Apterotoxitiades aspinosus Bjoernstad

Adlbauer, Karl, Bjornstad, Anders & Perissinotto, Renzo, 2015, Description of a new species of Apterotoxitiades Adlbauer, 2008 (Cerambycidae, Dorcasominae, Apatophyseini) and the female of A. vivesi Adlbauer, 2008, with notes on the biology of the genus, ZooKeys 482, pp. 9-19 : 10-13

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Cerambycidae

Apterotoxitiades aspinosus Bjoernstad sp. n. Figure 5

Type.

Holotype (HT) ♀: RSA, Natal 1500/2000 m [Royal] Nat[al] Nat. Park X/1972 [collector unknown] (NHMO).

Diagnosis.

The most obvious difference from Apterotoxitiades vivesi is the total lack of lateral spines on the pronotum. Both sexes of Apterotoxitiades vivesi have pronotum with "langen, zahnförmigen Seitendornen" ( Adlbauer 2008). The new species also differs by its greater size (17 mm vs. 10-11 mm in Apterotoxitiades vivesi female), and by the somewhat more elongate body outline.

Etymology.

The word “aspinosus” refers to the lack of lateral spines on the pronotum, which are on the other hand very prominent in the type species, Apterotoxitiades vivesi .

Description.

HT ♀. Length: 17 mm; width 5.8 mm. Habitus rather slender, long legged, flightless with fused elytra (Figure 5).

Coloration. Head and pronotum dark reddish brown, elytra slightly lighter. Legs, antennae and palpi yellow to brownish yellow. Eyes black with bronze lustre.

Body surface. Head and pronotum finely, but densely punctate/granulate. Elytra with scattered, shallow pit-like punctation, each pit bearing a pale yellowish bristle. Elytra surface with short, curved ± adpressed silky tomentum. The same type of tomentum occurs on palpi, head, scape and pronotum, but there with interspersed long, stiffly erect pale yellowish-hyaline bristles, particularly distinct on anterior part of head and lateral part of pronotum.

Head. Both labial and maxillary palpi long and slender and with ultimate joints narrowly triangular. Mandibles strong, sickle-shaped with curved, glabrous and shiny apices. Front of head with moderately raised antennal tubercles, and without a longitudinal furrow between them. Eyes small, strongly protuberant, far apart from antennal socket, only sligthly emarginate. Antennae reaching elytral midlength; scapus widened apically; pedicellus almost globular, but shorter than wide. Antennomere 5 of same length as scape, following antennomeres shorter than these and gradually tapering and shortening distally; antennomeres 5-11 with minute, but dense greyish tomentum.

Pronotum. Shorter than wide (length/width ratio = 0.8) and with posterior margin wider than anterior. Both edges are only weakly thickened or rimmed. Small constriction on anterior end, at about one fifth of the length, otherwise smoothly convex both dorsally and laterally.

Scutellum. Short, broadly triangular with a broad, slightly thickened black border.

Elytra. Fused, strongly convex both laterally and dorsally and with evenly rounded apices. Shoulders only weakly marked.

Legs. Long and slender with only weakly thickened femora; straight tibiae gradually widening apically; tarsi long and slender, especially the metatarsi.

Ventral surface. Gula glabrous, all other parts finely granulate and rather densely covered in curved, silky, adpressed tomentum as on dorsal side (Fig. 5B). Procoxae strong and conical, separated by a narrow prosternal process slightly widened and truncate at apex. Procoxal cavities more or less circular in outline but antero-laterally with a small and short acute extension. Metasternum narrow with a truncated triangular process (Fig. 5B). Visible abdominal sternites 1-5 with a finely granulate microstructure and progressively narrowing posteriorly. Sternite 5 with a straight to weakly concave truncation apically.

Male. Unknown.