Agrilus muscicoloratus Hespenheide

Hespenheide, Henry A., 2012, New Mexican and Central American species of Agrilus Curtis (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) mimetic of flies, Zootaxa 3181, pp. 1-27 : 24-25

Agrilus muscicoloratus Hespenheide

(Figs. 53–55)

Agrilus muscicoloratus Hespenheide 1989:177

Diagnosis. Small, less than 4 mm long; color pattern as in A. percarus , male with green front, blue area on posterior 1/4 of pronotum with silvery setae; black beneath, abdomen with faint golden reflections, epimeron, metasternum, metepisternum and metacoxal plate with faint bluish reflections, epimeron, metasternum, metepisternum and metacoxal plate with sparse silvery setae. Head convex, weakly depressed along midline below middle, antennae serrate from antennomere 5, pronotum regularly convex, without prehumeral carinae and only very shallowly depressed transversely and along midline at basal 1/3, femora without teeth on ventral margin, male metatarsomere 1 longer than 2–3 combined. Male genitalia as in Fig. 55.

Specimen examined. Mexico: Jalisco, Est. Biol. Chamela, 1-VII-1995, R.L. Westcott (RLWE).

Discussion. This is the smallest species with the fly-mimic color pattern. The regularly convex pronotum with uniform, sparse setae in the blue area is distinctive. Although it appears as if it were a miniature Agrilus percarus , it is probably unrelated and appears to be closer to the group of species that includes A. abstersus Horn. It is also known from the Mexican states of Colima and Michoacan ( Hespenheide 1989) and the state of Mexico ( Westcott & Hespenheide 2006).