 m, 24.xi.1971 // J. & B. Bechyně leg. // Venezuela-Inst. Zool. Agricola, Fac. Agronomia, Univ. Central”; allotype (female, MIZA): the same data; paratype (female, NMPC): “ Venezuela – Falcon, Cerro Galicia, 1500 m, 25.xi.1971 // J. & B. Bechyně leg. // Venezuela-Inst. Zool. Agricola, Fac. Agronomia, Univ. Central”.

Diagnosis. Medium-sized (4.8–6.3 mm), prolonged, slightly wedge-shaped, matt with silky lustre ( Fig. 9 ); dorsal surface green with violet tinge, anterior and middle part of frons black-violet, frontoclypeus bright bluegreen (male) or frons dark bronze and frontoclypeus purple (female); ventral surface golden green, pro- and metasternum with blue lustre, lateral sides of abdominal ventrites black-violet (male) or entire ventral surface bronze with bright purple metepimers and lateral sides of ventrites (female); entire body asetose.

Description of the male holotype. Head large, slightly prognathous, somewhat wider than anterior pronotal margin; frons widely, deeply depressed, vertex weakly depressed, 1.2 times as wide as width of eye; eyes large, elliptical but not projecting beyond outline of head; antennae relatively short reaching midlength of lateral pronotal margins when laid alongside; scape very long and slender, 5.5 times as long as wide, pedicel ovoid, 1.6 times as long as wide; third antennomere weakly triangular, 1.6 times as long as wide; antennomeres 4–10 sharply, widely triangular, 1.0–1.3 times as wide as long, terminal antennomere axe-shaped, about twice as long as wide; sculpture of head consisting of very small and dense, oval or polygonal cells without central grains.

Pronotum moderately convex, 1.3 times as wide as long, with wide and deep lateroposterior depressions and shallow prescutellar pit; anterior margin deeply bisinuate, medial lobe strongly projecting anteriorly, posterior margin almost straight; lateral margins regularly rounded at anterior half, shallowly emarginate anteriorly of the sharp posterior, angles; “agriloid carina” rather sharp, reaching posterior third of lateral margin; maximum pronotal width at anterior third; sculpture consisting of small, fine, almost regular, polygonal cells with flat, poorly visible central grains; Scutellum small, flat, cordiform to pentagonal, 1.3 times as wide as long.

Elytra weakly convex, 2.8 times as long as wide, strongly constricted anterior to midlength so that lateral sides of entire abdomen are easily visible from above; elytra without longitudinal carina only with very weak, almost indistinct traces of longitudinal grooves; humeral callosities large, transverse basal depression deep, wide, reaching scutellum; subhumeral carina fine, hardly reaching elytral midlength; elytral epipleura very narrow, not reaching elytral apex; sculpture consisting of basal microsculpture and fine punctures and short, transverse wrinkles on anterior half and very small and fine W-shaped punctures/rugae on posterior half; apical portion of lateral margins with very fine serrations.

Ventral surface lustrous with very fine ocelliform sculpture, only prosternum (incl. prosternal process) with coarse, oval punctures; prosternum flat with very weak, shallow depression along the straight anterior margin. Anal tergite sharply serrate ( Fig. 15 ), anal ventrite finely, sharply serrate, apically truncate. Legs slender, rather long, tibiae not modified. Tarsal claws slender, slightly hook-shaped, not enlarged at base.

Aedeagus ( Fig. 12 ) slender, almost parallel-sided, weakly bent dorsoventrally, median lobe pointed apically.

Measurements. Length: 4.8–6.3 mm (holotype 5.3 mm); width: 1.7–2.2 mm (holotype 1.9 mm).

Sexual dimorphism. The female differs slightly from the male by somewhat different colouration (see above), stouter body, apically rounded anal ventrite and by the much finer serration of the anal tergite.

Differential diagnosis. Agrilaxia (A.) venezuelana sp. nov. resembles in body-shape, colouration and pronotal sculpture A. (A.) dohrni Obenberger, 1924 from Costa Rica. It differs from it by the more prognathous mouth parts, more depressed frons, sharp and long apical serration of the anal tergite (spines are almost needle-shaped in A. (A.) venezuelana sp. nov. — Fig. 15 ) and principally by the form of the lateroposterior pronotal depressions (wide and fused to each other in A. (A.) dohrni , large but well-defined and separated by the narrow keel in A. (A.) venezuelana sp. nov.). Aedeagus of A. (A.) venezuelana sp. nov. is longer and slender, parallel-sided ( Fig. 12 ), that of A. (A.) dohrni is shorter, almost spindle-shaped (Fig. 48 in Cobos, 1972).

Etymology. The specific epithet is derived from the country of the origin ( Venezuela).

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.

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.