Agyrtodes bicolor (Broun)

Seago, Ainsley E., 2009, Revision Of Agyrtodes Portevin (Coleoptera: Leiodidae), The Coleopterists Bulletin (mo 7) 63, pp. 1-73 : 45-47

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.1649/0010-065x-63.sp7.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B58B2216-0CFA-41C6-8141-7024E65ECF85
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/039887BA-FFCB-C063-92A7-83CAEEF093BE
treatment provided by	Carolina
scientific name	Agyrtodes bicolor (Broun)
status

Treatment

Agyrtodes bicolor (Broun) View in CoL

(Figs. 14, 51, 71, 91, 102)

Mesocolon bicolor Broun 1880:155 View in CoL . Holotype: female, ‘‘ Tairua’ ’ [ New Zealand,

North Island]. Stated in description to be at BMNH; could not be located

by the author.

Agyrtodes bicolor (Broun) View in CoL . Jeannel (1936: 108) [transferred to Agyrtodes View in CoL ];

Szymczakowski (1966: 577, 1973: 96).

Distribution. New Zealand: northern North Island, Coromandel Peninsula through Auckland region, Hunuas ( Fig. 102 View Fig ). Material examined listed in Appendix 1.

Diagnosis. This species is easily recognizable by its distinctive coloration, with the pronotum and elytral bases yellow and the head and elytral apices dark brown. The only species of Agyrtodes with remotely similar coloration is the Australian A. flaviceps Seago , new species, which has a stout, ovate body shape and a light-colored head, whereas A. bicolor has a narrow, elongate body shape and a dark brown head.

Redescription. TBL 5 2.4 mm, EW 5 1.4 mm, PNW 5 1.2 mm, HW 5 0.6 mm. (TBL variation: 2.3–2.4 mm)

Body narrowly ovate, weakly convex; head, venter, and apical half of elytra colored dark brown, pronotum and elytral bases yellow, separation of yellow and brown color patches smoothly curving, distinct. Dorsum clothed with dense, even vestiture of recumbent setae, colored light gold on lighter regions of underlying integument and dark gold to brown on darker regions, with the exception of a faint transverse, U-shaped region of dark hairs spanning the elytral suture just posterior to scutellum. Color pattern visible even in faded specimens, with little variation; scutellar band of dark setae most conspicuous in fresh or wellpreserved specimens.

Head dark brown, shining, very shallowly punctate, punctures bearing long, erect golden setae. Eyes large, triangular in dorsal view, convex behind, flattened anteriorly. Epistomal suture present, with small stem. Clypeus ovoid, approximately twice as wide as long. Labrum short, transverse, anterior margin complete. Mandibles not strongly curved on outer margins, dens attenuate and weakly bent inward, prostheca robust, with large setae. Maxilla with slender galea crowned with small brush of weakly sclerotized spines, lacinia broad, well-sclerotized, with apical ‘‘spore-brush’’ of large, stout, curving spines arranged in loose parallel rows; maxillary palp sparsely setose, with apical segment twice as long as penultimate segment, attenuate apically, with base rounded and barely wider than apex of penultimate segment. Labium trilobed at anterior margin, with two slender hairs deeply set into punctures flanking the small median lobe of the ligula. Labial palpi very small, apical segment minute and bent inward, bearing 2– 3 extremely small, stout digitiform sensillae only at apex. Antennae ( Fig. 51 View Figs ) with segments 1–6 and 8 yellow to pale brown, 7 and 9–11 medium brown. Segments 1 and 2 broad, elongate, 1 approximately 1.5 3 length of 2; segments 3–6 subequal in length, gradually increasing in width, segment 6 cylindrical, slightly but distinctly wider then 3. Segment 7 elongate, slender, subequal in length to segment 9. Segment 8 cylindrical, nearly twice as long as wide. Segment 9 as long as 7, broader at apex; segment 10 approximately 1.5 3 longer than wide, subequal in width to 11; segment 11 bluntly square, parallel-sided, with broadly, abruptly papilliform apex.

Pronotum with lateral margins gently convex, posterior margin faintly trilobed; pronotal width greatest just anteriad of hind margin. Pronotal vestiture dense and even, uniformly dark gold; integument matte, not shining, with small, deep punctures at setal insertions. Hind angles bluntly triangular, weakly produced posteriad.

Elytra gently convex, elongate, widest across distal 2/3; integument dark brown in apical half, yellow to golden brown in basal half including disc. Elytra with deeply punctate, closely spaced transverse strigae, without longitudinal strial impressions. Elytral apices abruptly narrowed, pointed posteriad. Scutellum golden-brown, same color as elytral integument.

Prosternum short, hypomeron concave, light golden-brown in color. Procoxal cavities shallow, round, separated by elevated median carina. Mesosternal carina effaced anteriorly. Mesepimera triangular, tapering smoothly to blunt point at mesocoxal articulations. Metasternum flat, with confused fine striolations similar to microsculpture of mesosternum. Metepisterna elongate, slender, weakly curved.

Abdominal sterna III–VI normal, male sternite VII posteriorly convex, weakly emarginate, nearly peaked medially; male sternite VIII broadly cleft distally, divided medially by longitudinal suture. Male tergite VIII elongate, broad, strongly convex, apically rounded, distal half with large, deep, setiferous punctures.

Legs normal, uniformly dark brown, tarsi slender and elongate; males with first three protarsomeres expanded, mesotarsi simple and without tenent setae. Female tarsi simple. Procoxae large, globular, strongly projecting; mesocoxae globular.

Male genital segment ( Fig. 71 View Figs ) broad, subquadrate in ventral view, straightsided, bifid to basal margin ventrally. Anterior apophysis reduced to short nublike projection on anteromedian margin of capsule, with minute hyaline process dorsad. Sternum X larger and better sclerotized than in most other Agyrtodes , elongate with bilobed, sparsely setose apex, fused laterally to pleurites of genital capsule. Pleurites attenuate, sharply pointed, and well-sclerotized at apices, each armed with five large setae. Tergite convex, bluntly pointed at apex, without large hairs or spines. Aedeagus ( Fig. 91 View Figs ) with median lobe narrowly triangular, tapering along entire length to blunt point at apex. Basal piece long, as broad as median lobe, weakly sclerotized. Parameres long, flattened, extending just past apex of median lobe. Parameres weakly expanded halfway along length and at apices, the tip of each paramere round, rotated ventrad, bearing a small circle of minute spines apically, two longitudinal rows of larger spines subapically, and a small patch of 4–5 short, blunt spines or sensillae anterior to double spine row. Endophallus armed with patches of both large and small teeth accompanied by several very large, twisting, hook-shaped sclerotized structures. Female terminalia with coxite,4 3 as long as stylus, broad basally, tapering and narrowed apically; stylus short, slender, cylindrical, bearing elongate terminal seta.

Natural History. Collected by pyrethrum-spraying fungusy logs, sifting leaf litter, in flight-intercept traps, and on the polypore Bjerkandera adusta .