Priocera katarubella OPITZ, 2021

Opitz, Weston, 2021, Taxonomic revision of the Western Hemisphere checkered beetle genus Priocera KIRBY (Coleoptera, Cleridae, Clerinae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 52 (2), pp. 1145-1255 : 1180-1181

Priocera katarubella OPITZ nov.sp. (Figs 51, 99, 139)

HOLOTYPE: ♀. Type locality: BRAZIL: Corcovado , Guanabara,?- X-1961, Seabra & Alvarenga ( FSCA) . PARATYPES: 11 specimens. Bolivia: Departamento de Beni, Rurrenabaque , 175 m, collection date and collector not noted ( WFBM, 1) Brazil: Estado do Bahia, Cachimbo,?-?- 1890, Ch. Pujol ( MCNZ, 1; MNHN, 3; WOPC, 1) ; Central Brazil , collection date not noted, R. Fischer ( SDEI, 1) ; Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, collection date not noted, Fry ( BMNH, 2) ; Estado do Amazonas, Amazon , collection dates not noted, Bates ( BMNH, 1) ; Estado do Espiritu Santo, specific locality not legible, collector not noted ( BMNH, 1) .

D i a g n o s i s: Forebody black, except pronotal collar testaceous; antenna, pterothorax, and legs testaceous; elytra tricolored, basal 1/2 testaceous, apical half mostly black, each elytron with 3 yellow spots, one at elytral base near mesoscutellum, one short, transverse premedial in position and contiguous with sutural margin, one slightly oblique, postmedial in position and contiguous with sutural margin, elytral apical 1/5 th testaceous; abdomen bicolored, visible ventrites I, IV-VI- testaceous, other visible ventrites yellow.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Size: Length 7.5 mm; width 1.5 mm. Form: As in Fig. 139 . Head: Cranium coarsely punctate, frons about as wide as length of antennal pedicel; EW/FW 33/9. Thorax: Pronotum finely punctate, with 2 tumescenses, slight fissure at middle ( PW /PL 80/115); elytral disc sculptured with striate asetiferous punctures extending slightly beyond elytral basal 1/2, elytral apex rounded ( EL /EW 290/57); metathoracic femur gradually increasing in diameter to femoral apex. Abdomen: Aedeagus as in Fig. 51.

V a r i a t i o n: Size: Length 8.0- 10.5 mm; width 2.0-3.0 mm. Other than body size, the available specimens are quite homogeneous.

N a t u r a l h i s t o r y: A specimen from Brazil was collected in October and one from Bolivia at 175 m.

D i s t r i b u t i o n ( Fig. 99 ): This species is known from Brazil.

E t y m o l o g y: Thetrivialname, katarubella, is a compound name that stems from the Greek kata (= below) and the Latin ruber (= red); with reference to the mostly reddishtestaceous color of the venter of these beetles.

Figures

Figs 99. Approximate distribution of species as noted.

Figs 136-139. Habitus. Priocera hadrosa nov.sp. (136), P. hovorei nov.sp. (137), P. ipeti nov.sp. (138), P. katarubella nov.sp. (139).