Agrilus (Agrilus) kinuthiae, Curletti & Sakalian, 2009

Curletti, Gianfranco & Sakalian, Vladimir, 2009, Sixteen new species of Agrilus Curtis, 1825 from East Africa (Coleoptera, Buprestidae), ZooKeys 24 (24), pp. 1-29 : 5-7

Agrilus (Agrilus) kinuthiae , sp. n.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:2E5E416C-C637-4218-A872-E4CBCDB9F6CF

Figs 5 , 6

Type specimens. Holotype ♁: “NE Kenya, Lower Tana River (02°16´S – 40°10´E), 30 m, 25– 28.10.2005, G. Curletti & V. Sakalian leg.” . Paratypes 6 exs: 4 ♀ ♀ with same locality and date as holotype ; 2 ♀ ♀ “NE Kenya, Lower Tana River (02°13´S – 40°10´E), 10 m, 25– 28.10.2005, G. Curletti & V. Sakalian leg.”. Th e holotype is deposited in IZBAS and the paratypes in GCCI, IZBAS and NMK .

Description of holotype. Body robust, subcylindrical, bright copper in color with a greenish tinge and the frons green.

Head with dense punctuation on vertex and upper portion of frons; width of vertex between eyes 0.62 mm; frons protruding in upper portion; lower portion of frons, clypeus and genae with short, dense, white pubescence; clypeus separated from frons by sharp carina; eyes convex and large; antennae short, barely reaching anterior margin of pronotum; antennomeres 4–11 markedly wider than long, triangular.

Pronotum widest at anterior third; anterior margin straight, carinate; anterior pronotal lobe absent; lateral margins slightly curved in posterior third; latero-posterior angles subrectangular; pronotum with weak depressions (two medial and two lateral); posterior medial depression deeper and oval; prehumeral pronotal carinae absent; marginal and submarginal carinae subparallel, not coalescent; discal sculpture consisting of transverse striae and sparse punctuation.

Scutellum robust, anterior portion triangular; transverse carina present; hind projection short and acutely pointed.

Elytra subparallel width humeri almost as wide as pronotal base; widest at posterior third; humeral depressions deep and wide; apices narrowly jointly rounded, not serrulate; elytra with short, uniform, white pubescence; discal elytral sculpture consisting of transverse wrinkles.

Underside. Prosternal lobe robust, anterior margin truncate. Prosternal process parallel between procoxae than narrowed apically; prosternal process with dense, white, pubescence. Abdomen with suture between ventrites 1 and 2 not visible. Ventrites with uniform, short, golden pubescence; apex of last ventrite shallowly arcuately emarginate, with long pubescence. Metatarsus shorter than metatibia; basal metatarsomere shorter than following metatarsomeres together. Aedeagus ( Fig. 6 )

Description of paratypes. Sexual dimorphism occurs in the following characters: upper portion of frons, which is green in males and cupper in females, pubescence of prosternal process, which is longer in males and apex of last ventrite, which is shallowly arcuately emarginate in males, while in females is subtruncate.

Size. Length 3.90–4.45 mm (holotype 4.00 mm); width 0.95–1.25 mm (holotype 1.05 mm).

Differential diagnosis. Agrilus (Agrilus) kinuthiae , sp. n. is very similar to A. (Agrilus) chembae Théry, 1934 , which synonym is A. (Agrilus) othello Obenberger, 1935 . A. chembe is distributed in Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania. Th e new species has frons less prominent in dorsal view and the sculpture of pronotum is less strong. The aedeagus has the paramers more expanded and rounded laterally and more anteriorly advanced.

Etymology. Dedicated to Dr. Vanja Kinuthia, from the National Museum of Kenya, for her kindness to give us the possibility to study the Buprestidae collection at the Museum.

Remark. Collected from yellow sticky traps placed on branches of Acacia sp.

Figures

Figure 5. Agrilus (Agrilus) kinuthiae, sp. n. (dorsal view).

Figure 6. Aedeagus of Agrilus (Agrilus) kinuthiae, sp. n. (dorsal view). Scale: 1 mm.