Bilyaxia (Tomasia), 2013

Bily, Svatopluk, 2013, A study on the Neotropical Anthaxiini (Coleoptera, Buprestidae, Buprestinae), ZooKeys 304, pp. 17-47 : 40

Bilyaxia (Tomasia) subgen. n. Figs 13-15

Type species.

Anthaxia maculicollis Kerremans, 1887 by present designation.

Diagnosis.

Small to medium sized (3.3-4.8 mm), slender, subcylindrical species.

Head relatively large, slightly wider or as wide as anterior pronotal margin; clypeus wide, trapezoidal, anterior margin straight or weakly emarginate; frons flat or convex, rarely weakly grooved; vertex flat or weakly convex, 1.8-2.2 times as wide as width of eye; eyes large, reniform, often slightly projecting beyond outline of head; sculpture of head consisting of small, fine, oval or polygonal cells.

Pronotum subcylindrical or lateral margins regularly rounded, 1.8-2.0 times as wide as long (exceptionally lateral margins S-shaped: Bilyaxia (Tomasia) hayeki (Cobos, 1972)); lateroposterior depressions wide, well defined; “agriloid” carina fine but well defined, usually reaching posterior third of lateral margins; prescutellar pit missing, basal tubercles weakly defined or missing; pronotal sculpture consisting of fine, poorly defined, polygonal cells without central grains and usually also by very fine basal microsculpture. Scutellum small to very small, cordiform, longer than wide.

Elytra regularly convex, smooth or with more or less defined, longitudinal costae, 2.2-2.4 times as long as wide; humeral swellings small but well defined, basal transverse depressions usually wide, deep, rarely shallow but always reaching scutellum; elytral epipleura narrowing posteriorly, reaching elytral apex; each elytron narrowly rounded, sometimes slightly caudiform; subhumeral carina well defined, usually reaching apical portion of elytra, sometimes shortened, scarcely reaching elytral midlength.

Anal ventrite usually simply rounded, finely serrate. Legs slender, long, tarsi not enlarged, distinctly shorter than tibiae; tarsal claws short, slightly curved.

Etymology.

The subgenus Tomasia subgen. n. (feminine) is named after my friend and colleague Tomás Moore Rodríguez (Santiago, Chile), the well-known specialist in the taxonomy of Chilean Buprestidae .

Species included.

Bilyaxia (Tomasia) bruchiana (Obenberger, 1926), Bilyaxia (Tomasia) cinctipennis (Kerremans, 1913), Bilyaxia (Tomasia) cyaneoviridis (Kerremans, 1900), Bilyaxia (Tomasia) emmanueli (Cobos, 1972), Bilyaxia (Tomasia) hayeki (Cobos, 1972), Bilyaxia (Tomasia) lata (Kerremans, 1903) and Bilyaxia (Tomasia) macullicollis (Kerremans, 1887).

Note.

Bilyaxia (Tomasia) cinctipennis ( Fig. 15 ) somewhat contradicts the definition of the subgenus by its colouration (black and yellow pattern) and by the widely rounded elytral apices. In 2010 I found in Paraguay (Prov. Presidente Hayes) a specimen with entirely yellow elytra.

Figures

Figures 13 - 18. 13 Bilyaxia (Tomasia) maculicollis (Kerremans, 1887), female, 4.6 mm (Argentina, Entre Rios) 14 Bilyaxia (Tomasia) lata (Kerremans, 1903), male, 5.0 mm (Brasil, Rio Grande do Sul) 15 Bilyaxia (Tomasia) cinctipennis (Kerremans, 1913), male holotype, 7.0 mm 16 Brasilaxia costifera (Obenberger, 1913), male, 6.3 mm (Brasil, Curityba) 17 Paracuris bimaculata bimaculata (Gory, 1841), male, 7.1 mm (Argentina, Catamarca) 18 the same, female, 7.2 mm (Brasil, Bermejo).