Anthaxia (Haplanthaxia) pinda, Bílý, Svatopluk & Baiocchi, Daniele, 2009

Bílý, Svatopluk & Baiocchi, Daniele, 2009, Anthaxia (Haplanthaxia) pinda sp. nov. from the Arabian Peninsula (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), Zootaxa 2280, pp. 63-68 : 63-67

Anthaxia (Haplanthaxia) pinda sp. nov. ( Figs. 1, 3, 4 , 6)

Type specimens. Holotype (3): U[nited]. A[rab]. E[mirates]., Fujairah, Wadi Wurayah, N25°23’ E56°16’, 210 m a.s.l. 25.3.2007, J. Batelka lgt./ reared from dead twigs of Nerium oleander eclos.: April 2007; allotype (Ƥ): same data as holotype; paratypes: U.A.E., Fujairah, Wadi Wurayah, N25°23’ E56°16’, 210 m a.s.l., J. Batelka lgt. / reared from dead twigs of Nerium oleander , eclos.: April 2007; (3 3, 4 ƤƤ); U.A.E., Fujairah, Wadi Wurayah, N25°23’ E56°16’, 210 m a.s.l., J. Batelka lgt. / reared from dead twigs of Nerium oleander , emerged on 14.7.0 7 (3 3, 1 Ƥ): U.A.E., Fujairah, Wadi Wurayah, N25°23’ E56°16’, 210 m a.s.l., J. Batelka lgt. / reared from dead twigs of Nerium oleander , emerged on 29.6.0 7 (1 3); OMAN, Wadi A’Bul, 20.V.99, M. Gillett legit. (1 ex.); OMAN, Wadi A’Bul, 24°26’N 56°04’E, 8.IV.99, on Nerium mascatense flowers, M.Gillett legit. (15 ex); OMAN, Wadi A’Bal, 24°26’N 56°03’E, 11 Jun 93, M. Gillett (1 Ƥ); N Oman, 11.3.2008 30 km Ovest di Rustaq, m 550, leg. D. Gianasso / ex larva Nerium sp.; [emerged on] 23.6.0 8 (1,Ƥ), 22.7.0 8 (1 Ƥ), 25.7.0 8 (1 3), 11.8.2008 (1 3), 22.9.0 8 (1 Ƥ); N Oman, Jebel al Akhdar, N Birkat al Mawz, 22°58’126’’ N 57°41’ 547’’E, 2.3.2008, m.920, leg. D. Gianasso / ex larva Moringa peregrina [emerged on] 21.6.2008 (1 3).

Holotype and allotype deposited in NMPC, paratypes in the collections of D. Baiocchi (Roma), D. Gianasso (Castelnuovo Don Bosco, Italy), M. Gigli (Roma), M. Niehuis (Albersweiler, Germany) and NMPC. Description of the male holotype ( Fig. 1). Medium-sized, body slender and rather flat 2.75 times as long as wide; length: 5.50 mm, width: 2.00 mm; head bright emerald green; pronotum bright green, with golden tinge at middle; elytra golden-bronze, somewhat greenish at base and on humeri; legs and antennae dark green.

Head as wide as anterior pronotal margin; frons flat, wide; eyes large and slightly projecting beyond outline of head; inner margins of eyes slightly diverging in the lowermost part and moderately converging towards vertex; vertex 0.46 times as wide as width of head; sculpture of vertex and upper frontal area consisting of shallow, regular cells with thicker borders at central portion of frons; bottom of cells microsculptured, with large, flat grain; lower part of frons with only faint remnants of reticulation, thoroughly, finely microsculptured at postclypeal area; frontoclypeus short, almost flat, with widely, deeply, triangularly incised anterior margin; frons with yellow, short erect pubescence; antennae dark green, slightly overlapping midlength of lateral pronotal margins; scape slender, club-shaped; pedicel pear-shaped, 1.5 as long as wide; third antennomere triangularly enlarged, slightly longer than pedicel; fourth and fifth antennomeres triangular, antennomeres 6–11 nearly trapezoidal.

Pronotum transverse, 1.6 times as wide as long, more convex medially, with maximum width at midlength; anterior margin deeply bisinuate with prominent median lobe; lateral margins regularly arched, slightly narrowed at posterior fourth, with slightly obtuse posterior angles; posterior margin straight; pronotal sculpture consisting of regular, polygonal, shallow cells with microreticulate bottom and small, sharp eccentric pore; lateroposterior depressions deep, transversally enlarged; pronotal surface covered with very short, nearly indistinct yellow pubescence. Scutellum as wide as long, subcordiform, more convex at posterior half, finely microsculptured.

Elytra wedge-shaped, 2.1 times as long as wide, strongly depressed at the basal third and carinate along apical third; maximum width at humeral portion, weakly narrowed at basal third, slightly sinuate at middle, then strightly tapering to separately rounded elytral apex; basal transverse depression incomplete, deep near humeri, not reaching scutellum; apical third of elytral margins roughly serrate, epipleura rather wide, parallelsided, reaching elytral apex.

Ventral surface dull green, metasternum, coxae, ventral side of femora brighter; anterior prosternal margin straight; prosternal process with emargined lateral sides, widely enlarged distally; trochanteres unarmed; ventral surface distinctly sculptured on pro-, meso- and metasternum, less distinctly on abdomen; entire ventral surface sparsely covered by white pubescence.

Legs slender, protibiae slightly curved; mesotibiae straight, inner margin smooth, sinuate with apical obtuse spur; metatibiae flat, feebly curved outward, widened in distal half, narrowed before apex, with sharply serrate inner apical fourth; basal tarsomere of middle tarsi 1.5 as long as second one; basal tarsomere of hind tarsi twice as long as second; terminal tarsomeres of all tarsi very long, more than 1.5 times as long as penultimate tarsomeres; claws long and slender, slightly enlarged at base. Anal ventrite truncate with feebly emarginate apical margin, lateral margins deeply serrate; sculpture of anal ventrite semicircular ( Fig. 6).

Aedeagus ( Figs. 3, 4 ) very long, slender, 7.8 times as long as wide, slightly enlarged before midlength and at apex of parameres; parameres moderately pointed apically, with narrow preapical, lateral setigerous area; medial lobe tapering posteriad, apically somewhat obtuse and strongly bent upward; lateral margins of median lobe sharply serrate, serration becoming weaker posteriorly reaching gradually dorsal side of lobe, ending with several vertical teeth.

Sexual dimorphism. Female differs from male by more bronze coloration, stouter and usually larger body, rounded, slightly emarginate anal ventrite and unmodified tibiae.

Measurements. Length: 3.92–6.48 mm (holotype 5.50 mm); width: 1.44–2.40 mm (holotype 2.00 mm).

Variability. Like size, the coloration varies rather strongly: some paratypes are uniformly dull green without golden lustre, females are usually more bronze. Newly emerged specimens are usually completely or partly covered by white powder.

Biology. Specimens from the U.A.E. were reared from Nerium oleander L. ( Apocynaceae ) (Batelka leg.), while specimens from Oman were either collected on flowers of Nerium mascatense A. DC. (Gillett leg.) or reared from Nerium sp. and Moringa peregrina Forssk. (Moringaceae) (Gianasso leg.).

Etymology. Anthaxia (H.) pinda is named in honour of Mr. Hynek Pinda , a sponsor of several collecting trips to the U.A.E.

Differential diagnosis. Within a rather compact A. (H.) winkleri species-group, A. (H.) pinda is most similar to A. (H.) iranica ( Fig. 2 ) from southern Iran from which it differs by the characters given in the Table 1.

Figures

FIGURES 3, 4. A. (H.) pinda aedeagus, holotype. 3, dorsal view; 4, lateral view. 2.15 mm. FIGURE 5. A. (H.) iranica, aedeagus, (Iran, Ferdows-e Esfandaqeh), dorsal view, 2.30 mm.

FIGURE 2. A. (H.) iranica (Rikhter, 1949), male (Iran, Ferdows-e Esfandaqeh), 5.70 mm.