Skillmania Santos-Silva, Nascimento and Wappes, 2019

Santos-Silva, Antonio, Nascimento, Francisco E. de L. & Wappes, James E., 2019, Nomenclatural changes in American Apomecynini including description of new genera and species (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), Insecta Mundi 716 (716), pp. 1-35 : 18-19

Skillmania Santos-Silva, Nascimento and Wappes , gen. nov.

Etymology. Derived from “Skillman” (after Fred Skillman) and “ia”. Named to honor and recognize Frederick W. Skillman, Pearce, AZ, good friend and outstanding collector of the Cerambycidae who has discovered many a new species simply by outworking his collecting partners. Feminine gender.

Type species. Skillmania obrienorum sp. nov., here designated.

Description. Male. Body moderate-sized, cylindrical. Head retractile; frons transverse; antennal tubercles flat, widely separated; eyes coarsely faceted, small, imperfectly divided (lacking ommatidia between lobes, but with dark, shining band connecting lobes); lower eye lobes much shorter than gena; antennae reaching about middle of elytra; scape short, slightly surpassing anterior margin of prothorax; antennomere III longer than scape; antennomere IV distinctly shorter than III, shorter than scape; remaining antennomeres distinctly shorter than IV; mandibles long (longer than length of frons), wide. Prothorax longer than wide; sides unarmed; in side view, pronotum gradually inclined toward posterior margin, especially at posterior quarter, not tuberculate. Procoxal cavities closed posteriorly; prosternal process distinctly, gradually widened toward apex. Metaventrite not distinctly reduced. Elytra without erect setae; parallel-sided; surface of posterior third moderately irregular; in side view, surface flat, until somewhat abruptly inclined to apex. Membranous wings present, well-developed. Legs short; femora subfusiform; mesotibiae very slightly sulcate dorsally on posterior quarter. Abdominal ventrite V coarsely, deeply, abundantly punctate.

Remarks. Skillmania gen. nov. by the dorsal sulcus of mesotibiae almost absent could be included in Pteropliini . However, this feature is also present in some species currently placed in Adetus (Apomecynini) . When comparing the new genus with the type species of Adetus ( Polyopsia analis Haldeman, 1847 ), the number of features separating those genera is considerable. However, when comparing it with some species assigned to Adetus , only the shape of the elytral apex remains reliable: somewhat abruptly inclined in Skillmania , gradually and uniformly inclined in Adetus .