Microcriodes Breuning, 1943

Bi, Wen-Xuan & Lin, Mei-Ying, 2014, Notes on the genus Microcriodes Breuning, with description of a new species from Xizang, China (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Lamiinae, Batocerini), ZooKeys 412, pp. 1-8 : 2-3

Microcriodes Breuning, 1943

Microcriodes Breuning, 1943: 14. Type species: Microcriodes sikkimensis Breuning, 1943, by monotypy.

Microcriodes ; Gilmour and Dibb 1948: 99; Gilmour 1963: 483, pl. 2, figs 4-5; Rigout 1982: 10, pl. 14; Nýlander 2004: 249.

Redescription

( Breuning 1943; Gilmour and Dibb 1948; partly modified). Body elongate. Eyes coarsely faceted, strongly emarginate; lower lobe large, distinctly longer than width. Frons wider than long. Antennal tubercles widely separated, moderately raised. Antennae long and smooth, more than 1.8 times (in male) or 1.1-1.5 times (in female) as long as body length; basal 3 antennomeres sparsely fringed beneath; scape long and thin, lacking cicatrix, the 3rd antennomere 1.8-2.0 times as long as scape, subequal to the 4 th antennomere. Pronotum wider than long; with fine transverse grooves at the anterior and posterior margin and transverse premedian and postmedian depressions; lateral spine short to long, acute at apex; prosternal process widened and emarginate at apex, procoxal cavities slightly open posteriorly; mesosternal process without tubercle and obliquely sloped in lateral view; mesocoxal cavities open externally to epimera. Elytra elongate, more than 3 times as long as the head and pronotum united, subparallel-sided, rounded at apex, distinctly wider than the base of pronotum. Leg long and slender, mesotibia with an external oblique groove near apex, tarsus five segmented, tarsal claws divaricate.

Diagnosis.

The following combination of characters apparently separate Microcriodes from other genera in Batocerini : Antennae smooth, without spinous rugosity or traces of spines on the surface. Antennal scape lacking a distinct cicatrix. Eye with lower lobe longer than broad.

Notes.

Breuning (1943) compared this genus with Abatocera Thomson, 1878, suggesting that it belongs to the tribe Batocerini . All authors treated Microcriodes as a member of the tribe Batocerini ( Gilmour and Dibb 1948; Gilmour 1963; Rigout 1982; Nýlander 2004). However, the endophallus is quite different from that of Apriona spp. and Batocera spp. according to our observations. The tribal treatment based on analysis of endophallus morphology will be discussed in the future.