Strongylaspis bullata Bates, 1872

Wappes, James E. & Santos-Silva, Antonio, 2011, Descriptions of females of Nothopleurus Lacordaire and Strongylaspis Thomson (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Prioninae: Macrotomini) with new distributional records, Insecta Mundi 2011 (168), pp. 1-6 : 4-5

Strongylaspis bullata Bates, 1872

( Fig. 6-7 )

Strongylaspis bullatus Bates, 1872: 167 ; 1879: 6, pl. 2, fig. 10; Berry 1957: 17 (distr.); Gibson and Carrillo 1959: 116 (distribution); Chemsak et al. 1992: 16 (cat.); Maes et al. 1994: 6 (distr.); Monné and Giesbert 1994: 7 (checklist); Monné 1995: 2 (cat.); Monné and Santos-Silva, 2003: 40, figs. 10, 28; Monné and Hovore, 2005: 14 (checklist); 2006: 14 (checklist); Hovore 2006: 371 (distribution); Monné 2006: 60 (cat.); Monné and Bezark 2010: 16 (checklist).

Strongylaspis (Strongylaspis) bullata ; Lameere 1903: 33; Lameere 1913: 10 (cat.); Lameere 1919: 25.

Strongylaspis bullata ; Gemminger and Harold 1872: 2766 (cat.); Blackwelder 1946: 552 (checklist); Santos- Silva and Esteban-Durán 2009: 354 (key).

Redescription. Female ( Fig. 6 ). Integument dark-brown (almost blackish is some areas); elytra lighter. Dorsal surface of head between the clypeus and middle of eyes, asperate-punctate, gradually becoming asperate towards occiput and area behind eyes; pilosity decumbent, short, longer and more abundant on area between eyes. Clypeus scabrous; pilosity decumbent, long and abundant. Labrum large (length greater than one-half that of clypeus; width greater than half that of clypeus), coplanar with distal margin of clypeus; pilosity long, erect and abundant. Eye large; distance between upper lobes from 0.5 to 0.6 times length of scape; distance between inferior lobes approximately equal to length of scape. Length of mandible about 0.7 times that of scape; dorsal and latero-outer surface rugose-punctate, with long and abundant hairs; inner margin and apex smooth and glabrous; apex bifid; inner margin with a large rounded tooth. Antenna distinctly surpassing middle of elytra; scape coarse, confluently punctate on dorsal surface, scabrous on latero-outer surface; length of antennomere III from 1.2 to 1.4 times that of scape.

Pronotum ( Fig. 7 , arrow a) with two very prominent and shining callosities on each side, interconnected by another unelevated callosity, all callosities glabrous, smooth; remaining surface granulate laterally, except for two protuberances on each side of base which are confluently punctate; lateral angles with large spine ( Fig. 7 , arrow b) directed upward and back, placed near the posterior angle; posterior angles rounded; pilosity short, decumbent, moderately abundant. Scutellum tumid; granules small and abundant. Elytral surface glabrous, except for short, sparse hairs on basal extreme; microsculptured, with abundant small granules throughout, larger on basal third, gradually smaller towards apex; elytral carinae distinct; sutural apex with small spine. Proepisternum narrow. Metasternum and metepisternum with pilosity long and abundant. Urosternites with abundant, short, decumbent, pilosity laterally.

Dimensions (mm). Total length (including mandibles), 27.9-36.0; prothoracic length, 3.8-5.0; anterior prothoracic width (between apices of anterior angles), 4.9-5.9; posterior prothoracic width (between the apices of the lateral spines), 7.5-10.2; humeral width, 7.5-10.0; elytral length, 20.1-26.3.

Geographical distribution. Strongylaspis bullata is known from Mexico (Guerrero), El Salvador ( Berry 1957), Guatemala ( Hovore 2006) and Nicaragua. Monné and Giesbert (1994), Monné and Hovore (2005, 2006), and Monné and Bezark (2010) also list this species from Costa Rica.

Material examined. COSTA RICA, Guanacaste: Cañas , 2 males, 1 female, V.5-7.1989, D. Thomas & F. Parker col. ( ACMT) ; Hacienda La Pacifica (near Cañas), 2 males, 1 female, V.22-26.1984, E. Riley, D. Rider & D. LeDoux col. ( ACMT) .

Comments. Lameere (1903) wrote that he only examined Bates’ co-type at the British Museum, and that the female was glabrous “very probably by accident”. He also stated the sculpture of the pronotum in both sexes show shinning spaces that are completely smooth and strongly raised.

Regarding the “ types ”, as recorded by Monné and Santos-Silva (2003), the female cannot be a type as the species was described by Bates based on a single male. Although Lameere (1903) thought that the specimen examined by him had accidentally lost the pubescence (he did not specify where), the elytra in females are glabrous, except for the extreme base, which has very short, sparse hairs.

Figures

Figure 1-9. 1-5) Nothopleurus subsulcatus (Dalman, 1823), female. 1) Habitus, dorsal view. 2) Head, dorsal view. 3) Head and prothorax, ventral view. 4) Mandibles, lateral view. 5) Metepisternum. 6-7) Strongylaspis bullata Bates, 1872, female. 6) Habitus, dorsal view. 7) Left side of pronotum, dorsal view. 8-9) Strongylaspis championi Bates, 1884, female. 8) Habitus, dorsal view. 9) Head and prothorax, dorsal view.