Dirocoremia tupizai, Perger, Robert & Guerra, Fernando, 2015

Perger, Robert & Guerra, Fernando, 2015, The first longhorned beetle record for the Prepuna in the Bolivian Andes and Potosi Department in Bolivia: a new species of Dirocoremia (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Rhopalophorini), Zootaxa 4052 (1), pp. 143-149 : 145-148

Dirocoremia tupizai sp. n.

( Figs. 1 C, D; 2; 4B)

Type material. Holotype male labeled: “ Bolivia / Potosi department/ Sud Chicas province / Tupiza / S 21°26'34.83”, W 65°43'40.83” / 2995 m a.s.l./ 19-06-2012 / on flowers of Prosopis ferox / F. Guerra & Ariel Guerra Cazón leg.” ( CBF).

Paratypes. Bolivia, Potosi Department, Sud Chicas province, on flowers of Prosopis ferox and Baccharis boliviensis, F. Guerra & Ariel Guerra Cazón leg. ( CBF): 9 males, 4 females, Tupiza, S 21°26'29.23”, W 65°43'21.45”, 2983 m a.s.l., 18-12-2012. 15 males, 9 females, Tupiza, S 21°29'49.59”, W 65°42'30.45” / 2928 m a.s.l., 4-01-2013. 5 males, 3 females, Tambillo Bajo, S 21°23'49.05”, W 65°44'35.49”, 3039 m a.s.l., 4-12-2013. 3 males, 2 females, Tambillo Bajo, S 21°23'44.72”, W 65°44'45.01”, 3038 m a.s.l., 26-06-2014. 6 males, 4 females, Arenales bajo, S 21°35'14.67”, W 65°34'55.90”, 2829 m a.s.l., 27-12-2014. 2 males, 3 females, Arenales, S 21°42'00.94”, W 65°34'24.67”, 3276 m a.s.l., 2-1-2015.

Comparative material examined. Coremia bruchi (Gounelle, 1905) . Argentina, Tucuman prov.: holotype male, Tapia, 600 m, G.A. Baer leg., 3-4 1903, BMNH (E) 1269328 ( BMNH). Argentina, Entre Rios: 1 male, 1 female, XII-1974 (WH). Dirocoremia ingae ( Marques, 1994) . Paratypes: Brazil, Sâo Paulo: ltu, 1 male 30. X, 1960, Araújo & Martins leg.; 2 males, 6.XI.1960, 1 male 13.XI.1960, U. Martins leg. ( MZSP). Argentina, Corrientes: San Tome 1 female XI.1937 ( MZSP).

Diagnosis. Clypeus subtriangular (same in D. bruchi ; subrectangular in D. ingae ). Antennae dark red-brown to dark brown or black. Metatibiae dark-brown to black, hairs on apical half short and sparse ( Figs. 2 A; 4B) (metatibiae red with large brush of setae in D. bruchi and D. ingae ( Fig. 3 ) ( Tab. 1).

D. ingae D. bruchi D. tupizai sp. n.

Clypeus transverse subtriangular subtriangular

Antennae color orange-red dark red-brown to dark brown or dark red-brown to dark brown or

black black

Metatibiae orange to red orange to red dark-brown to black Metatibial brush long and dense long and dense short and sparse

Description. Holotype. 8.3 mm long; 1.9 mm wide at humeri; dorsal integument of head, pronotum, and elytron black, head and pronotum coarsely punctured ( Fig. 2 A). Ventrally except head with relatively dense white hairs ( Fig. 2 D). Antennae dark reddish-brown to dark-brown or black, antennomere 7 surpassing beyond elytral apex ( Fig. 2 A). Femora pedunculate and clavate, with long tibiae, fore- and middle legs red, meta-femora red, meta-tibia dark-brown to black, brush of hair in apical third ( Fig. 4 B).

Head ( Fig. 2 B): Punctate dorsally, smooth and shiny ventrally ( Fig. 2 D), lines of white setae along eye margins, and patches of such setae on frons and genae ( Fig. 2 C); frons depressed, with sulcus and elevated, rounded border; genae not bulging, clypeus subtriangular ( Fig. 2 C); eye lobe constriction widely separated from antennal tubercles; eye facets extremely fine, head slightly concave behind eyes when seen in dorsal view; antennae elongate, surpassing elytral apex by four to five antennomeres; antennae with 11 spineless antennomeres ( Fig. 2 A); scape punctate, with separated, fine reddish-brown hairs; scape widest at middle, apex narrow, as wide as base, base with two parallel longitudinal sulci; antennomere 3 longest, surpassing beyond humerus, 4 shortened; 5-10 subequal in length, longer than 4 but shorter than 3; 11 about as long as 3; 2-11 comparably smooth, with fine brown pubescence ( Fig. 2 A).

Pronotum ( Fig. 2 B): Subquadrate, about as wide as is long, widest in the middle and narrowing anteriorly and posteriorly, posteriorly wider than anteriorly, without lateral tubercle, possessing a slight subapical and subbasal constriction; punctation irregular, distinct, dense; fine brown hairs dorsally and dense white hairs ventrally. Anterior coxal cavity open; mesosternal process approximately as wide as posterior gap of anterior coxal cavity, without lateral projections. Prosternum punctured with dense white hairs.

Elytron ( Fig. 2 A): Irregularly and densely punctured, with fine, separated brown hairs; lateral margin slightly concave when seen in dorsal view, elytral apices obtusely rounded. Scutellum broadly rounded posteriorly, with dense, appressed, white hairs.

Legs ( Fig. 2 A, 4B): Possesses pedunculate and clavate femora and long tibiae; hind legs longest with femora surpassing elytral apex; middle legs longer than posterior legs, both red, with separated short white setae, apical half of tibiae with short dark-brown pubescence; hind leg with peduncle elongate, cylindrical, carinate, and clavate portion short, oval; metatibiae dark-brown to black, elongated, single hairs in proximal half, amber-colored constriction at half, apical half slightly curved, brush of suberect hairs in apical third, hairs comparably long, sparse, leaving tibiae almost visible, apex of metatibiae not covered by hairs within a distance of about the length of metatarsomere 2. Tarsomeres are separate, suberect brown seta dorsally and dense white pubescence ventrally. Base of metatarsi dark reddish-brown, remaining portion and metatarsi dark-brown to black; metatarsomere 1 nearly as long as tarsomeres 2–4.

Female: antenna only reaching apical fourth of elytra; scape narrow, antennomere 3 only reaching to posterior margin of pronotum.

Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the location Tupiza, where the species has been collected.

Geographical and ecological distribution. D. tupizai sp. n. is so far known only from the type location. D. tupizai sp. n. has not been found in subandine forests in Santa Cruz department (see Wappes et al. 2006, 2011, 2013), subhumid and humid Tucuman-Bolivian forests at the eastern slope of the Andes (see Perger & Guerra 2012, 2013 for location data) or in xeric vegetation in the intermountain basins of the Andean slope in Tarija Department ( Perger & Guerra 2015 for data). This absence/presence pattern suggests that D. tupizai sp. n. is endemic to the Prepuna.

Remarks. The constriction in the metatibia ( Fig. 4 B) is also present in D. bruchi and D. ingae but has not been recognized in previous work. Interestingly, in some collected individuals of D. tupizai sp. n., the apical portion of the hind leg was missing, broken exactly at the point of constriction. This observation suggests that the hair brushes mislead predators, like birds, to attack the legs instead of the more vulnerable head and body and the constriction serves as breaking point, allowing the beetle to autotomize the attacked part of the leg and escape.

No other longhorned beetle species except Dirocoremia tupizai sp. n. has been collected on the flowers in the study area, indicating that the richness of longhorned beetle species in the Prepuna is generally lower than in more humid ecosystems within Bolivia. Nevertheless, it is expected that other collecting methods, such as beating and light trapping, will reveal additional interesting species from the Prepuna.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Dirocoremia tupizai sp. n., holotype male (CBF); A, habitus dorsal, scale bar 2 mm; B, head and pronotum dorsal, scale bar 1 mm; C, head; D, prothorax ventral; scale bar 1 mm.

FIGURE 4. Metatibia, lateral, A, Dirocoremia bruchi, male, Entre Rios, Argentina (WH); B, D. tupizai sp. n., paratype male (CBF) (arrow indicating constriction).

FIGURE 1. A, map of Bolivia, (a) study area, Tupiza, Potosi department; B, habitat of Dirocoremia tupizai sp. n.

FIGURE 3. A, Coremia bruchi (Gounelle, 1905), holotype male, Argentina, Tucuman prov., Tapia, 600 m, G. A. Baer leg., 3 - 4 1903, BMNH (E) 1269328 (BMNH); B, Dirocoremia ingae (Marques, 1994), paratype male, Brazil, Sâo Paulo, ltu, 13. XI. 1960, U. Martins leg. (MZSP).