Visayasella superba, Ohmomo, Sadahiro, 2011

Ohmomo, Sadahiro, 2011, One new genus and six new species of Coraebini Bedel, 1921 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) from the Philippines, Zootaxa 3058, pp. 22-34 : 32

Visayasella superba , sp. nov.

(Figs. 11, 12)

Description of female holotype. Body subcylindrical, flattened dorsoventrally; length 15.2 mm; width 5.5 mm, widest opposite basal abdominal pleurites visible beyond elytra just posterior to midpoint; integument with simple punctures, slight transverse rugae dorsally, finely imbricate ventrally especially laterally; dorsal surface glabrous, ventral surface with sparse vestiture of very short adpressed setae, one from each small imbrication; general body color bright iridescent green with golden reflections; elytra (see Fig. 11) with two large multicolored cross-sutural fasciae, both with very narrow golden perimeter, before orange, then red, then purple to deep violet disc of each fascia; epipleuron reflecting blue. Head: frons between eyes projecting beyond outline of eye margin, feebly sulcate longitudinally; inner margins of eyes diverging dorsally; supra-ocular grooves extending from before dorsal crest around inner margin and back up to opposite with ventral 1/3 of outer margin; antennal cavities moderatesized, separated by distance slightly less than width of cavity; supra-antennal groove entire, angulate medially; frontoclypeus narrowed between antennal cavities before diverging to arcuately emarginate distal margin; gena depressed for basal antennomeres in repose, genal tooth feeble, elongate; antennae with antennomere 1 robust, slightly bent, wider than 2, 2 longer than wide, 3 and 4 subequal, each shorter than 2, 5–10 triangularly serrate, each successive antennomere with width to length ratio increasing, 11 oblong, slightly arcuate. Pronotum: 1.58 times wider than longer, maximum width in middle third; anterior margin strongly arcuate; posterior margin biarcuate; lateral margin with lateroposterior angles rectangular, then widening to before midpoint, subparallel before narrowing slightly and lateroanterior angles subacute; disc entire, strongly latitudinally convex in anterior half, flattened in posterior half. Scutellum: triangular, anterior margin convex, lateral margins feebly arcuately concave. Elytra: noticeably wider at humeri than widest part of pronotum; lateral margins subparallel in anterior third, then widening to widest point near posterior 2/5 before narrowing to separately rounded serrulate margins; epipleuron relatively short, stout, not extending beyond point opposite mesepimeron; lateral aspect of proximal abdominal pleurites visible beyond lateral margin, although not visible in Fig. 11; pygidium not visible beyond elytral apex. Prosternum: anterior margin of prosternum with wide bilobed median projection; prosternum with disc laterally convex, process quite broad, sides subparallel before narrowing to broadly attenuate apex from opposite procoxae. Abdominal ventrites: 1 longest, each successively shorter than preceding, except 5 longer than 4, sutures feebly arcuately transverse; ventrite 5 broad, evenly transverse distally. Legs: with femora fusiform; pro-, mesofemora strongly arcuate; metafemora nearly straight, with dense setal comb on external face extending along nearly all of distal 2/3 except just before distal apex; tarsi with tarsomeres 1–4 each with ventral pulvillus, claws appendiculate. Ovipositor: not dissected.

Variation. The single female paratype differs from the holotype: length 16.2 mm, width 6.0 mm; the more posterior elytral colored fascia has both the anteior and posterior margins nearly evenly transverse as opposed to those margins being rounded in the holotype (Fig. 11) and the elytra are blue-green to blue apically. The ovipositor of the paratype is short with dense ventral setal brushes.

Specimens examined. Holotype, Ψ (CSCA): PHILIPPINES, Leyte Is(land), Mt. Balocaue (Balocawe), vi.2009, local collector; 1 Ψ paratype (COTJ): June–Aug. 2006, Mt. Balcaue, Leyte, Philippines, D. Mohagan leg.

Etymology. The superb coloration of the type species is the basis for the specific ephithet.

Remarks. The two species of Visayasella will be contrasted under the second species’ description below.