Cis agariconae, Zimmerman, 1942

Zimmerman, Elwood C., 1942, Ciidae of Guam, Insects of Guam-I, Honolulu, Hawaii: Bernice P. Bishop Museum, pp. 47-52 : 50-51

3. Cis agariconae , new species ( fig. 1 , f; pl. 1, C).

Derm shiny, rather pale to dark chestnut brown in mature specimens, concolorous above and below, appendages yellowish brown; dorsal setae minute, pale.

Head exposed from above, crown convex, somewhat less convex on male than on female, shiny, finely alutaceous, microscopically punctate, setae minute, hardly discernible; anterior margin developed into a rounded, slightly upturned tooth on either side of clypeus in female and into a very prominent, upturned triangular tooth in male. Antennae with body of first segment ovate, about two thirds as broad as long, almost as long as 2 plus 3, 2 slightly longer than 3, submoniliform, broader at base, 3 and 4 elongate, subequal, together as long as 5 to 7 which are very small and successively more transverse; club slightly longer than five preceding segments, 9 and 10 subequal in size and shape. Prothora.r broader than long (2.2: 1.7), base subtruncate, broadly arcuate on sides, broadly convex apically, fore margin simple and unmodified in either sex; lateral carina and its fore and hind angles visible throughout its length from above, hind corners strongly and conspicuously rounded, not at all angulate, thence continued in a broad curve and rounded into apical margin; dorsum shiny, densely, microscopically, evenly punctate throughout, punctures separated by interstices equal to or somewhat broader than their diameters; the setae not or hardly discernible even under high magnification. Elytra shiny, two thirds as broad as long, about two and one third times as long as prothorax, slightly arcuate in basal two thirds, thence convexly narrowed to the apex; the lateral carina broadly rounded into basal carina; sculpture consisting of dense, irregular, shallow, variable punctures distinctly larger than those on pronotum, evidently appearing to be somewhat confluent in some places, interspersed with minute punctures similar to those on pronotum; setae microscopic. Wings fully developed. Legs with femora and tibiae finely and sparsely setose. Sternmn rather coarsely reticulate, at most shallowly and indistinctly punctate; intercoxal process of prosternum about half as broad as transverse chord of a coxa, V-shaped in cross section in front of coxae and only slightly interrupting apical margin of prosternum; mesocoxae about half as widely separated as fore coxae; metacoxae about as broadly separated as mesocoxae; metasternum as long along median line as ventrite 1 plus half of 2. Venter reticulate, apparently impunctate, sparsely setose; ventrite 1 simple in female, with a small pit behind the middle in the male. Length 1.25-1.3 mm.; breadth 0.5-0.6 mm.

Holotype male, in the U. S. National Museum , allotype female in Bishop Museum, one male and two female paratypes taken from tree fungus July 25, 1937, Oakley, no. 90 .

This species resembles Cis cheesmanae Blair from the Marquesas, but it is smaller, less robust, and distinctly less coarsely and conspicuously punctured.

In Scott's key (1926) to the Cis of the Seychelles, this species runs to his Cis cacuminuni , and it is evidently closely allied to that species. However, C. cacuminmn is shiny black, it evidently lacks the median pit on the first ventrite of the male, the metasternum and venter are evidently definitely punctate, and from the nature of its habitat there are good reasons for believing that it is an endemic product of the highlands of the Seychelles.

Figures

FIGURE 1.-Details of Ciidae. a, outline of head and pronotum of Ceracis palaccps, female; b, the same of the male; c, the same of Cis quadridentatits; d, the same of Cis guamae; e, diagram of elytral markings of Cis quadridentatits; f, outline of head and pronotum of Cis agariconae; g and h, dorsal outlines of the front margins of the heads of the male and female of Ceracis palaceps; i, the same of Cis quadridentatus; j, fore leg of male of Ceracis palaceps.