Peritrox insulatus Rodrigues & Mermudes

Rodrigues, Juliana Mourão Dos Santos & Mermudes, José Ricardo M., 2011, A new species of Peritrox Bates, with a revised key for the genus (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Lamiinae), Zootaxa 3000, pp. 44-48 : 45-47

Peritrox insulatus Rodrigues & Mermudes , new species

( Figs. 1–3 )

Peritrox sp. 1; Rodrigues et al. (2010: 317, Fig. 47)

Description. Female. Integument dark brown with antennae slightly lighter. Vestiture of body and legs with conspicuous pale pubescence. Frons with dense brunneous pubescence, considerably compacted to form a vitta on each side of frons, extending from antennal tubercles to lateral margin of clypeus ( Fig. 2 ). Scape with moderately dense light-brown pubescence; basal half of antennomeres with yellowish pubescence (except II, VII, IX, XI). Ventral surface of antennae with elongate suberect dark-brown setae, slightly sparser at apex. Pronotum with small round dark-brown maculae, irregularly distributed, without pattern of rows. Scutellum with light-brown pubescence, yellowish in middle. Elytra with irregularly dense pale pubescence, some areas with sparse yellowish-white pubescence. Beneath with uniform dense pale pubescence, with irregular dark maculae clothed by brown pubescence.

Head with opaque vertex. Frons with dense, coarse shallow punctures. Eye with lower lobe twice length of gena. Antennal tubercles feebly separated, with process at apex weakly prominent, not acuminate. Antennae exceeding elytral apices by apex of antennomere VII. Scape thicker toward apex; antennomere III one-third longer than scape; IV–VI decreasing in length; VII–XI subequal in length.

Pronotum transverse, lateral gibbosities attenuated; apical sulcus dorsally shallow, deeper at sides and prosternum; basal sulcus dorsally deep and narrow, shallow at sides. Prosternum narrowed.

Scutellum rectangular, truncated at apex. Elytra ( Figs. 1 and 3 ) subparallel at sides, humeri with prominent tubercle. Moderately coarsely and densely punctate. Sternite V twice as long as sternite IV.

Measurements (mm) female. Total length, 9.6; prothorax length, 1.3; maximum width of prothorax, 2.1; elytral length, 7.3; humeral width, 3.3.

Type material. HOLOTYPE female. BRAZIL. Rio de Janeiro: Angra dos Reis ( Ilha Grande, Vila Dois Rios, Trilha do Caxadaço, 338 m; 23º 10’ 47.1” S; 44º 10” 40.3” W), 17.V.2008, Proj. Coleop. col. ( MNRJ).

Etymology. Latin, insula = island; refers to the type locality.

Remarks. Peritrox insulatus sp. nov. is similar to P. denticollis , P. nigromaculatus and P. perbra in having the eye with the lower lobe at least twice the length of the gena. The new species is distinguished by the vestiture of body and legs with a conspicuous pale pubescence, mainly by the frons with dense brunneous pubescence, compacted at the sides ( Fig. 2 ), the basal half of the antennomeres with yellowish pubescence (except II, VII, IX, XI), the elytra with irregularly dense pale pubescence, some areas with sparse yellowish-white pubescence, not outlined with grayish or white pubescence, and the scutellum truncated at the apex. It is also shorter and narrower than all four described species of the genus.

In P. denticollis ( Fig. 4 ) the dorsum of the head has five small, reddish or dull-fulvous maculae; pronotum with eight reddish or fulvous maculae, arranged in two rows of four each; antennae fuscous, covered with hoary and dark brown pubescence, bases of segments from fifth narrowly annulate with hoary gray pubescence; and elytra with dull reddish maculae, not confluent, except near apices; scutellum notched at apex.

P. nigromaculatus has the elytral maculae distinctly outlined with grayish or white pubescence, interspaced with brown pubescence, and large gray areas interspersed; head gray pubescent, with a median vitta between antennal tubercles; and frons with ochraceous vittae on either side and entire surface variegated.

P. perbra differs in having the frons entirely ochraceous pubescent; pronotum with nine black maculae, narrowly outlined with pale gray; elytra ochraceous pubescent and small, irregular, dark brown pubescent maculae outlined with pale gray, and two larger maculae in the middle; and antennae piceous or black, third segment and basal two-thirds of fourth segment pale yellowish-gray pubescent, from apex of fourth dark-brown pubescent.

P. vermiculatus has the eye lower lobe only 1.25 times the length of the gena (see Dillon & Dillon, 1945) and the head sparsely fulvous pubescent, sometimes variegated with gray, the frons with a fulvous condensed vitta on either side; pronotum with two transverse rows of small dark-brown maculae which are outlined with gray; scutellum dark brown with narrow gray lateral margins; elytra sparsely dark-brown pubescent, with coarse vermiculate markings of fulvous outlined with gray; beneath gray pubescent, abdomen to fifth sternite with a fulvous vitta on either side; and antennae with scape piceous, fulvous and gray variegated, remaining segments reddish-brown, with grayish-fulvous pubescence.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Peritrox denticollis Bates, male holotype, from Santarém, Pará (Brazil), 10.85 mm, dorsal view.

FIGURES 1 – 3. Peritrox insulatus new species, female holotype, from Ilha Grande, Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), 9.6 mm. 1, dorsal; 2, frontal; 3, lateral.