Plectrocerum baracoana ( Zayas, 1975 ), 2024

Woodley, Steven W. Lingafelter Norman E., 2024, New species, new combinations, synonymies, and nomenclatural discussion for Hispaniolan longhorned beetles (Coleoptera: Disteniidae, Cerambycidae), Insecta Mundi 2024 (69), pp. 1-41 : 25

Plectrocerum baracoana ( Zayas, 1975) , new combination

( Fig. 19)

Rhopalophora baracoana Zayas 1975: 162

Remarks. Zayas (1975) described this species in Rhopalophora Audinet-Serville , but noted some concerns with that tentative assignment. Given that the genus Plectrocerum was not known from Cuba, he did not consider that as a more appropriate genus. Rhopalophora baracoana Zayas , along with all the Zayas primary types, was photographed in Nearns et al. (2006). Plectrocerum shares the prominently mesally spined antennae and the clavate (not pedunculate) femora. Rhopalophora are immediately distinguished by lacking mesal antennal spines and having the femora clavate-pedunculate, with the clavate portion of the metafemora much less than half the length of the femur. In Plectrocerum , the clavate portion of the metafemora is over half the length of the femur, and the antennae have pronounced mesal spines on at least antennomeres 3–7. We determine that this species should be transferred to Plectrocerum , new combination. As R. baracoana was the only species assigned to Rhopalophorini in the West Indies, that tribe is now removed from the fauna.