Apeba danielvlasaki, Vlasak & Santos-Silva, 2020

Vlasak, Josef & Santos-Silva, Antonio, 2020, New species of Cerambycinae and Lamiinae from Ecuador and Honduras, with transference of a species of Rhinotragini (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae), Zootaxa 4748 (3), pp. 455-470 : 461-464

Apeba danielvlasaki sp. nov.

( Figs. 17–21 )

Description. Female. Frons orangish-brown laterally, mostly light brown centrally; postclypeus orangishbrown on wide central area, black laterally; anteclypeus and labrum orangish-brown; mouthparts orangish-brown; area between antennal tubercles and upper eye lobes brown; antennal tubercles almost black except brown apex; remaining surface of vertex dark brown, almost black except large orangish-brown macula on each side close to prothorax, and narrow black area close to upper eye lobes; area behind eyes black; genae orangish-brown; mandibles reddish-brown on basal half, black on distal half; scape, pedicel, antennomeres III–IV and VIII–X black; basal area of antennomeres V–VII and apex of XI orangish-brown (lighter on XI); pronotum dark brown on anterocentral third, reddish-brown on remaining anterior 2/3, except narrow black sides, and black on large semicircular area on each of posterior third (area between each black macula and black sides, and between each black macula reddish-brown); sides of prothorax black; prosternum dark brown; prosternal process dark brown anteriorly, gradually reddish-brown toward apex; ventral surface of meso- and metathorax dark brown, almost black, except reddish-brown apex of mesoventral process, nearly entire surface of metaventral process, and small reddish-brown macula on apex of metaventrite between metacoxae; elytra black except large, irregular, transverse yellowish-white macula on beginning of posterior half, slightly distinct brown area dorsally, between yellowish-white macula and apex, brownish outermost carina, brownish posterior half of innermost carina, narrow sutural reddish-brown band on posterior quarter, and reddish-brown epipleural margin on anterior third; procoxae and protrochanters partially reddish-brown; meso- and metacoxae, and meso- and metatrochanters partially yellowish-white; femora, tibiae, and tarsi black; abdominal ventrites dark brown, almost black.

Head. Frons finely, sparsely punctate; with pale yellow pubescence laterally, distinctly not obscuring integument, glabrous centrally (the pubescence may be lost) except a few short, decumbent whiter setae between central area and yellowish-white pubescence (denser toward antennal tubercles); with a few long, erect dark setae laterally. Central area between antennal tubercles and anterior area of upper eye lobes glabrous; remaining surface with abundant black pubescence, including antennal tubercles; antennal tubercles with long, erect, sparse dark setae. Vertex with oblique brownish pubescent band on each side between eyes; remaining surface with dense yellow pubescence laterally, gradually sparser, paler toward central area. Area behind eyes with pale pubescence not obscuring integument (appearing to be darker due to the integument color), with long, erect, sparse dark setae interspersed. With oblique yellow band between area behind eyes and gena. Genae 1.3 times length of lower eye lobe; with sparse pale, yellow pubescence, with a few long, erect yellowish setae interspersed, except glabrous apex. Postclypeus mostly glabrous, with a few long, erect setae on wide central area (setae brownish basally, yellowish toward apex). Labrum with long, erect, sparse yellowish setae. Distance between upper eye lobes 0.08 times length of scape (0.09 times distance between outer margins of eyes); in frontal view, distance between lower eye lobes 0.49 times length of scape (0.55 times distance between outer margins of eyes). Antennae 1.1 times elytral length, reaching posterior fifth of elytra. Scape subcylindrical, arched basally; with blackish pubescence dorsally and laterally, grayish-white ventrally; with long, erect, moderately sparse black setae throughout (longer ventrally). Pedicel with pubescence and erect setae as on scape. Antennomere III with long, erect, sparse black setae dorsally, and long (longer than on dorsal surface), erect, moderately abundant black setae on inferior surface of inner side, notably dense, forming tufts basally and distally; with dense black pubescence dorsally and laterally, mostly grayish-white ventrally. Antennomere IV with moderately long, erect, black setae dorsally, with dense, long, erect setae on inferior surface of inner side, from base to apex, with longer black setae interspersed; with dense black pubescence throughout. Antennomeres V–X with long, erect, sparse black setae on inferior surface of inner side, gradually shorter toward X, and a few short, erect black setae on dorsal apex. Orangish-brown area of antennomeres V–VII and XI with yellowish-white pubescence not obscuring integument, remaining surface with black pubescence, with grayish-white pubescence interspersed. Antennomeres VIII–X with black pubescence, with grayish-white pubescence interspersed. Antennal formula (ratio) based on length of antennomere III: scape = 0.68; pedicel = 0.11; IV = 0.76; V = 0.13; VI = 0.12; VII = 0.11; VIII = 0.11; IX = 0.10; X = 0.10; XI = 0.11.

Thorax. Prothorax slightly widened from antero to posterolateral angles. Pronotum coarsely, moderately abundantly punctate (punctures obliterated by pubescence in anterior 2/3); light area with dense yellow pubescence; dark areas with very short, nearly inconspicuous, pale pubescence (appearing to be dark due to the integument color); with a few long, erect yellowish-white setae on posterior third. Sides of prothorax coarsely, abundantly punctate; pubescence as on dark areas of pronotum close to it, slightly longer, more yellowish-brown toward prosternum; with a few long, erect yellowish-white setae interspersed. Narrowest area of prosternal process about 0.2 times width of procoxal cavity; posterior area with short, bristly, sparse yellowish-brown setae. Wide central area of mesoventrite and mesoventral process nearly glabrous; sides of mesoventrite, mesanepisternum, mesepimeron, metanepisternum, and sides of metaventrite with dense brown pubescence; anterocentral half of metaventrite almost glabrous; pos- terocentral half of metaventrite with decumbent, short yellowish white setae. Scutellum with brownish pubescence not obscuring integument (more grayish depending on light source and intensity). Elytra. Distinctly widened from basal seventh; coarsely, abundantly punctate on basal 2/3 of area between humeral carinae and between humeral carinae and outermost carinae, gradually finer, less distinct on posterior third of area between humeral carinae, somewhat rugose on remaining surface; with very short yellowish-white pubescence on dark area (appearing to be dark due to the integument color), and short yellowish-white pubescence on light areas (longer, more conspicuous than on dark area); with erect, moderately long and abundant dark setae throughout; outer and apical margins with short fringe of dark setae. Legs. Femora with yellowish-brown pubescence not obscuring integument, slightly lighter, bristly ventrally, with a few long, erect dark setae interspersed dorsally, and long, erect yellowish-white setae ventrally. Tibiae with bristly black pubescence nearly obscuring integument, except yellowish-brown pubescence on posterior 2/3 of ventral surface of protibiae, with long, erect, black setae interspersed.

Abdomen. Slightly, gradually narrowed from base to apex of third segment, widened from base to apex of fourth segment, then gradually, rounded narrowed from base to apex of fifth segment. Ventrites with yellowishwhite pubescence not obscuring integument (appearing to be darker due to the integument color), with long, erect, sparse yellowish-white setae interspersed. Apex of ventrite V almost rounded, emarginated centrally.

Dimensions in mm. Total length, 13.30; prothorax: length, 1.45; anterior width, 1.90; posterior width, 2.00; humeral width, 3.00; elytral length, 10.30.

Type material. Holotype female from ECUADOR, Pichincha: El Séptimo Paraíso Hotel (Mindo), adult on stem, 16.VI.2019, D. Vlasak col. ( MZSP).

Etymology. We named this species to honor the first author’s older son, Daniel Vlasak, who found the holotype.

Remarks. Apeba danielvlasaki sp. nov. is similar to A. popeba (Galileo & Martins, 2006) (see photographs at Bezark 2019a), a species described and known from Costa Rica, but differs as follows: posterior third of pronotum with two black, large semicircular maculae, one on each side; dense yellow pronotal pubescence obscuring integument on light area; and lower eye lobes distinctly shorter than gena ( Fig. 21 ). In female of A. popeba , the pronotum is entirely orangish, pronotal pubescence does not obscure integument, and the lower eye lobes are about as long as gena ( Fig. 22 ). Although elytral color pattern is variable in other species of Apeba , and other related genera, we have never seen variation of pronotal color and pubescence.

Key to species of Apeba (adapted from Galileo et al. 2017)

1. Antennomere IV slightly shorter than III.................................................................. 2 – Antennomere IV distinctly shorter than III (at most, half of length of III)......................................... 4

2(1). Dorsal surface entirely orange. Panama............................................... A. isabellina (Bates, 1885) – Dorsal surface not entirely orange........................................................................ 3

3(2). Pronotum with dense yellow pubescence obscuring integument on basal 2/3; pronotum with black semicircular area posteriorly. Ecuador........................................................................... A. danielvlasaki sp. nov.

– Pronotal pubescence not obscuring central area of basal 2/3; pronotum entirely orange. Costa Rica.... A. popeba (Galileo & Martins, 2006)

4(1). Antennomere IV distinctly shorter than V–VI together. Bolivia......................... A. herrerae Galileo et al., 2017 – Antennomere IV as long as, or almost as long as, V–VII together............................................... 4

4(3). Central area of the vertex with dark pubescence margined on each side by yellow, pubescent oblique band. Brazil (Amazonas, Pará)................................................................... A. barauna Martins & Galileo, 1991

– Central area of the vertex yellow pubescent and adjacent sides dark pubescent. Brazil (Bahia, Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Santa Catarina) .................................................... A. togata (Klug, 1825)

Figures

FIGURES 17–22. 17–21) Apeba danielvlasaki, holotype female: 17) Dorsal habitus; 18) Ventral habitus; 19) Lateral habitus; 20) Head, frontal view; 21) Head, lateral view. 22) Apeba popeba, head, lateral view, female from Costa Rica (photograph by Larry G. Bezark).