Neodillonia waltersi Nearns and Swift, 2011

Nearns, Eugenio H. & Swift, Ian P., 2011, New taxa and combinations in Onciderini Thomson, 1860 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae), Insecta Mundi 2011 (192), pp. 1-27 : 10-12

Neodillonia waltersi Nearns and Swift , sp. nov.

( Figures 4 a-b)

Description. Female. Length 18.5 mm (measured from vertex to elytral apices), width 8.0 mm (measured across humeri). Habitus as in Fig. 4a . General form elongate-ovate, robust, moderate-sized. Integument ferrugineous with brown pubescence speckled with patches of white and testaceous pubescence; apical 1/2 of antennomeres III-XI with dark brown pubescence.

Head with frons roughly subquadrate, about 3 times width of lower eye lobe. Eyes with lower lobes ovate-oblong; narrowest area connecting upper and lower eye lobes about 3-4 ommatidia wide. Genae elongate, about 1/2 as tall as lower eye lobe.

Antennae about as long as body; antennal tubercles prominent, narrowly separated, nearly contiguous at base; tubercles armed at apex with short blunt tooth; scape, gradually expanded to apex, slightly clavate, about as long as antennomere III, a little longer than IV; basal 1/3 of scape with underside transversely rugose; antennomere III slightly curved, about 1.5 times longer than IV; antennomeres IV- XI becoming progressively shorter; basal 1/2 of V-XI with distinctly lighter pubescence.

Pronotum distinctly conical, wider at base, strongly transverse, about 1.8 times as wide as long, sides irregular, with a small, obtuse protuberance each side behind middle ( Fig. 4a ); disk with five feebly elevated tubercles, median tubercle moderate-sized, oval, glabrous, lateral tubercles small, transverse; entire disk coarsely, sparsely punctate.

Scutellum transverse, sides straight, oblique, slightly concave.

Elytra about 1.7 times as long as width at humeri ( Fig. 4a ), about 4.5 times as long as pronotal length, about 1.5 times broader basally than pronotum at widest (at base); sides nearly straight, gradually rounded to apices at apical 1/3, elytral apices individually, narrowly rounded; base of each elytron with a feeble, broad gibbosity; basal 1/3 of elytra with dense punctation, surface coarsely granulatepunctate; humeri prominent, anterior margin arcuate, angle with an moderate-size, obtuse tubercle.

Venter with procoxae moderate, globose, not uncate; narrowest area of prosternal process between procoxae about 1/3 as wide as procoxal cavity; apex of prosternal process subtriangular. Mesosternal process about as wide as mesocoxal cavity; mesosternal process deeply emarginate. Fifth sternite about 1.5 times as long as IV, with a median triangular impression.

Legs moderate in length; femora clavate apically; tibiae slightly expanded apically; metafemora about 1/3 as long as elytra.

Male. Unknown.

Type Material. Holotype, female ( Fig. 4 a-b), “ Ecuador, Isla Puna , Jan 1951; Coleção Fragoso ” ( MNRJ).

Etymology. This species is named for Terrance W. Walters, for his generous support and encouragement. The epithet is a noun in the genitive case.

Diagnosis and Remarks. This species can be distinguished from its congener, Neodillonia albisparsa (Germar, 1824) ( Fig. 4 c-d), by the following characters: antennal tubercles more widely separated (contiguous at base in N. albisparsa ); more elongate elytra proportions (more ovate in N. albisparsa ); and elytra without distinctly speckled pubescence pattern (distinctly specked white pubescence in most specimens of N. albisparsa ). This species is described from a single female specimen and male specimens are unknown. Nothing is known about the habitat and behavior of this species. The geographic range of this genus (previously known from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay) is extended to Ecuador.

Figures

Figure 4. Two species of Neodillonia. a) Neodillonia waltersi, sp. nov., holotype female, dorsal habitus. b) N. waltersi, sp. nov., holotype female, lateral habitus. c) Neodillonia albisparsa (Germar, 1824), female, dorsal habitus. d) N. albisparsa, female, lateral habitus.