Euhylaeogena byattae Hespenheide

Hespenheide, Henry A., 2014, A Reconsideration ofHylaeogenaObenberger, 1923 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), with Descriptions of a New Genus and New Species from Mexico and Central America, The Coleopterists Bulletin 68 (1), pp. 21-30 : 26-27

Euhylaeogena byattae Hespenheide , new species ( Figs. 3, 6 , 10 )

Description. Holotype male. Ovate, narrower behind than in front, triangular-convex when viewed from side, inconspicuously setose and strongly shiny; head and pronotum red, head with golden reflections on basal 1/2, pronotum with purplish reflections medially and more golden reflections laterally, scutellum and elytra blue with golden green reflections, reflections strongest medially and on basal 2/3 of elytra; beneath black; length 2.30 mm, width 1.70 mm. ( Fig. 10 ). Head: Width 0.75 mm, with shallow, narrow, medial depression on middle 1/3, front moderately produced between eyes; surface sparsely, coarsely punctate, punctures with inconspicuous recumbent setae; epistomal area carinate along base, narrowly carinate between antennal depressions, antennae inserted on outer 1/2 of antennal depressions, arcuate groove above each antennal depression and beneath front, large pore at inner margin of eye, grooves joined at middle ( Fig. 3 ). Pronotum: Shallowly convex, widest at base; sides rounded from base to apical angles; anterior margin very shallowly emarginate and transverse at middle; base extending obliquely backward to elytral lobe where it is narrowly emarginate, then transverse anterior to scutellum; posterior angles nearly quadrate; surface slightly

depressed and shagreened along sides, more broadly so at middle, polished on disk, sparsely, inconspicuously punctate, punctures with inconspicuous recumbent setae, punctures stronger at lateral and anterior margins. Scutellum: Wider than long, surface polished. Elytra: Slightly wider than pronotum at base and widest at basal 1/3; humeral angles subquadrate or slightly obtuse; humeri moderately prominent, each elytron shallow depression at base interior to humerus, and deeper depression between humerus and lateral margin for basal 1/2, broader behind humerus; surface rather densely punctate, punctures fine, punctures with moderately long recumbent setae. Venter: Inconspicuously punctate, sparsely clothed with moderately long recumbent setae. Prosternum shallowly emarginate in front; prosternal process broad, sides wider behind coxal cavities and rounded at apex. Hypomeron with strong, narrow antennal groove internal to pronotal margin for 1/2 length of margin. Genitalia: As in Fig. 6 .

Allotype Female. As male, except head and pronotum blue with golden green reflections, apex of last abdominal ventrite with small, angulate notch; length 2.40 mm.

Type Material. Holotype: COSTA RICA: Heredia Pr., La Selva Biol. Sta., 3 km S Pto. Viejo , 10°26′ N 84°01′ W, 26.07.1992, H. A. Hespenheide, [on] Bignon [iaceae] ( INBC).

Allotype: Same data as holotype, but 14.08.1996 and no adult host ( BMNH).

Paratypes: Same data as holotype, but 28.03., 02, 09.04.1988, 11, 20.04.1989, 11, 17.07.1992, 26. 07, 01.08.1993, 17.07.1994, 18.08.1996, 15, 22, 24, 26.07.1998, 23.08, 04.09.1999, 25.02.2001 (20, BMNH, CHAH, USNM), 15.iv.1989, pupated <22.iv.1989, H. A. Hespenheide, 89.08, reared from Bignoniaceae [ Arrabidaea chica ] (M, CHAH), F[inca] La Selva, 07.04, 03.07.1985, 25.03.1987; 23.01.1993 (4, CHAH), Est. Biol. La Selva, 50–150 m, INBio-OET, 11-VIII-2002, H. A. Hespenheide (2, CHAH), M/00/010 ( INBC, INBIOCRI 002267538), 01.09.1993, M/01/192 (F, INBC, INBIOCRI 002259243), 01.11.1993, M/01/248 (M, INBC, INBIOCRI 002285377), 01.03. 1994, M/01/360 (F, INBC, INBIOCRI 002259754), 14.12.1995, M/02/520 (F, INBC, INBIOCRI 002296409), 02.05.1993, M/06/085 (F, INBC, INBIOCRI 002276790), 02.03.1993 M/04/019 (F, INBC, INBIOCRI 002267539), 02.01.1996, M/07/536 (F, INBC, INBIOCRI 002271466), 01.02.1996, M/07/560 (F, INBC, INBIOCRI 002303965), 02.05.1996, M/07/632 (2F, INBC, INBIOCRI 002304655, -6), 18.05.1993, M/06/102 (F, INBC, INBIOCRI 002271779), 16.09.1993, M/08/214 (F, INBC, INBIOCRI 002267540), 15.12. 1993, M/09/299 (F, INBC, INBIOCRI 002267541), 03.03.1993, M/10/025 (F, INBC, INBIOCRI 002267542), 03.03.1993, M/12/027 (F, INBC, INBIOCRI 002267543), 02.04.1993, M/12/059 (M, INBC, INBIOCRI 002271111), 01.03.1996, M/12/589 (F, INBC, INBIOCRI 002304266), 03.05.1993, M/14/093 (M, INBC, INBIOCRI 002275660), 02.04.1998, M/18/705 (F, INBC, INBIOCRI 002283584), 16.04.1998, M/18/706 (M, INBC, INBIOCRI 002283453), 06.08.1998, M/18/714 (2F, INBC, INBIOCRI 002283681, -3), 01.10.1998, M/18/718 (M, INBC, INBIOCRI 002282780), 03.03.1993, FOT/02/36, [canopy fogging sample], Carapa guianensis (F, INBC, INBIOCRI 002260295), 16.11.1994, FOT/38/37, Guarea guara (M, INBC, INBIOCRI 002285983), 05.01.2000, FOT/46/18, 21, Eugenia sp. [ Myrtaceae ](3, INBC, INBIOCRI 002725850, -771, -784); Herédia, Estación Biológica La Selva, 05.04.2003, S. M. Clark & E. G. Riley (F, BYU); Prov. Limon, Puerto Vargas, en pantano cerca del puesto del camino principal, 0 m, L_N_191574_666430, 07- 09.06.2000, Borkent, Spinelli, Grogan, Picado, Malaise (1, INBC, INB 0003899565); Tortuguero, 20 ft., 01.02– 4.03.1982, R. J. Kirby (2, BMNH). NICARAGUA, Rio San Juan Pr, Refugio Bartola, 16 km ESE El Castillo, 10°58/59′ N 84°20/21′ W, 26.04, 07.05.1999, H. A. Hespenheide (2, CHAH, SEAN). PANAMA: Colon Pr., Ft. Sherman, 09°17′ N 79°59′ W, 20.04.2002, F. Ødegaard, on Arrabidaea verrucosa (M, FDC), 03, 19.05.2001, F. Ødegaard, on Pleonotoma variabilis (2M, FOC), 29.09.2001, F. Ødegaard, on Doliocarpus multiflorus (M, FOC). Paratypes are to be deposited in MUCR, NMPC, USNM, etc.

Host Plants. The species has been reared from Arrabidaea chica (Humb. & Bonpl.) Verl. (Bignoniaceae) in Costa Rica and collected on Arrabidaea verrucosa (Standl.) A. H.Gentry in Panama. Adult hosts based on fogging samples and hand collections include Pleonotoma variabilis (Jacq.) Miers (Bignoniaceae) , Doliocarpus multiflorus Standl. (Dilleniaceae) , Carapa guianensis Aublet (Meliaceae) , Guarea guara (Jacq.) P. Wilson (= Guarea guidonia (L.) Sleumer) ( Meliaceae ), and Eugenia sp. (Myrtaceae) .

Etymology. This species is named in honor of the writer A. S. Byatt, whose novella “Morpho Eugenia ,” published in Angels and Insects, was in part loosely based on experiences of the English naturalists H. W. Bates and A. R. Wallace in the Neotropics. It is an interesting coincidence that three paratypes were collected by fogging the canopy of a species of Eugenia .

Discussion. The species is sexually dimorphic; males have the head and pronotum red, whereas females have the head and pronotum blue with golden green reflections. The color pattern of a red head and pronotum and blue elytra is common

in the genus as well as in the tracheine genera Pachyschelus , Lius Deyrolle, 1865 , Leiopleura Deyrolle, 1865 , and Callimicra Deyrolle, 1865 . The pattern is also widely shared in tropical Chrysomelidae and may a form of mimicry. If it is a mimetic pattern, then it is unusual that the male of E. byattae is mimetic and the female is not, a reversal of the usual pattern of mimetic females and non-mimetic males ( Hespenheide 1976). Male specimens measure 2.10–2.50 mm long (mean = 2.34 mm, n = 35); female specimens measure 2.20–2.50 mm long (mean = 2.46 mm, n = 37).

Figures

Figs. 1–7. 1) Hylaeogena speculum, front; 2) Hedwigiella jureceki, front; 3) Euhylaeogena byattae, front; 4) H. jureceki, male aedeagus; 5) Hedwigiella cbellamyi, male aedeagi; 6) E. byattae, male aedeagi; 7) Euhylaeogena clbellamyi, male aedeagi. Scale bars in Figs. 1–3 = 0.5 mm; in Figs. 4–7 = 0.2 mm.

Figs. 8–11. Habitus, dorsal views. 8) Hylaeogena bellamyi, holotype; 9) Hedwigiella cbellamyi, holotype; 10) Euhylaeogena byattae, male, INBIOCRI002275660; 11) Euhylaeogena clbellamyi, holotype.