Novantinoe falsa Heffern, Botero and Santos-Silva, 2023

Heffern, Daniel, Botero, Juan Pablo & Santos-Silva, Antonio, 2023, New species and taxonomical and geographical notes on Cerambycidae and Disteniidae (Coleoptera: Chrysomeloidea), Insecta Mundi 2023 (966), pp. 1-17 : 14-16

Novantinoe falsa Heffern, Botero and Santos-Silva , new species

( Fig. 34–38 )

Description. Holotype female. Head capsule mostly dark brown; antennal tubercles and area between them, and posterior area of gulamentum reddish brown. Anteclypeus and labrum yellowish-brown. Ventral mouthparts reddish brown. Antennae reddish brown. Pronotum dark brown, with some areas more dark reddish brown; sides of prothorax dark brown, except reddish-brown area close to anterior margin; prosternum dark brown on posterior half, reddish brown on anterior half; prosternal process dark brown, except reddish-brown apex. Ventral surface of mesothorax dark brown, except mesoventral process mostly dark reddish brown. Metanespisternum dark brown; metaventrite dark reddish brown (darker, depending on light intensity), except dark brown narrow area close to metanepisternum. Elytra brownish, except dark brown punctures. Femora reddish brown, except basal area more yellowish-brown. Tibiae and tarsi mostly yellowish-brown. Ventrites mostly dark reddish brown, with yellowish-brown and dark brown irregular areas interspersed.

Head. Frons sparsely, finely punctate centrally, punctures denser laterally; with yellowish pubescence not obscuring integument, absent centrally. Area between antennal tubercles almost smooth and glabrous; remaining surface of vertex abundantly, finely punctate, except smooth central area located from middle level of upper eye lobes and prothorax, and smooth area close to inner margin of eyes; with abundant pale-yellow, pubescence partially obscuring integument on some areas, except glabrous smooth areas, and a few long, erect pale-yellow setae interspersed. Antennal tubercles sparsely, finely punctate, except smooth apex; with pale-yellow pubescence not obscuring integument, except glabrous apex. Area behind upper eye lobes abundantly, finely punctate, punctures slightly coarser than on vertex; with abundant pale-yellow pubescence and a few long, erect setae of same color interspersed close to eye, glabrous toward prothorax. Area behind lower eye lobes tumid, somewhat transversely rugose close to eye, finely, somewhat abundantly punctate close to prothorax, punctures gradually finer and sparser toward ventral surface; with abundant pale-yellow pubescence close to eye, not obscuring integument, glabrous on remaining surface. Genae finely punctate, somewhat rugose on some areas, except smooth apex; with abundant pale-yellow pubescence not obscuring integument, except glabrous smooth apex. Gulamentum smooth, glabrous on posterior half; anterior half strongly, transversely concave close to intermaxillary process, sparsely, minutely punctate, with a few short, decumbent pale-yellow setae on wide center of area after concavity, transversely rugose-punctate, with moderately abundant pale-yellow setae on sides of this area, sparsely, minutely punctate, with somewhat abundant, decumbent pale-yellow setae and a few long, erect setae of same color interspersed on intermaxillary process and concavity. Wide central area of postclypeus abundantly, finely punctate, with abundant, bristly yellow setae partially obscuring integument. Sides of postclypeus smooth, glabrous. Anteclypeus abundantly, finely punctate close to postclypeus, smooth close to labrum; with abundant, short, decumbent yellow setae not obscuring integument, and long setae of same color directed forward interspersed close to postclypeus, glabrous close to labrum. Labrum abundantly, finely punctate close to anteclypeus, punctures sparser toward anterior margin; with somewhat abundant, short, decumbent yellowish-brown setae not obscuring integument, and long, erect setae of same color interspersed, erect setae absent close to anteclypeus; anterior margin with short fringe of yellowish-brown setae laterally, and golden fringe centrally. Maxillary palpomere IV gradually widened toward obliquely truncate apex; labial palpomere III distinctly widened from basal third, then subparallel-sided toward rounded apex. Distance between upper eye lobes 0.35 times distance between outer margins of eyes; in ventral view, distance between lower eye lobes 0.73 times distance between outer margins of eyes. Antennae 1.9 times elytral length, reaching elytral apex slightly after middle of antennomere VIII. Scape abundantly, finely punctate; with abundant, decumbent pale-yellow setae not obscuring integument, and a few long, erect setae of same color interspersed. Pedicel abundantly, finely punctate on anterior third, punctures sparser on posterior 2/3; glabrous on anterior third, with somewhat abundant, both short and long pale-yellow setae on posterior third. Antennomeres III–XI with abundant, short, decumbent pale-yellow setae not obscuring integument dorsally and laterally, setae gradually denser toward XI; ventral surface with very long yellowish-brown setae; apex of antennomeres III–VIII with long pale-yellow setae. Antennal formula based on length of antennomere III: scape = 0.86; pedicel = 0.09; IV = 0.98; V = 0.93; VI = 0.86; VII = 0.80; VIII = 0.75; IX = 0.71; X = 0.68; XI = 0.62.

Thorax. Prothorax, including lateral tubercles, wider than long; lateral tubercles large, conical, located medially, with blunt apex; anterior constriction well-marked. Pronotum with five tubercles, one more elevated, on each side of anterior half, one less elevated and located more internally than anterior ones, on each side of posterior half, another longitudinal, subelliptical, slightly elevated, located centrally between lateral tubercles; somewhat abundantly, finely, shallowly punctate, punctures absent on posterolateral and central tubercles and denser laterally; with abundant pale-yellow pubescence partially obscuring integument, except glabrous tubercles and narrow, longitudinal center of anterior third and center of posterior fifth. Sides of prothorax almost smooth on wide central area, sparsely, finely punctate close to posterior margin, slightly striate close to anterior margin, this last area gradually widened toward prosternum; with abundant pale-yellow pubescence partially obscuring integument on wide central area, sparser close to anterior and posterior margins. Prosternum sparsely, minutely punctate, punctures almost absent on some areas, transversely striate about middle; with abundant yellowish-white pubescence laterally and close to procoxal cavities, pubescence slightly sparser laterally toward anterior margin, with sparse, bristly golden pubescence and a few long, erect setae of same color on center of anterior half, glabrous on remaining surface. Prosternal process with abundant yellowish-white pubescence not obscuring integument, except glabrous apex; narrowest area 0.26 times procoxal width. Ventral surface of meso- and metathorax with abundant yellowish pubescence, pubescence distinctly denser laterally, slightly sparser on center of mesoventrite and on mesoventral process, almost absent on most of central area of metaventrite. Scutellum with abundant yellowish-white pubescence partially obscuring integument, pubescence yellower on margins. Elytra. With six rows of coarse punctures, punctures close to epipleural margin finer, rows not reaching posterior third, the outermost is longest; with abundant yellowish pubescence not obscuring integument; apex strongly narrowed toward sutural angle. Legs. Femora with abundant yellowish-white pubescence not obscuring integument, except glabrous anterior 2/3 of inner surface. Tibiae with yellowish-white pubescence not obscuring integument, except dense, bristly yellowish-brown pubescence on ventral surface of protibiae, pubescence denser toward apex, yellowish-brown, bristly pubescence on dorsal and ventral surface of mesotibiae, and yellowish-brown, bristly pubescence on ventral surface of posterior half of metatibiae, pubescence denser toward apex. Metatarsomere I as long as II–III together.

Abdomen. Ventrites with dense yellowish-white pubescence, partially obscuring integument laterally, slightly sparser centrally, except glabrous base and apex of ventrites 1–4. Apex of ventrite 5 subrounded.

Dimensions (mm). Total length, 22.5; prothoracic length, 3.0; anterior prothoracic width, 2.9; posterior prothoracic width, 3.0; maximum prothoracic width, 4.1; humeral width, 4.7; elytral length, 15.0.

Type material. Holotype male from MEXICO, VERACRUZ: 2 km SW Calcahualco , 19°07′00″N 97°04′ 46″W, 4.VI.2016, Cunningham and Nogueira leg. ( CNIN).

Etymology. Latin, “falsus” (false); allusive to the general appearance as in the species of the genus Elytrimitatrix .

Remarks. Novantinoe falsa is similar to N. noguerai Santos-Silva and Le Tirant, 2016 (see photographs on Bezark 2022a), but differs as follows: anterolateral tubercles of the pronotum more elevated and slightly inclined toward outside; elytral punctures finer; elytral apex not spiniform; and profemora without spiniform projections ventrally. In N. noguerai , anterolateral tubercles of the pronotum less elevated and not inclined toward outside, the elytral punctures are coarser (about twice diameter of punctures in N. falsa ), elytral apex spiniform, and profemora with spiniform projections ventrally. It differs from N. fabiolae Botero, Heffern and Santos-Silva, 2018 (see photographs on Bezark 2022a), especially by the wider prosternal process ( Fig. 38 ), with its narrowest area about as wide as the diameter of antennomere III (narrowest area distinctly narrower ( Fig. 39 ) than the diameter of antennomere III in N. fabiolae ), pronotum slightly contrasting in color with elytra (strongly contrasting in N. fabiolae ), elytra without dark longitudinal band along suture (present in N. fabiolae ), and scutellum about as long as wide (longer than wide in N. fabiolae ). It is also similar to N. hefferni Santos-Silva and Hovore, 2007 (see photographs on Bezark 2022a), but differs by the wider prosternal process (similar to N. fabiolae in N. hefferni ), pronotum slightly contrasting in color with elytra (strongly contrasting in N. hefferni ), and elytra without dark sutural band (present in N. hefferni ). The new species differs from N. rufa (Villiers, 1959) (see photograph on Bezark 2022a), by the scape shorter and wider, maximum diameter about 2.5 times diameter of antennomere III (scape slender and longer, maximum diameter shorter than twice diameter of antennomere III in N. rufa ), and by the elytra not spiniform at outer angle (spiniform in N. rufa ).

Figures

Figures 34–39. Novantinoe spp. 34–38) Novantinoe falsa, holotype female:34) Doral habitus; 35) Ventral habitus; 36) Lateral habitus; 37) Head, frontal view; 38) Prosternal and mesoventral processes. 39) Novantinoe fabiolae Botero, Heffern and Santos-Silva, 2018, holotype female, prosternal and mesoventral processes.