Agelopsis caeruleus Jacoby, 1896

Bezděk, Jan, 2020, Revision of Agelopsis (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae), Zootaxa 4731 (2), pp. 223-248 : 229-231

Agelopsis caeruleus Jacoby, 1896

( Figs 5–6 , 12 , 21 , 35–37 , 48 , 55, 62 )

Agelopsis caeruleus Jacoby, 1896: 301 (original description); Maulik 1936: 467; Wilcox 1973: 469 (catalogue); Takizawa 1988: 538 (faunistics); Takizawa 1990: 282 (faunistics); Medvedev & Sprecher 1999: 299 (catalogue); Kimoto 2001: 33 (faunis- ics); Kimoto 2005: 43 (catalogue); Beenen 2010: 469 (catalogue); Sprecher-Uebersax 2011: 420 (catalogue).

Type locality. “Bengal (Konbir)”.

Type examined. Holotype: ♀ ( BMNH), “Type / H. T. [round white label with red collar, p] // Konbir / P. Cardon [y, p] // Jacoby Coll. / 1909–28 a. [w, p] // Bengal [w, h] // Agelopsis / caeruleus / Type. Jac. [b, h]”.

Additional material examined. 4 specimens — INDIA: West Bengal : 1 ♂, Darjeeling, Lopchu , 22.ix.1929, J. C. M. Gardner leg. ( BMNH) ; Mungphu , without additional data , 1 ♀ ( BMNH) . NEPAL: 1 ♂, Parbat distr., Ban- thanti-Baichi Kharka , 2300-2600 m, 17.x.1981, M. Tomokuni leg. ( HTCH) ; 1 ♂, Annapurna reg., Tikhedunga env., 1500 m, 7.x.1992, A. Weigel leg. ( NMEG) .

Redescription. Measurements. Males: 4.9–5.6 mm, females: 5.4–5.5 mm (holotype 5.4 mm). Dorsal side glabrous, elongate, subparallel. Dorsal side metallic blue, legs, antennae and ventral side black with metallic tint, apices of mandibles orange.

Male ( Fig. 12 ). Labrum transverse, with shallowly concave anterior margin and rounded anterior angles, surface slightly convex, with transverse line of pores bearing long seta. Anterior part of head with straight anterior margin, surface with transverse triangular elevated keel, posteriorly produced to short process forming nasal keel, surface lustrous, covered with very fine microsulpture, antennal impressions with several long setae. Interantennal space as wide as transverse diameter of antennal socket. Eyes small. Interocular space wide, 3.88 time as wide as transverse diameter of eye. Frontal tubercles transversely subtriangular, elevated, lustrous, separated by thin furrow. Vertex separated from frontal tubercles by straight deep impressed line, surface impunctate, glabrous. Antennae slender, 0.89 times as long body, length ratio of antennomeres equals 9-4-8-12-11-11-10-12-12-12-15.

Pronotum subquadratic, 1.11 times as wide as long, lustrous, glabrous, widest at apical fifth, almost impunc- tate. Surface moderately convex in anterior half and with distinct transverse impression at posterior third nearly interrupted in middle. Anterior margin nearly straight, lateral margins slightly rounded in apical half and parallel in basal half, posterior margin nearly straight, slightly oblique in lateral parts. Anterior margin unbordered, lateral and posterior margins with narrow border. Anterior angles swollen, moderately pronounced, posterior angles rectangular, pointed, all angles with setigerous pores bearing long pale seta. Scutellum short and wide, with widely rounded apex, impunctate, lustrous, glabrous.

Elytra 1.60 times as long as wide (measured at humeral calli) and 0.66 times as long as body, subparallel, widest in middle. Surface covered with small dense confused punctures. Humeral calli well developed. Epipleura wider in basal third, then gradually narrowing towards apex. Macropterous.

Abdomen ( Figs 35–37 ): last abdominal ventrite with two short V-shaped incisions, median lobe with conver- gent lateral margins, surface with indistinct median impression. Abdominal ventrite IV with posterior margin pro- nounced down forming short finger-like procession.

Metatrochanter not modified. Tarsi: protarsomere I elongate subtriangular, II triangular, I wider than II, length ratio of protarsomeres equals 7-6-4-10, metatarsomere I narrowly subtriangular, length ratio of metatarsomeres equals 10-6-4-10.

Aedeagus ( Fig. 21 ) lanceolate, with triangular apex, apical third flat and slightly bent upwards. Apical part of ventral side with large elongate impression.

Female (holotype, Fig. 5 ). Spermatheca with elongate, slightly bent nodulus, cornu C-shaped ( Fig. 48 ). Gonocoxae as in Fig. 62 . Sternite VIII elongate, tignum thin, twice longer than sternite VIII ( Fig. 55 ).

Distribution. India: Jharkhand ( Jacoby 1896), West Bengal (present study); Nepal ( Takizawa 1988, 1990; Ki- moto 2001; present study).

Differential diagnosis. In habitus, Agelopsis caeruleus is very similar to A. tibetanus . Both species share subquadrate pronotum (1.11 times as wide as long in A. caeruleus , 1.25 times as wide as long in A. tibetanus ) with almost impunctate surface. Abdominal ventrite IV in males of A. caeruleus has posterior margin pronounced to short finger-like procession (without such procession in A. tibetanus ). Elytra in A. tibetanus have blunt (males) or sharp (females) keel behind humerus while elytra are without keel in A. caeruleus . Both species differs also in the structure of aedeagus ( Figs 21 , 24 ).

Figures

FIGURES 5–10. Type specimens of Agelopsis and their labels. 5–6—Agelopsis caeruleus (holotype, female, 5.4 mm); 7–8—A. spinipes (holotype, male, 5.4 mm); 9–10—A. tibetanus (holotype, female, 5.3 mm).

FIGURES 11–14. Habitus of Agelopsis. 11—A. belousovi (male, 6.4 mm); 12—A. caeruleus (male, 5.5 mm); 13—A. metallicus (paratype, male, 7.9 mm); 14—A. spinipes (male, 5.8 mm).

FIGURES 19–22. Aedeagus in dorsal, lateral and ventral views. 19—Agelopsis aeneoviridis; 20—A. belousovi; 21—A. caeruleus; 22—A. metallicus. Not to scale.

FIGURES 32–37. Abdomen in ventral, lateral and caudal views. 32–34—Agelopsis belousovi; 35–37—A. caeruleus. Not to scale.

FIGURES 47–53. Spermatheca. 47—Agelopsis belousovi; 48—A. caeruleus; 49—A. metallicus; 50—A. spinipes; 51—A. tibetanus; 52—A. konstantinovi sp. nov.; 53—A. malaisei sp. nov.. Scale bars: 0.25 mm.

FIGURES 61–67. Gonocoxae. 61—Agelopsis belousovi; 62—A. caeruleus; 63—A. metallicus; 64—A. spinipes; 65—A. tibetanus; 66—A. konstantinovi sp. nov.; 67—A. malaisei sp. nov.. Scale bars: 0.25 mm.

FIGURES 54–60. Sternite VIII. 54—Agelopsis belousovi; 55—A. caeruleus; 56—A. metallicus; 57—A. spinipes; 58—A. tibetanus; 59—A. konstantinovi sp. nov.; 60—A. malaisei sp. nov.. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.

FIGURES 23–27. Aedeagus in dorsal, lateral and ventral views. 23—Agelopsis spinipes; 24—A. tibetanus; 25—A. konstanti- novi sp. nov.; 26—A. malaisei sp. nov.; 27—A. traxlerorum sp. nov. Not to scale.