Agrilaxia (Costiptera), 2013

Bily, Svatopluk, 2013, A study on the Neotropical Anthaxiini (Coleoptera, Buprestidae, Buprestinae), ZooKeys 304, pp. 17-47 : 32-34

Agrilaxia (Costiptera) subgen. n. Figs 7-9

Type species.

Anthaxia occidentalis Kerremans, 1900 by present designation.

Diagnosis.

Body short, wedge shaped, ventral surface with short but distinct, white pubescence, metepisterna and metacoxae often with a patch of white tomentum; dorsal surface green, golden green or violet-green, sometimes pronotum black or violet with two longitudinal, green stripes.

Head large, often wider than anterior pronotal margin, weakly prognathous; clypeus short, transverse, anterior margin straight; frons widely, deeply grooved; vertex shallowly depressed, about twice as wide as width of eye; antennae short, rather robust, reaching midlength of lateral pronotal margins when laid alongside; sculpture of frons consisting of small, dense, polygonal cells with small central grains.

Pronotum relatively narrow, convex, 1.8-2.0 times as wide as long, with well defined lateroposterior depressions situated near posterior angles; “agriloid” carina well defined, short, close to lateral carina; sculpture homogeneous, consisting of small, almost regular, polygonal cells, with or without central grains; prescutellar pit shallow, basal tubercles missing or very weakly defined. Scutellum small, flat, usually longer than wide.

Elytra convex, strongly wedge shaped, about 2.5 times as long as wide, large parts of abdominal ventrites well visible from above; elytra smooth or with 2-3 longitudinal costae; elytral epipleura narrow, nearly reaching elytral apex; basal, transverse depression deep, reaching scutellum, subhumeral carina well defined, long.

Prosternum flat or weakly convex, anterior margin sometimes weakly, narrowly elevated; both anal ventrite and sternite finely serrate.

Etymology.

The name of the new subgenus Costiptera subgen. n. (feminine) is composed of the Latin substantive " costa " (carina, rib) and Greek substantive " pteron " (wing) to stress one of the main characters of the subgenus.

Differential diagnosis.

The subgenus Costiptera subgen. n. differs from the nominate subgenus particularly by shorter, wedge shaped elytra (usually 2.5 times as long as wide), pubescence of the ventral surface and by the set of characters given above and in the key.

Species included.

Agrilaxia (Costiptera) ambigua (Cobos, 1972), Agrilaxia (Costiptera) clara (Kerremans, 1899), Agrilaxia (Costiptera) costulipennis (Cobos, 1972), Agrilaxia (Costiptera) interposita (Cobos, 1972), Agrilaxia (Costiptera) modesta (Kerremans, 1897) and Agrilaxia (Costiptera) occidentalis (Kerremans, 1900).

Note.

Two species groups can be separated within the subgenus. Agrilaxia (Costiptera) modesta (Kerremans, 1897) species-group which is characterised by the smooth elytra, well defined central grains in the fine frontal and pronotal ocellation, shorter, pentagonal scutellum which is as wide as long and by the shorter subhumeral carina reaching only midlength of elytral margins and by the anterior margin of the prosternum bearing a peg-like spine (like in Figs 29 , 34f ); only Agrilaxia (Costiptera) modesta can be included into this species-group. For the remaining species, the Agrilaxia (Costiptera) occidentalis (Kerremans, 1900) species-group is suggested which is characterised by the longitudinal elytral costae, frontal and pronotal sculpture without central grains, prolonged scutellum which is 1.5 times longer than wide and by the long, well defined subhumeral carina reaching the elytral apex.

Figures

Figures 7 - 12. 7 Agrilaxia (Costiptera) occidentalis (Kerremans, 1900), male, 5.3 mm (Brasil, Caraca) 8 Agrilaxia (Costiptera) costulipennis (Cobos, 1972), male, 5.8 mm (Argentina, Entre Rios) 9 Agrilaxia (Costiptera) modesta (Kerremans, 1897), male, 5.3 mm (Brasil, Jatahy) 10 Bilyaxia (Bilyaxia) cupriceps (Fairmaire & Germain, 1858), male, 4.7 mm (Chile, La Union) 11 Bilyaxia (Bilyaxia) obscurata (Reed, 1873), male, 5.3 mm (Chile, Talca) 12 Bilyaxia (Paraguayetta) mariae (Cobos, 1956), female, 7.0 mm (holotype of Anthaxia jacobi Obenberger, 1958).

Figures 25 - 30. 25 Agrilaxia (Agrilaxia) claudei (Cobos, 1972), female, 7.4 mm (French Guayane, Kaw) 26 Anilaroides brasiliensis (Kerremans, 1897), male lectotype (Brasil, Bahia) 27 Tetragonoschema (Tetragonoschema) undatum (Steinheil, 1874), female, 4.0 mm (Paraguay, Loma Plata) 28 Tetragonoschema (Patagoschema) patagonicum (Obenberger, 1922), female lectotype, 4.6 mm 29 Agrilaxia (Agrilaxia) decolorata (Kerremans, 1899), male, prosternum 30 Cobosina willineri (Cobos, 1972), aedeagus.

Figures 31 - 34. 31 Charlesina mrazi (Obenberger, 1932), scutellum 32 the same, Anthaxita peruviana, sp. n. 33 Agrilaxia (Agrilaxia) claudei (Cobos, 1972), right protibia 34 Agrilaxia spp., anterior margin of prosternum (lateral view): (a) flat to weakly convex, (b) weakly grooved, (c) deeply grooved, (d) with sternal, longitudinal carina, (e) rolled up anterior margin, (f) peg-like spine.