Lesbates milleri Nearns and Swift, 2011

Nearns, Eugenio H. & Swift, Ian P., 2011, New taxa and combinations in Onciderini Thomson, 1860 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae), Insecta Mundi 2011 (192), pp. 1-27 : 6

Lesbates milleri Nearns and Swift , sp. nov.

( Figures 2 a-c)

Description. Male. Length 17.0 mm (measured from vertex to elytral apices), width 7.0 mm (measured across humeri). Habitus as in Fig. 2a . General form elongate-ovate, robust, moderate-sized. Integument ferrugineous with off-white and light brown pubescence.

Head with frons elongate, about 3 times width of lower eye lobe ( Fig. 2c ). Eyes with lower lobes small, ovate-oblong; narrowest area connecting upper and lower eye lobes about 2-3 ommatidia wide. Genae elongate, about 1.5 times taller than lower eye lobes.

Antennae about twice as long as body; antennal tubercles prominent, narrowly separated, contiguous at base; tubercles armed at apex with short blunt tooth; scape robust, gradually clavate, about 2/3 as long as antennomere III, a little shorter than IV; basal 2/3 of scape transversely rugose; antennomere III slightly sinuate; antennomeres V-IX about equal in length; antennomere X slightly longer than IX, subequal to XI.

Pronotum distinctly conical, wider at base, transverse, about 1.5 times as wide as long, sides nearly straight, without lateral protuberances ( Fig. 2a ); disk tumid, with three moderately elevated tubercles, median tubercle small, oval, lateral tubercles larger, traversed by a shallow, oblique, linear impression; entire disk coarsely, moderately punctate.

Scutellum transverse, sides straight, oblique, apex feebly emarginate.

Elytra about 1.6 times as long as width at humeri ( Fig. 2a ), about 3.5 times as long as pronotal length, about 1.4 times broader basally than pronotum at widest (at base); sides nearly straight, slightly sinuous, attenuate to apices, elytral apices individually rounded; base of each elytron with an elongate, moderately distinct gibbosity; basal 1/3 of elytra with moderate punctation, surface coarsely granulatepunctate; humeri prominent, without distinct crest, anterior margin arcuate, oblique, angle with large tubercle which is obliquely truncate at apex.

Venter with procoxae large, globose, anteriorly with a robust, short uncus; narrowest area of prosternal process between procoxae about 1/5 as wide as procoxal cavity; apex of prosternal process subtriangular. Mesosternal process about as wide as mesocoxal cavity; deeply emarginate. Fifth sternite about 1.5 times as long as IV, apex feebly emarginate.

Legs moderate in length; profemora robust, transversely rugose basally; meso- and metafemora clavate apically; tibiae expanded apically; metafemora about 1/3 as long as elytra.

Female. Unknown.

Type Material. Holotype, male ( Fig. 2 a-c), “Venez.a [sic], 26167, Fry Coll. 1905.100” ( BMNH).

Etymology. This species is named for Kelly B. Miller, for his friendship and camaraderie in the field, and for his many contributions to the study of Coleoptera . The epithet is a noun in the genitive case.

Diagnosis and Remarks. This species is distinguished from its congeners by the combination of the following characters: humeri without distinct crest; sternites I-IV not glabrous at center; and relatively drab coloration. Lesbates milleri is most similar to L. carissima ( Fig. 2d ) but can be distinguished by the moderate punctation at basal1/3 of elytra (dense in L. carissima ); basal 1/3 of elytra with surface coarsely punctate (granulate-punctate in L. carissima ); and the pubescence of sternites I-IV at center (glabrous at center in L. carissima ).This species is described from a single male specimen and female specimens are unknown. Nothing is known about the habitat and behavior of this species. The geographic range of this genus (previously known only from Brazil) is extended to Venezuela.

Figures

Figure 2. Two species of Lesbates. a) Lesbates milleri, sp. nov., holotype male, dorsal habitus. b) Lesbates milleri, sp. nov., holotype male, lateral habitus. c) Lesbates milleri, sp. nov., holotype male, close-up of head. d) Lesbates carissima Dillon and Dillon, 1945, close-up of pronotum and elytral humeri.