Blabia antonkozlovi Santos-Silva & Nascimento, 2019

Santos-Silva, Antonio, Nascimento, Francisco E. De L. & Kozlov, Anton Olegovich, 2019, The megadiverse fauna of Neotropical Cerambycidae (Coleoptera): Notes, descriptions, new records, new species, and revalidations, Zootaxa 4603 (3), pp. 441-472 : 459-461

Blabia antonkozlovi Santos-Silva & Nascimento , sp. nov.

( Figures 59–62 )

Description. Male. Integument mostly dark brown; palpi yellowish brown (more reddish-brown on distal palpomeres); central area of gulamentum gradually reddish brown toward prothorax; scape, pedicel and basal 2/3 of antennomere III brown; distal third of antennomere III dark brown; basal quarter of antennomere IV reddish brown, then gradually becoming dark brown toward apex; basal third of antennomeres V–VI orangish brown, then gradually becoming dark brown toward apex; basal half of antennomeres VII orangish brown, then gradually becoming dark brown toward apex; basal 2/3 of antennomeres VIII–X orangish brown, then gradually becoming dark brown toward apex; antennomere XI orangish brown.

Head. Frons coarsely, abundantly punctate; with fulvous pubescence nearly obscuring integument, slightly yellower close to eyes, interspersed with long, erect brownish setae. Vertex and area behind upper eye lobes with sculpturing and pubescence as on frons, except punctures becoming distinctly sparser behind lower eye lobes, and area surrounding upper eye lobes and superior area of lower eye lobes with dense yellow pubescent band; area close to eyes with sparse, long, erect brownish setae. Antennal tubercles with sculpturing and pubescence as on frons basally, with punctures becoming gradually finer toward apex, and distal area with yellow pubescence. Median groove slightly distinct on frons, distinct from antennal tubercles to prothoracic margin. Genae very finely rugose-punctate; with fulvous pubescence not obscuring integument, slightly denser and yellower close glabrous apex. Postclypeus with sculpturing as on frons on wide central area, smooth laterally; with fulvous, partially bristly pubescence on with central area, interspersed with long, brownish setae, glabrous laterally. Labrum coplanar with anteclypeus at posterior 2/3, inclined at anterior third; coarsely, confluently punctate on posterior third, nearly smooth on anterior third; with short and long, moderately abundant yellowish setae directed forward. Gulamentum smooth and glabrous on wide posterior area, with fulvous pubescence not obscuring integument on elevated anterior area. Distance between upper eye lobes 0.37 times length of scape; in frontal view, distance between lower eye lobes 0.70 times length of scape. Antennae 2.3 times elytral length, reaching elytral apex at posterior third of antennomere VI; scape sinuous in side view; scape, pedicel and basal 2/3 of antennomere III with fulvous pubescence nearly obscuring integument, except ball of scape with bristly yellow pubescence; posterior third of antennomere III with brownish pubescence not obscuring integument; remaining antennomeres with yellowish pubescence on light area, gradually brownish on dark area; ventral surface of antennomeres with long, erect yellowish setae, gradually sparser, shorter toward distal segments; dorsal surface of antennomeres with short, sparse, erect yellowish setae, slightly more abundant in distal segments; antennal formula (ratio) based on length of antennomere III: scape = 0.69; pedicel = 0.12; IV = 0.83; V = 0.65; VI = 0.62; VII = 0.57; VIII = 0.54; IX = 0.51; X = 0.47; XI = 0.53.

Thorax. Prothorax 1.8 times wider than long (including lateral tubercles); lateral tubercles long, spiniform, inclined upward. Pronotum coarsely, densely punctate; with three moderately elevated gibbosities centrally, nearly fused, forming wide V-shaped gibbosity; with narrow yellow pubescent band on each side, narrow yellow pubescent band centrally, from anterior margin to slightly after middle (forming spot at its apex), yellowish-brown obscuring integument, but not obscuring punctures on remaining surface (slightly more brownish on center of posterior third). Sides of prothorax with sculpturing as on pronotum; with yellowish-brown pubescence obscuring integument, but not obscuring punctures; with a few long, erect, dark setae superiorly, some of them emerging from small tubercle. Ventral surface of thorax with fulvous pubescence, slightly yellower on some areas, somewhat bristly on some areas, especially on prosternal process, partially obscuring integument, but not obscuring punctures; coarsely, moderately abundantly punctate; anterior margin of mesoventral process moderately strongly inclined. Scutellum with dense yellow pubescence. Elytra. Coarsely, moderately abundant punctate on basal half, gradually, slightly finer, sparser toward apex; apex truncate, with long spine at outer angle (twice length of pedicel); with oblique, moderately narrow pale-yellow pubescent band, starting laterally slightly before apex of anterior third, ending on suture close to midlength of elytra (together in both elytra V-shaped); humeral area with small, sparse tubercles; area between base and pale-yellow pubescent band with marbled with brownish and yellowish-brown pubescence; area behind pale-yellow pubescent band with wide brownish pubescent band not obscuring integument; remaining posterior area marbled as in basal area. Legs. Trochanters and base of femora with bristly yellow pubescence; remaining surface of femora with fulvous pubescence partially obscuring integument. Tibiae with fulvous pubescence on basal half (basal 2/ 3 in protibiae), not obscuring integument, with yellowish-brown setae on remaining surface, and long, decumbent, sparse whitish setae on meso- and metatibiae. Metatarsomere I about as long as II–III together.

Abdomen. Ventrites coarsely, abundantly punctate; with fulvous pubescence nearly obscuring integument, but distinctly exposing punctures, slightly yellower laterally, except glabrous distal area of I–IV; with long, erect paleyellow setae; posterior margin of V widely emarginate.

Dimensions (mm). Total length, 12.70; prothoracic length, 2.00; anterior prothoracic width, 2.10; posterior prothoracic width, 2.35; maximum prothoracic width, 3.60; humeral width, 3.80; elytral length, 8.80.

Type material. Holotype male from COLOMBIA, Cesar: Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (8 km N Pueblo Bello; 10º30’57”N / 73º34’26”W; 2700 m), 11-12.VI.2018, V. Sinyaev col. ( MZSP).

Remarks. Blabia antonkozlovi sp. nov. is slightly similar to Blabia masoni (Aurivillius, 1927) ( Figs. 63–64 ), but differs as follows: upper eye lobes ( Fig. 59 ) slender and more distant from each other than maximum width of the scape; lower eye lobes about as long as gena ( Fig. 62 ); lateral tubercles of the prothorax shorter, with spiniform area about as long as pedicel; oblique band of the elytra distinct, and ending slightly before midlength of the elytra; outer apical spine of the elytra about as long as twice length of the pedicel. In B. masoni , the upper eye lobes ( Fig. 64 ) are wider and about as distant from each other as the maximum width of the scape, lower eye lobes ( Fig. 63 ) distinctly longer than gena, lateral tubercles of the prothorax are longer, with spiniform area distinctly longer than pedicel, oblique band of the elytra slightly distinctly, and ending slightly after midlength of the elytra, and apical spine of the elytra about as long as 4 times length of the pedicel.

Blabia antonkozlovi can be included in the alternative of couplet “18” from Martins & Galileo (1995) (translated):

18(9). Elytra apex transversely truncate, with apical spine long and divergent......................................... 18’

- Elytra apex oblique, with apical spine short, straight or divergent.............................................. 19

18’(18). Elytra with centrobasal crest moderately distinct; femora and tibiae bicolorous. Colombia (Magdalena)...................................................................................... B. magdalena Martins & Galileo, 1995

- Elytra without centrobasal crest; femora light only at extreme base, tibiae unicolorous. Colombia (Cesar)................................................................................................. B. antonkozlovi sp. nov.

Etymology. The new species is named in honor of our friend Anton Olegovich Kozlov, third author of this paper, for donating the holotype for the MZSP collection.

Figures

FIGURES 59–67. 59–62) Blabia antonkozlovi, holotype male: 59) Dorsal habitus; 60) Ventral habitus; 61) Lateral habitus; 62) Head, frontal view. 63–64) Blabia masoni, male: 63) Head, frontal view; 64) Head and pronotum. 65–67) Blabia intricata, male: 65) Dorsal habitus; 66) Ventral habitus; 67) Lateral habitus.