Brephilydia Pascoe, 1871

Jin, Mengjie, Keyzer, Roger De, Hutchinson, Paul, Pang, Hong & Ślipiński, Adam, 2020, A Review Of The Australian Macrotomini (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Prioninae), Annales Zoologici 70 (1), pp. 33-96 : 46-47

Brephilydia Pascoe, 1871

( Figs. 5 A–I, 14E , 15H , 16D )

Brephilydia Pascoe, 1871: 269 . Type species Mallodon jejunum Pascoe, 1864 , by original designation.

Blephylidia Thomson 1877a: 277 . Type species Mallodon jejunum Pascoe, 1864 , by monotypy. Synonymised by Lameere, 1903a.

Brephylidia (misspelling): Lameere 1903a: 20; Lameere 1919: 38.

Diagnostic combination (Male). Moderately large beetles, 20–42 mm long. Dorsum uniformly brown to dark brown, some individuals may have slightly yellowish-brown elytra. Sexually dimorphic dense punctures apparent only in some males and present on dorsal and ventral side of prothorax. Head narrower than prothorax; frontoclypeal suture angulate; median carina deeply grooved, complete. Antennal tubercles prominent, rounded apically. Eyes moderately large, weakly emarginate near antennal insertion, relatively distant dorsally. Mandibles short, about half of head capsule length, strongly angulate and unidentate apically. Antenna reaching the middle of elytra. Scape about 1/2 – 2/3 of head capsule length, posteriorly extending to or beyond posterior margin of eye, not or very weakly expanded apically, flattened with blunt external edge; antennomere 3 about as long as or slightly shorter than scape and subequal to antennomere 4. Mentum not fused to sub-mentum. Terminal palpomere of maxillary and labial palps weakly expanded and apically truncate. Prothorax transverse with lateral carina weakly or regularly dentate; anterior and posterior margins with complete beads. Pronotal disc uneven with two admedian weakly elevated smooth and less punctate callosities on densely and coarsely punctate background. Prosternal process expanded beyond procoxae, extending beyond procoxae, rounded apically. Elytral surfaces strongly coriaceous; inner apical angle with sharp spine. Legs strong; femora and tibiae with rows of sharp spines. Protibia with two sharp apical projections and a pair of subequal spurs; tarsomere 3 moderately lobed; tarsomere 5 shorter than tarsomeres 1 and 2 combined.

Description. Male. Length 20–42 mm. Dorsum usually uniformly brown to dark brown, sometimes with yellowish elytra. Head approximately as long as wide, narrower than pronotum. Mandibles about half of head length, moderately curved inwards, sexually dimorphic, longer and stronger in males; each mandible wedge-shaped, very thick and strong on lateral side and near the base, unidentate at apex, with two extra teeth on incisor edge. Labrum transverse, anterior weakly pointed medially with very dense setae; labrum separated from clypeus by a deep arcuate groove; dorsal surface of labrum and clypeus almost glabrous or covered with fine hairs. Frontoclypeal suture angulate; median groove distinct and complete. Antennal tubercles prominent, apex rounded. Antenna 11-segmented, filiform, extending to or beyond middle of elytra; scape relatively short and stout, flat and bearing blunt external edge, reaching to or beyond posterior margin of eye; antennomere 3 as long as or slightly shorter than scape or antennomere 4; antennomeres 5–11 with blunt posterior angles. Eyes moderately large, transverse, coarsely facetted, slightly emarginate near antennal foramen; relatively distant dorsally. Submentum weakly curved at apex, mentum well exposed. Terminal palpomere of maxillary and labial palps weakly expanded and apically truncate. Pronotum transverse with rounded posterior angles; anterior margin weakly emarginate medially with complete bead; posterior margin with complete bead; lateral margins moderately to strongly dentate or with regular small sharp teeth. Disc surface very densely and coarsely punctate and matt except for two elevated shiny and less punctate triangular admedian islands. Prosternum covered with coarse coriaceous punctures; hypomeron well-defined but very narrowed anteriorly, narrower than prosternal process; prosternal process moderately expanded beyond procoxae, projecting towards mesoventrite, abruptly narrowed and rounded apically. Mesoventral process emarginate at apex. Ventral side of thorax and coxae covered with long dense golden hairs. Metanepisternum weakly constricted at base. Scutellum rounded apically; surface very finely punctate or smooth. Elytral surfaces dull covered with irregular coriaceous sculpture, without traces of venation; elytral apices rounded with short sutural spine; epipleuron almost complete, narrowing apically. Legs strong and relatively long; femur flat and weakly emarginate at both ends, with two rows of sharp spines on ventral side; tibia moderately strong, with regular spines along outer margin; each tibia with two distinct apical projections and a pair of subequal spurs; tarsi slender; tarsomere 3 moderately lobed; tarsomere 5 shorter than tarsomeres 1 and 2 combined. Abdominal ventrites glabrous, smooth and shiny medially, lateral area covered with fine and dense punctures; adpressed hairs present along the edges, sparse near posterior margin, relatively dense close to lateral margin; very densely setose on the apex of ventrite 5. Male genitalia ( Fig. 14E ). Tegmen longer than sternite VII; parameres very long, 0.23 times length of entire tegmen, rounded apically with triangular projections at the base; penis as long as tegmen, dorsal apex truncate while ventral apex narrowly pointed.

Female. Entire body usually much slender than male, with longer elytra. Eyes larger than in male. Antennae usually shorter than in male; antennal scape thicker than the following segments, but not as distinctly expanded as in male. Abdominal ventrites bearing relatively dense long hairs. Ovipositor ( Fig. 15H ) long, apical sclerosed part about half length of baculus, distal gonocoxites relatively short and sharp; stylus long, inserted laterally and very close to gonocoxite apex, gradually expanded apically.

Remarks. Brephilydia can be distinguished from the remaining genera of the Australian Macrotomini by having the frontoclypeal suture angulate and the external margin of protibia with very sharp spines. Males are recognised by the stout antennal scape, more or less in a shape of triangular prism.

The type species B. jejuna is widely distributed in New South Wales and south-eastern Queensland, while a new species, B. fearni sp. nov., was found in the northern Queensland.

Figures

Figure 5. A–I: Brephilydia spp. A–D: B. fearni sp. nov.; E–I: B. jejuna (Pascoe). J–M: Cryptipus frenchi (Blackburn). A, F, G, J: male, dorsal; B, H, K: male, ventral; C, I, L: female, dorsal; D, E: male mouthparts, dorsal; M: male mouthparts, ventral, arrow indicate mentum not fused to submentum.

Figure 14. Male genitalia, each figure from left to right: tegmen (ventral), tegmen (lateral), penis (ventral). A: Agrianome spinicollis (Macleay); B: Analophus parallelus Waterhouse; C: Anomophysis coxalis (Gahan); D: Archetypus marginatus sp. nov.; E: Brephilydia jejuna (Pascoe); F: Cnemoplites edulis Newman; G: Cryptipus frenchi (Blackburn); H: Eurynassa servillei Thomson; I: Hagrides princeps (Gahan); J: Geoffmonteithia queenslanda Jin, de Keyzer et Ślipiński; K: Hermerius impar Newman; L: Pseudoplites hamali (Lameere).

Figure 15. A–C: male genitalia, each figure from left to right: tegmen (ventral), tegmen (lateral), penis (ventral). A: Teispes insularis (Hope); B: Utra nitida Jordan; C: Xixuthrus microcerus (White). D–R: ovipositor. D: Agrianome spinicollis (Macleay); E: Analophus parallelus Waterhouse; F: Anomophysis coxalis (Gahan); G: Archetypus marginatus sp. nov.; H: Brephilydia jejuna (Pascoe); I: Cnemoplites edulis Newman; J: Cryptipus frenchi (Blackburn); K: Eurynassa servillei Thomson; L: Geoffmonteithia queenslanda Jin, de Keyzer et Ślipiński; M: Hagrides princeps (Gahan); N: Hermerius impar Newman; O: Pseudoplites hamali (Lameere); P: Teispes insularis (Hope); R: Utra nitida Jordan; R: Xixuthrus microcerus (White).

Figure 16. Distribution maps based on specimens examined.