Longipalpus palodensis, Hiremath, 2020

Hiremath, S. R., 2020, First report of the genus Longipalpus Montrouzier, 1861 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae) from India with the description of a new species, Zootaxa 4728 (4), pp. 453-460 : 454-459

Longipalpus palodensis sp. nov.

( Figs. 1–14 )

Type material: Holotype: ♂, with labels as follows: “(1) India: Kerala / JNTBGRI, Palode / 8 o 45’10.1”N; 77 o 1’30.8”E / 17. iv. 2018 / SR Hiremath Coll. / Ex. Mesua ferrea (2) Holotype / Longipalpus palodensis sp. nov. / des. Hiremath, 2019 (red label).”

Description. Male (n=1) ( Figs. 1–3 ). Body length measured from vertex to elytral apex 6.53 mm; humeral width 1.44 mm. General body colour yellow; body faintly covered with golden-yellow, fine, recumbent pubescence, comparatively denser on ventral side than dorsum; pubescence on lateral sides of pronotum, elytra, femora, and ventral side shimmers with silvery appearance due to incidence of light.

Head ( Fig. 4 ) with vertex, frons, gena and postclypeus reddish brown; anteclypeus and labrum yellow; anteclypeus ornamented with a pair of obliquely angulate black spots on its central area; labrum basally with a few medium to elongate sub-erect golden-yellow setae, apex densely fringed with medium sized setae of similar colour; labial and maxillary palpi yellow in general; mandibles with basal half red brown and apical half dark brown, lateral margins in apical half along with mandibular apex black; basal half of mandibles covered with sub-erect to slightly curved golden-yellow setae. Head slightly inclined, vertex sloping with weak reticulations towards anterior margin of pronotum; frons weakly convex, medially impressed with fine median carina running from postclypeus to area between antennal tubercles; antennal tubercles weakly angulate, widely separated at their base, area between them broadly concave; eyes coarsely faceted, distinctly emarginated; upper lobes narrow, connected to lower lobes by 5 rows of ommatidia; lower lobes distinctly convex, nearly circular, distinctly longer than genae; genae convex with their apex weakly rounded.

Antennae surpass elytral apex at base of antennomere VIII, 1.48 times as long as body. Scape narrowed towards base, distinctly bulged at its apical third thence slightly narrowed towards apex; distinctly red brown with its inner apical area fringed with four sub-erect golden-yellow setae. Basal half of pedicel reddish brown, apical half pale yellow, inner apical area bears single sub-erect golden-yellow seta. Antennomeres III–XI distinctly yellowbrown with apex of III–VII tinged red brown; underside of antennomeres III–V fringed with a few golden-yellow sub-erect setae; apex of antennomeres III–VI on inner side bears single golden seta each; length of inner apical setae slightly longer on antennomeres III and IV; antennomere III shorter than scape, slightly longer than IV; antennomeres III–VII slightly nodose at apex, dorsal surface of each, impressed with a weak longitudinal canal running from base to beginning of nodosity at apex; last antennomere rounded at its apex. Ratio of length of antennomeres: 1.00: 0.19: 0.81: 0.71: 1.24: 1.33: 1.33: 1.00: 0.76: 0.57: 0.67.

Prothorax longer than wide, broader at its anterior margin and narrowed towards its basal margin, 0.74 times as wide as long, with constriction at apical as well as at basal area; length sub-equal to humeral width; sides weakly rounded in middle. Pronotum mostly red brown; apical and basal margins brownish; sides with slightly oblique, dark brown maculae from base to apex; apical margin densely fringed beneath with short golden-yellow setae; disk impressed with two broad, transverse depressions: one present ante-apically, another ante-basally; apical margin transversely straight, basal margin feebly concave in middle.

Scutellum oblong with rounded apex.

Elytra elongate, straight up to middle, distinctly widened at apical third, arcuately narrowed towards apex; apex rounded; elytra 0.64 times as long as body, 2.81 times as long as pronotum, 2.90 times as long as humeral width; elytra with pre-medial disk distinctly covered with randomly and densely distributed coarse punctures; punctures on post-medial disk indistinct, finer, random, sparsely distributed up to apex; elytra yellow in general; basal half tinged red brown; elytral disk ornamented with two oblique maculae and a sub-sutural spot arranged as follows: first oblique macula situated premedially, begins at base on inner side of humeral prominence, weakly curved on basal third, continue obliquely as a short macula terminating along sutural margin at its middle, proximal end distinctly thickened, middle area slightly narrowed; second oblique macula short, situated just behind middle, irregular, sub-triangular, proximally reaching sutural margin to merge with distal end of first macula, distally terminates near lateral margin; first and second maculae when viewed together on elytra dorsally, give appearance of ‘X’ mark with its anterior arms weakly curved and thickened towards apex while posterior arms short and distinctly dilated at their distal ends; sub-sutural spot present at apical fourth, hemispherical on each elytron and together it gives appearance of a large, dark brown circular spot; elytral disk adorned uniformly with fine golden-yellow faint pubescence; elytral disk at its apical fourth bears a few serially arranged sub-erect golden yellow setae arising from respective punctures at sutural, sub-lateral and pre-apical margins, together disposed broadly in a ‘U’ shaped manner.

Legs yellow, except brownish bulged portion of hind femora and claws; inner margin of hind tibiae distinctly fringed with short, sub-erect golden-yellow setae, starting from basal third and reaching tibial apex.

Sternites with prosternum red brown except prosternal process and margins of coxal cavities, which are comparatively darker; prosternal disk uniformly adpressed with fine golden-yellow pubescence, except small ante-apical transverse area. Meso- and metasternum red brown, covered with similar pubescence as on prosternum, margins of coxal cavities and borders of metepisternum dark brown.

Abdomen with ventrites I–III red brown; ventrites IV–V yellow. All ventrites uniformly covered with adpressed golden-yellow pubescence interspersed with a few sub-erect setae of similar colour. Ventrite I longer than next two segments united; ventrite V, 0.12 times as long as total length of abdomen, and as long as preceding segment; apex straight.

Male genitalia ( Figs. 6–11 ). Tegmen (9–11) 0.83 mm long, distinctly curved at apical third, weakly sinuate at middle portion in lateral view. Basal piece present, light brown, distally curved. Ringed part converging, constricted at widest portion; manubrium obliquely straight in ventral view, deflexed towards dorsum at its base in lateral view, connected to each other near base, by a short, transverse, dorso-ventrally flattened membrane. Lateral lobes ( Fig. 11 ) united, broadly conical, 0.33 times as long as total length of tegmen, basal margin flanked by concavely arcuate apodeme. Median lobe ( Fig. 7–8 ) 0.61 times as long as tegmen, weakly arcuate in lateral view; ventral plate with a longitudinal ridge medially; apex of ventral plate distinctly acuminate. Tergite VIII ( Fig. 6 ) U-shaped with its apex distinctly emarginate; integument of apical margin strongly fringed with elongate light-brown setae, except in middle. Sternite VIII transversely rectangular, with its apical margin notched in middle; integument of apical margin moderately fringed with medium to elongate light-brown setae. Spiculum gastrale 3.15 times as long as spiculum relictum, Y-shaped with its arms distinctly longer than median arm; median arm as long as spiculum relictum.

Endophallic sclerites ( Figs. 12–14 ). Central sclerites with basal two-third thick, weakly curved, proximal end surmounted with obliquely explanate sclerotic plate; begining of apical third with outwardly projecting angulate tooth on outer margin; apical third distinctly curved, narrow rod. Apical sclerite sub-quadrate, moderately thick, curved plate-shaped in lateral view; basal margin weakly projected at its middle; apical margin with dorsal and ventral projecting sclerotic armatures: ventral armatures paired, distinctly thick rods; dorsal armature distinctly elongate, whip-shaped sclerite, with distinctly thick proximal portion, originating from base of ventral armatures.

Differential diagnosis. Longipalpus palodensis sp. nov. agrees with the diagnostic characters of the genus: maxillary palpi long and broadest at apex; third antennal segment longer than fourth, much shorter than fifth; prothorax long, narrower at base than at apex, lateral sides slightly swollen in the middle; elytra slightly dilated behind middle, apex rounded; femora pedunculate-clavate ( Montrouzier 1861; Gressitt 1956); and the male genitalia with lateral lobes united, without terminal setae ( Niisato 2013).

The combination of the following characters distinguish the new species from the congeners: head, scape, and pronotum red brown; elytra yellow, red brown on the basal half, disk ornamented with X-shaped dark brown maculation, reaching up to two third of its length and with a sub-sutural, circular maculation of similar colour on the apical fourth; pre-medial elytral disk densely and coarsely punctate; post-medial disk sparsely covered with fine, indistinct punctures; bulged portion of hind femora dark brown.

Etymology. The name refers to the type locality of the species, Palode, which is surrounded by the Palode reserve forest, and is a small village on the foot hills of Western Ghats.

Life history. The new species is diurnal. The specimen was collected by sweeping on flowers of Mesua ferrea L ( Calophyllaceae ). Adult is floricolous showing pollinophagy. Examination of the alimentary canal revealed the presence of pollen grains of M. ferrea in the gut ( Fig. 5 ).

Figures

FIGURES 1–5. Holotype, Longipalpus palodensis sp. nov. (Male): 1. Dorsal view, 2. Lateral view, 3. Ventral view, 4. Head, frontal view, 5. Pollen grains of M. ferrea in alimentary canal.

FIGURES 6–11. Male genitalia of Longipalpus palodensis sp. nov. 6. Tergite VIII, sternite VIII and IX. 7–8. Median lobe: 7. Ventral view, 8. Lateral view. 9–11. Tegmen: 9. Ventral view, 10. Lateral view, 11. Close up of lateral lobes.

FIGURES 12–14. Endophallic sclerites of Longipalpus palodensis sp. nov. 12. Dorsal view, 13. Ventral view, 14. Lateral view.