Coomaniella dentata, Song, 2021

Song, Hai-Tian, 2021, A new species of Coomaniella (Coleoptera, Buprestidae, Coomaniellini) from Guangxi, China, with new distributional records and biological observations, ZooKeys 1010, pp. 185-190 : 185

Coomaniella dentata sp. nov. Figures 1 , 2

Type specimens.

Holotype ♂ (FAFS): China • Wuzhi Mountains, Yao Autonomous County of Jinxiu, Laibin City, Guangxi; 23°54'N, 110°9'E, alt. 700 m; 14-15.V.2020; Chun-Fu Feng leg. Paratypes 12 ♂♂, 17 ♀♀ (CHTS): China • same collection data as for holotype • 3 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀ (CHTS); same collection data as for preceding; 25-26.V.2020 • 1 ♂ (CHTS); same collection data as for preceding; 11.IV.2020.

Description of the holotype.

Size: body length 6.55 mm, width 2.14 mm.

Body: suboval, elongate; head, pronotum, legs, ventral side, appendices, and antenna golden-green; elytra color horizontal gradient, golden-blue near suture, golden-green in central and golden-orange outsides (Fig. 1A ). Dorsal side with short, sparse, pale pubescence. Head: vertex roughly punctate, in narrowest part between the eyes reduced to six rows of punctures (Fig. 1B ); antennae short, scarcely reaching to anterior pronotal corners, markedly shorter than length of pronotum. Pronotum: strongly transverse, 1.92 × as wide as long, widest in the middle, sides deeply arcuate; anterior lobe existing, anterior margin narrower than posterior; disk with obvious, deep impressions (Fig. 1A ). Scutellum: very small, subpentagonal with corners very obtuse; impressed on disk (Fig. 1C ). Elytra: about 2.43 × as long as wide; rugoso-punctate, striae well marked; covered with asperate, dense sculptures and obvious longitudinal sequential punctures (Fig. 1D ); elytral apices simplex, subtruncate with subangulate angle at sutural margin and without spines (Fig. 1E ). Ventral side: inner posterior angle of metacoxal plates subangulate, with a big spine beside (Fig. 1F ). Sternal carina flanked with groove. Legs: tibia with apical spur and many hairs. Mesotibia and metatibia in distal half of inner margin with denticles (Fig. 1H-J ); tarsal shapes unchanged; tarsus distinctly longer than half of corresponding tibia; tarsomere 1 shorted than next three tarsomeres combined. Aedeagus: membranous, with much wider parameres (Fig. 1G ).

Sexual dimorphism.

Male eyes separated on vertex in narrowest part by six to eight rows of punctures, while female by nine or 10. Protarsomere 1 obviously lengthened in male; mesotibia and metatibia with denticles in distal half of inner margin in male (Fig. 1H-J ) but no denticles in female (Fig. 1K, L ). Antennal length similar in both sexes.

Variability.

Body 3.05-3.40 × as long as wide. Pronotum sometimes variable in shape (Fig. 2A ). Color variable and both sexes have green (Fig. 2B ) and orange forms (Fig. 2C ). Aspect ratio of scutellum variable. Elytral apices from subarcuate to subtruncate, subangulate angle at sutural margin sometimes weakened or even absent (Fig. 2A-C ). Body length of sexes overlap: male 5.78-7.53 mm and female 6.80-8.46 mm.

Discussion.

This new species presents several diagnostic characters which allow it to be easily separated from other species: 1) mesotibia and metatibia in males with denticles, 2) elytral apices without spines, 3) metacoxal plates with a big spine beside the inner posterior angle in both sexes, 4) elytral surface with obvious longitudinal punctures, and 5) the narrowest part between the eyes on each sex with more rows of punctures. The first two characters are reported for the first time in genus Coomaniella , adding to the structural diversity of the genus. The new species is classified in the subgenus Coomaniella Coomaniella and belongs to C. (C.) chinensis species-group.

Etymology.

The name Coomaniella dentata is for the denticles on male tibia.

Host plant.

Toona sp. (Fig. 3A, B ), determined by Prof. Xin-Hua Li (Nanjing Agricultural University), is a newly reported genus of adult host plant for the genus Coomaniella . Toona sp. belongs to the family Meliaceae , of which another species, Chukrasia tabularis , has been recorded as a host plant by Jendek (2002).

Remarks.

All specimens of C. dentata sp. nov. were collected during hot sunny days on both the top and bottom surfaces of the leaves of Toona sp. (Fig. 3A ). Margin feeding on the leaves was observed and was sometimes quite obvious (Fig. 3B ). Laboratory breeding showed that C. dentata sp. nov. could indeed feed on this plant (Fig. 3C ). No larval galleries were found.

From the same host plant, two other species were collected

Figures

Figure 1. Coomaniella (Coomaniella) dentata sp. nov. A-J holotype: A habitus B head C scutellum D elytral surface E elytral apex F metacoxal plate with spine G aedeagus H male mesotibia, dorsal view I male metatibia, ventral view J denticles on male metatibia, ventral view K, L paratype: K female mesotibia, dorsal view L female metatibia, ventral view. Scale bars: 1 mm (A); 0. 5 mm (B-L).

Figure 2. Variability of Coomaniella (Coomaniella) dentata sp. nov. A male, pronotal variety B male, green variety C female, orange variety. Scale bar: 1 mm.

Figure 3. Host plant and habits of Coomaniella (Coomaniella) dentata sp. nov. A Toona sp. in the wild B marginal feeding of the leaf of Toona sp. by C. dentata C feeding habits.