Trichrous eryphoides Lingafelter, 2024

Woodley, Steven W. Lingafelter Norman E., 2024, New species, new combinations, synonymies, and nomenclatural discussion for Hispaniolan longhorned beetles (Coleoptera: Disteniidae, Cerambycidae), Insecta Mundi 2024 (69), pp. 1-41 : 19-22

Trichrous eryphoides Lingafelter , new species

( Fig. 14–15 )

Diagnosis. This species is distinct by the complete, contiguous, deep alveolate punctures and presence of five reddish maculae of the pronotal disk. In addition, antennomeres 3 and 4 have a small mesal spine at their apices. Elytral punctation is fine, uniform, and confused. No other species of West Indian longhorned beetle has this combination of features. Solangebira picticollis (Gounelle) (known from Brazil and Argentina), has very similar coloration and pronotal spots. The absence of antennal spines and elytral punctures in longitudinal rows easily distinguish that species.

Description. Holotype male. 9.5 mm long; 2.5 mm wide at humeri. Color: Frons, gula, and gena of head mostly orange; vertex and occiput mostly piceous; palpi, basal half of labrum and apex of mandibles dark reddish-brown;

remainder of mouthparts orange. Antennal tubercles orange; antennomeres piceous. Prothorax mostly yellow-orange with five red spots arranged on disk: a postmedial elongate spot; two anterolateral round spots; two larger subtriangular posterolateral spots; and a large, pale red spot on each side, occupying about half of side of prothorax. Elytra and scutellum uniformly dark iridescent-purple. Legs piceous except for basoventral half of mesofemora which are mostly orange. Venter of thorax (except prothorax) and abdomen piceous.

Head. Deep, contiguous punctures throughout surface except for antennal tubercles and gular area which are smooth. Mostly glabrous except for short setae around eye margins and a few long setae extending anteriorly from frons, frontoclypeal margin, and basal half of mandibles. Base of labrum with short setae. Eyes with fine ommatidia, with small upper lobe connected to large lower lobe by about 7 ommatidia. Lower eye lobe occupying almost all of head from lateral view. Upper eye lobes widely separated by over twice the greatest width of scape. Antennae extending beyond elytral apex by a little more than 1 antennomere. Scape cylindrical, mostly smooth, slightly wider in diameter at apex than base. Antennomere 4 shortest among flagellomeres, only slightly longer than half length of 3 and 5, each. Antennomere 3 longest, about 1.3 × longer than scape. Antennomeres 5–10 slightly decreasing in length successively; antennomere 11 about 1.2 × longer than tenth, and abruptly narrowed at apical third. Antennomeres 3 and 4 with small apicomesal spine. Length of spines less than half length of antennomere 2. Apex of antennomere 5 mesally dentiform. Antennomeres with vestiture of very short, appressed pubescence and sparse, longer, subappressed setae along ventral margin and apex of basal segments.

Thorax. Pronotum with dense, contiguous, deep alveolate punctures; with sparse, erect, translucent setae. Punctures on sides and venter of prothorax shallower and sparser. Intercoxal process gradually declivous between procoxae; slightly expanded at apex. Procoxal cavities open posteriorly by slightly more than apical width of prosternal process. Mesosternal process abruptly declivous; with small anteroventral tubercle. Mesepisternum and metepisternum with moderately dense, appressed, white setae; medially with sparser, longer, subappressed setae on mesosternum and metasternum. Elytra with dense, small punctures of similar size, closely spaced and not arranged in rows. Most punctures bearing a single, suberect, posteriorly directed pale, translucent seta. Apices of elytra gradually narrowed to rounded suture, with small subapical spine less than half the length of the second antennomere. Pro- and mesofemora clavate; metafemora gradually enlarged at middle; femoral apices without spines on either margin.

Abdomen. Apical margin of ventrites 1–4 with short, white, pubescence. Pubescence sparse elsewhere. Apex of ventrite 5 truncate. Internal ventrite 8/tergite 8 everted, extending beyond apex of ventrite 5 by nearly its length and notched at middle. Tergite 8 with narrow, rounded flanges on each side and fringe of long setae on posterior margin.

Variation. Length (males): 7.9–10.8 mm; length (females): 8.0– 12.5 mm. Width (males): 2.1–2.8 mm; width (females): 2.2–3.5 mm. This is a polymorphic species with regard to coloration. Elytral coloration, specifically, is sexually dimorphic: males have uniformly dark metallic purple elytra while females have a broad, medial orange band at the middle of the elytra. Males most often have the legs and venter (except prothorax) dark metallic purple. Females most often have the femora, part or all of the tibiae, and venter mostly pale orange. However, leg coloration can show intermediate coloration in some specimens, without regard to sex, having the apical half or less of the femora and the tibiae dark piceous or others having the tibiae and/or femora dark only at the apices. Likewise, coloration of the venter varies in some specimens having only the metathorax dark metallic purple and the remainder of the venter pale orange. The antennal scape varies from orange to piceous. The head varies from mostly orange to having a dark metallic purple vertex and occiput. Males have the apex of the terminal abdominal ventrite truncate while females have the apex broadly rounded (note that males often have the normally hidden sternite 8 everted, and this structure has a medial notch.

Type material. Holotype (male): DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Pedernales Province, Parque Nacional Sierra de Baoruco, Las Abejas , 18°09.011′N, 71°37.342′W, 1150 meters, 18 June 2005, day coll’ng, S. Lingafelter ( USNM) . Paratypes: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, Pedernales Province, Parque Nacional Sierra de Baoruco: Las Abejas , 18°09.011′N, 71°37.342′W, 1150 meters, 18 June 2005, day collecting, S. Lingafelter (4 males, 4 females, USNM; 1 male, 1 female, SWLC) ; Las Abejas , 18°09.011′N, 71°37.342′W, 1150 meters, 18 June 2005, day collecting, N. Woodley (1 male, 1 female, SWLC; 1 male, USNM) ; Las Abejas , 18°09.011′N, 71°37.342′W, 1150 meters, 18 June 2005, blacklight, S. Lingafelter (10 males, 4 females, USNM) ; Las Abejas , 18°09.011′N, 71°37.342′W, 1150 meters, 17 July 2006, E. H. Nearns (2 males, 1 female, CMNH; 1 male, 1 female, MNDR; 1 male, SWLC) ; Las Abejas , 18°09.011′N, 71°37.342′W, 1150 meters, 18 June 2005, Nearns & Lingafelter, UV light at treefall (1 male, 1 female, WIBF) .

Etymology. The name is based on the similarity of the new species to species originally described under the generic name Eryphus Klug (now in Solangebira Santos-Silva, Botero, and Nascimento ).

Remarks. The type series was encountered during several trips to Las Abejas (Pedernales Province) and the species was not found at any other location. Specimens were very abundant on one occasion flying at dusk around a large deciduous tree that had fallen in the Las Abejas forest in June. Some specimens of this polymorphic species were collected in copula running along the trunk and large branches ( Fig. 14 ) of the tree. Additional specimens were attracted to a blacklight near the treefall.

Regarding the confusion on some of the generic names used for this group of Dichophyiini, Santos-Silva et al. (2023) correctly noted Klug (1829) and not Perty (1832) as the author of Eryphus . But that name was determined to be a nomen oblitum and they established Eriphus Audinet-Serville, 1834 as the nomen protectum. In that work, they erected the new genus Solangebira for the species placed incorrectly placed in Eryphus Perty by Napp and Martins (2002).

Plectrocerum Dejean, 1835

Figures

Figure 14. Trichrous eryphoides Lingafelter, new species, mating pair on trunk of unidentified deciduous tree. Photographed at Las Abejas, Sierra de Bahoruco (Dominican Republic: Pedernales Province), 18 June 2005.

Figure 15. Trichrous eryphoides Lingafelter, new species, dorsal illustrations. a) Male. b) Female. Digital illustration by Martha Iserman and Taina Litwak.