Psyrassa olegkozlovi, Santos-Silva, Antonio, Botero, Juan Pablo & Taboada-Verona, Carlos, 2017

Santos-Silva, Antonio, Botero, Juan Pablo & Taboada-Verona, Carlos, 2017, Three new species of Psyrassa Pascoe, 1866 (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Cerambycinae), Zootaxa 4250 (5), pp. 494-500 : 497-498

Psyrassa olegkozlovi sp. nov.

( Figs. 5–9 )

Description. Holotype female. Integument black, slightly dark-brown on some areas; palpi reddish-brown except yellowish-brown apex of last palpomeres; antennomeres dark-brown, darkened at apex. Yellowish setae more whitish depending on angle of light.

Head. Frontal plate transverse, smooth centrally, finely punctate laterally; with short, sub-erect, sparse, yellowish setae laterally, almost glabrous centrally. Area between frontal plate and vertex with deep, transverse, moderately wide sulcus at each side of center. Area between antennal tubercles and upper eye lobes finely, abundantly punctate except central area along coronal suture, slightly elevated and finely, sparsely punctate; with short, decumbent, moderately sparse, yellowish setae interspersed with long, erect setae close to eyes. Remaining surface of vertex finely, shallowly rugose-punctate, mainly laterally; with short, sparse, decumbent, yellowish setae. Area behind upper eye lobes finely, shallowly rugose-punctate close to vertex, gradually coarser, shallower punctate toward lower eye lobes; with short, erect, sparse, yellowish setae, and some long, erect setae close to apex of eye. Area behind lower eye lobes slightly tumid close to eye; smooth on tumid area, moderately coarsely, striate-punctate on remaining surface, mainly toward ventral side of head; with some long, erect, yellowish setae on tumid area, with short, very sparse, yellowish setae on remaining surface. Genae, in dorsal view, rounded at apex; long, with area between lower eye lobes and mandibles moderately long; coarsely punctate, except sub-smooth central area close to eye, smooth at apex; with short, decumbent, sparse, yellowish setae, more abundant toward clypeus, interspersed with some long, erect setae. Antennal tubercles minutely, abundantly punctate, except on narrow, smooth, elevated apical area; with short, moderately abundant, decumbent, yellowish setae, except on glabrous smooth area; with shallow sulcus close to elevated distal area. Coronal suture distinct from apex of frontal plate to area at level of posterior ocular edge. Postclypeus sub-smooth centrally, finely punctate laterally under frontal plate, smooth laterally; with short, sparse, yellowish setae interspersed with long, erect setae on punctate area, smooth laterally. Labrum centrally concave; smooth close to anteclypeus, finely, abundantly punctate on remaining surface; with short and long, moderately abundant, yellowish setae directed forward on punctate area (denser, centrally on distal margin), glabrous on smooth area. Gula smooth, glabrous. Submentum transversely striate (striate-punctate toward mentum); with short, erect, moderately sparse, yellowish setae interspersed with long, erect setae. Distance between upper eye lobes 0.80 times length of scape; distance between lower eye lobes in frontal view 1.25 times length of scape. Antennae 0.9 times elytral length, almost reaching middle of elytra. Scape moderately coarsely, abundantly punctate, except smooth area close to apex; with short, moderately sparse, yellowish setae, ventrally interspersed with long, erect setae. Antennomeres III–XI with short, decumbent, yellowish setae, ventrally with long, erect yellowish setae, gradually shorter, sparser toward distal segment. Apical spine of antennomere III straight, acute at apex, with 0.65 times length of antennomere; apical spine of antennomere IV with 0.55 times length of scape; apical spine of antennomere V with 0.35 times length of antennomere; apical spine of antennomere VI and VII with 0.15 times length of antennomere; antennomere VIII with spicule at inner apex. Antennal formula (ratio) based on length of antennomere III (excluding spine): scape = 1.00; pedicel = 0.19; IV = 0.81; V = 0.97; VI = 0.94; VII = 0.84; VIII = 0.84; IX = 0.67; X = 0.59; XI = 0.81.

Thorax. Prothorax longer than wide (1.2 times); sides rounded about middle, with constriction on basal fifth. Lateral surface of prothorax finely striate on basal plate, with oblique sulcus close to the plate; large central area moderately coarsely, sparsely, shallowly punctate toward pronotum, distinctly denser, confluent, toward ventral side; area close to head finely striate, with sparse, fine punctures (this area distinctly widened toward ventral side); basal plate with band with yellowish pubescence centrally, not obscuring integument; remaining surface with short and long, moderately abundant, erect, yellowish setae (more abundant on large central area). Pronotum with transverse sulcus close to basal plate, following that on sides of prothorax, not reaching center; basal half striate-punctate (punctures fine), except on smooth longitudinal central area; distal half finely, moderately sparsely punctate centrally, moderately coarsely punctate laterally, rugose-punctate laterally close to distal margin; with short, abundant, decumbent, yellowish setae on basal plate, interspersed with long, erect, yellowish setae; remaining surface with short and long, erect, sparse, yellowish setae (sparser centrally toward distal margin). Prosternum transversely striate, mainly on basal 2/3, with moderately coarse punctures laterally; with short, decumbent, sparse, yellowish setae interspersed with long, erect setae; prosternal process not sulcate centrally except near apex, with short, moderately sparse, yellowish setae, interspersed with long, erect setae on distal third. Ventral side of mesothorax with golden pubescence, denser on sides of mesosternum and mesepisterna, and entire mesepimera. Metepisternum with abundant, golden pubescence, more yellowish-brown toward dorsal side. Metasternum glabrous on narrow band close to metepisternum, followed by longitudinal band with golden pubescence ( Fig. 9 ); remaining surface finely, sparsely punctate, with short and long, erect, sparse, yellowish setae. Scutellum with dense, golden pubescence. Elytra. Coarsely, abundantly punctate basally, gradually finer, sparser toward apex; apex moderately narrow, emarginate, with short spine with similar size at outer and sutural angles; with short, erect, sparse (more abundant laterally), yellowish setae interspersed with long, erect, yellowish setae. Legs. Femora coarsely, abundantly punctate ventrally, distinctly sparser dorsally; with long, erect, sparse, yellowish setae. Meso- and metatibiae carinate laterally (carina placed close to inferior margin, not reaching apex).

Abdomen. Ventrites finely, sparsely punctate; with short, sub-erect, sparse, yellowish setae (more abundant laterally), interspersed with some longer setae; apex of ventrite V truncate.

Dimensions. Total length, 23.60; prothorax: length, 4.05; anterior width, 3.00; posterior width, 3.25; largest prothoracic width, 3.45; humeral width, 4.45; elytral length, 16.00.

Type material. Holotype female from HONDURAS, Cortés: Parque Nacional Cusuco (Sierra del Merendón; 15°29’32”N / 88°12’38”W; 1520 m), 2014, V. Sinjaev & M. Marquéz col. ( MZSP).

Etymology. The new species is named after Oleg Antonovich Kozlov, a special request of Anton Olegovich Kozlov who sent and donated the holotype to MZSP collection.

Remarks. Psyrassa olegkozlovi sp. nov. resembles the species of Megapsyrassa Linsley, 1961 by the general appearance and size. However, it differs from the species of this genus by the metepisternum ( Fig. 9 ) not obliterated by the elytra, while in Megapsyrassa it is obliterated ( Fig. 10 ).

Using the key by Toledo (2005), despite the problems mentioned above, the new species may be included in the alternative of couplet “3”, with P. aliena ( Linsley, 1934) . It differs notably by the darker color (reddish-brown in P. aliena ), by the body wider (slender in P. aliena ). According to Linsley (1934) on P. aliena : “antennae attaining apical one-third of elytra (male symbol), middle of elytra (female symbol).” However, the photograph of the holotype female in Bezark (2016) clearly shows that the antennae distinctly surpass the middle of elytra. In the new species, the antennae almost reach the middle of elytra. Additionally, the holotype of the new species is considerably longer (23.6 mm) than the known specimens of P. aliena : 15.5 mm, according to Linsley (1934 – holotype?); 14.8–15.8 mm, according to Toledo (2005).

Toledo (2005) affirmed that the female of P. aliena is unknown. However, this does not make sense, since the species was described based on a couple and, according to Linsley (1934), the holotype is a female.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 10. 1 – 4, Psyrassa ludmilakozlovae sp. nov., holotype female: 1, dorsal habitus; 2, ventral habitus; 3, lateral habitus; 4, head, frontal view. 5 – 9, Psyrassa olegkozlovi sp. nov., holotype female: 5, head, frontal view; 6, dorsal habitus; 7, ventral habitus; 8, lateral habitus; 9, Metepisternum, lateral view. 10, Megapsyrassa xestioides (Bates, 1872), male, metepisternum, lateral view.