Neefia, Bellamy, C. L., 2003

Bellamy, C. L., 2003, The Madagascan Coraebini (Coleoptera: Buprestidae: Agrilinae): Part 4, New genera and species, Zootaxa 174, pp. 1-19 : 4-6

Genus Neefia , gen. nov.

Type species: Neefia semivestita , sp. nov. (present designation).

Gender: Feminine.

Description. Small, elongate, subcylindrical, flattened above, transversely convex below; with body various shades of blue, green tending in a few cases to purple or with purplish reflections and with some portion of elytra covered with yellow, orange to brickred setae. Elongate­ovoid area on explanate lateral pronotal area with short recurved white setae; underside with short, off­white recumbant setae arising singly from each puncture; metacoxal plate with dense short recumbent off­white squamae on lateral portion; surface generally imbricate with a topographic contour appearance. Head ( Fig. 10) with frontovertex longitudinally depressed; eyes large, inner margins converging ventrad, circumocular groove present from just beyond dorsal apex around inner margin to just beyond ventral margin, confluent with biarcuate supra­antennal groove; trapezoidal frontoclypeal plate about as wide as width of antennal fovea; clypeal margin feebly arcuate; gena obtuse, rounded apically; antennae serrate from antennomere 5. Pronotum wider than long, disc with strong median gibbosity, then strongly declivous posteriorly, lateroposterior margins slightly undercutting discal gibbosity, with one deeply excavated fovea on either side; one small sinuate costa present on either side from just anterior to lateroposterior angle extending anteriad; lateral margin arcuate when viewed from side Scutellum triangular, subequilateral, sides feebly arcuate, apices rounded. Elytra wider than pronotum, widest at humeri; lateral margin widening from rounded anterior angle, more or less straight from humerus to anterior 1/3, then narrowing in feeble arcuate sweep to midpoint before slightly widening at posterior 1/3, then narrowing to conjointly rounded apex; just beyond anterior margin, a broad depression between humerus and scutellum; disc otherwise feebly, transversely convex; epipleuron deflected ventrally, extending from anterior angle to opposite anterior margin of metacoxa; lateral margin entire until finely serrulate apical angle. Prosternum without expanded mentonniere, process trilobed. Pygidium with disc entire, without projecting spine or teeth, posterior margin entire, not visible past elytral apices. Abdomen: with pleurites visible from above; ventrites 1 and 2 completely connate, sutural remnant not even indicated at high magnification between surface imbrications; ventrites 3 and 4 subequal in length, each shorter than 5; 5 broadly arcuate; 3 ­ 5 with deep groove along lateral margin. Legs: tibiae with several fine short spines projecting beyond distal margin; metatibia with setal comb of fine short spines along distal half of length; tarsi with ventral pulvilli on tarsomeres 1­4, pulvillus on 4 feebly bilobed distally; tarsal claws with strong basal appendix; male genitalia elongate, subtriangular. Male genitalia generally elongate subtriangular ( Figs. 18 ­ 24).

Etymology. This new genus­group name is chosen to honor my friends, Thierry and Françoise Neef de Sainval, for their hospitality in opening their home during my visit in 1995 and for the opportunity to examine many of the species discussed and described herein.

Remarks. Seven new species, described below, are recognized in this new genus and these can be distinguished in the following key, descriptions and included figures. The new genus can be separated from yet another new genus, Neefioides gen. nov. by character state differences listed in the key and in Table 2 . The new species of Neefia described below have their respective descriptions restricted to what are perceived to be species level differences, without repeating the genus level character states from the generic description above.

Character Character State Some of the specimens made available to me for this project were labelled with manuscript names under an unpublished genus­group name “Trozona” (nomen nudum) by the late A. Descarpentries; this generic name is not available nor are any species names combined with it. Since several different species names were used in that combination and because other specimens may have been circulated and not examined for this study, I cannot be certain that other specimens so labelled may not be deposited in other collections. I have removed all paratype and determination labels that carried these Descarpentries’ manuscript names for all specimens I examined.