Sepaicutea Lane, 1972

Santos-Silva, Antonio, Nascimento, Francisco Eriberto de L. & Botero, Juan Pablo, 2023, Taxonomy of Oemini (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae), with key to American genera, notes and new taxa, Journal of Natural History 57 (41 - 44), pp. 1917-1948 : 1926

Sepaicutea Lane, 1972

( Figures 9, 10 )

Sepaicutea Lane, 1972: 355 ; Monné 2005: 418 (cat.); 2012: 40 (cat.); 2021: 633 (cat.).

Martins (1981: 14) described Sepaicutea unicolour , but expressed his doubts about the inclusion of the species in this genus (translated):

I include this species with reservations in the genus Sepaicutea , whose only species, S. fisheri Lane, 1972 , described from Guatemala, is unknown to me. According to the original description of the genus, S. unicolor agrees with S. fisheri , however, the lateral tubercles of the prothorax are much less developed.

Again, Martins (1997: 93) reported (translated):

I do not know the type species of Sepaicutea , S. fisheri Lane, 1972 , from Guatemala, a large species (37 × 9 mm). Therefore, although it agrees with a large number of features, I am not sure that S. unicolour belongs to the genus. The following characters do not match: apex of the genae not acute; antennomeres III and IV not nodose at the apex; lateral spine of the prothorax much shorter and pronotum without callosities. The following characters coincide: forehead; antennal tubercles; upper eye lobes; antennal length and antennal formula; protórax; elytra; prosternal process; elytra [sic – mentioned twice] and tarsal formula.

Martins (1997) described the prosternal process in Sepaicutea as laminiform (including in the key). However, the prosternal process in S. fisheri ( Figure 10 ) is not laminiform and is noticeably different from that in S. unicolour ( Figure 21 ). Also, the prosternal process in S. unicolour cannot be described as laminiform, because although it is noticeably narrow centrally, it is gradually and slightly widened towards the apex. Therefore, the inclusion of Sepaicutea in the key to genera of Oemini , based only on S. unicolour , from Martins (1997) is problematic. In fact, S. unicolour and S. costata Martins and Galileo,2005 do not belong to this genus.

The general appearance of Sepaicutea fisheri resembles that of the species of Oplatocera (Epioplatocera) Gressitt, 1951 , especially that of O. (E.) oberthuri Gahan, 1906. Oplatocera (Epioplatocera) occurs in the Old World, and currently is placed in Xystrocerini .

Figures

Figures 9–15. (9–10) Sepaicutea fisheri Lane, 1972, female: (9) dorsal habitus; (10) ventral habitus. (11–15) Liberedaxia deslauriersi Alten, Alten and Ramey, 2009, holotype male (by Eugenio H. Nearns): (11) dorsal habitus; (12) ventral habitus; (13) lateral habitus; (14) head, frontal view; (15) thorax, ventral habitus.

Figures 16–23. Biraoeme unicolour (Martins, 1981). (16–21) Male: (16) dorsal habitus; (17) ventral habitus; (18) lateral habitus; (19) head, frontal view; (20) upper eye lobes; (21) prosternal and mesoventral processes. (22–23) Female: (22) upper eye lobes; 23) dorsal habitus.