Ozineus Bates, 1863

Monné, Marcela L., Monné, Miguel A. & Souza, Diego De Santana, 2019, The genus Ozineus Bates, 1863 in South America (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Lamiinae), Zootaxa 4695 (6), pp. 593-600 : 594

Ozineus Bates, 1863

Ozineus Bates, 1863: 278 ; Thomson, 1864: 322; 1865: 354; Lacordaire, 1872: 770; Bates, 1881: 161; Monné & Martins, 1976: 62 (syn.); Monné, 2012: 72; Monné & Monné, 2012: 62 (key to Bolivian spp.).

Type species: Ozineus elongatus Bates, 1863 (subsequent designation, Thomson, 1864: 322).

Sternacutus Gilmour, 1961: 364 ; Monné, 2005: 129 (cat.); Monné, 2012: 74. syn. nov.

Type-species: Sternacutus cristatus Gilmour, 1961 (original designation) [= Ozineus zikani Melzer, 1935 ].

Acarinozineus Gilmour, 1962: 261 .

Type species: Acarinozineus striatus Gilmour, 1962 (original designation).

Emended diagnosis. Frons large, fairly convex; lower ocular lobes slightly longer than genae. Antennae elongate and slender, about twice as long as body; scape elongate, reaching base of pronotum; third antennomere slightly longer than scape; antennomeres III–XI very gradually decreasing toward apex; antennomere III without distal projections. Prothorax with minute obtuse lateral tubercle, at posterior third or posterior quarter. Pronotum not tuberculate. Elytra with sides almost parallel, without erect setae and without longitudinal carina, except for obsolete elevations; each elytron bearing elongate centro-basal carina, setose or not; apex of elytra rounded or obliquely emarginate. Prosternal process narrow, about 1/3 as broad as procoxal cavity. Mesosternal process not tuberculate, about 1/4 to 1/3 as broad as mesocoxa. Legs elongated; pro- and mesocoxa globose; femora subpedunculate; metafemora not projected beyond apex of elytra; tarsi elongate, basal metatarsomere slightly longer than following two segments together. Apical ventrite short, apex semicircular or slightly emarginate; distal urotergite broadly emarginate.

Remarks. The main characters to recognize Ozineus among other genera of Acanthocinini are: prothorax with a minute lateral tubercle at the posterior third or posterior quarter; elytral surface without setae or a longitudinal carina; and femora subpedunculate. Ozineus is similar to Tropidozineus Monné & Martins, 1976 and Cristurges Gilmour, 1961 . However, it differs from Tropidozineus by the absence of a longitudinal carina on the elytra, and from Cristurges by the reduced and obtuse lateral tubercle of the pronotum. Species of Tropidozineus have a longitudinal carina on the elytra and, in Cristurges , the lateral tubercle of the pronotum is well developed and acute.

In the description of Sternacutus, Gilmour (1961) wrote: “ Sternacutus differs from Ozineus by pronotal shape, the acutely triangular mesosternal process, the extremely strongly swollen pedunculate femora, less depressed form, etc.”. Nevertheless, we propose the synonymy of Sternacutus under Ozineus , based on the similarity of the shape of the pronotum, which is very similar to that of Ozineus elongatus (type-species of Ozineus ), the width of the mesosternal process and the form of the femur, which are highly variable characters in Ozineus . For instance, the less depressed form of the femur is common to several species of Ozineus , such as O. mysticus Bates, 1863 , O. doctus Bates, 1863 and O. guttatus Monné & Martins, 1976 .