Pedostrangalia (s. str.) rovnensis, Vitali, 2023

Vitali, Francesco, 2023, New and little-known Lepturinae from succinite (Coleoptera Cerambycidae), Baltic Journal of Coleopterology 23 (2), pp. 189-203 : 189-203

Pedostrangalia (s. str.) rovnensis n. sp.

( Figs 7-12 )

Holotype. Male, Rovno amber, ex coll. J. Damzen JDC-10269 R, author’s coll. FS86BS54 ( Figs 7-9 ).

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197 32x28x 10 mm. The specimen, which lays folded on itself with an open elytron, is perfectly preserved but mostly covered with milky turbidity, except for the right eye, the first four articles of the right antenna and some parts of the legs. The extended ovipositor implies that it is female.

The amber piece also contains a minute unidentified beetle, 1.2 mm long

The beetle is preserved inside a subtriangular piece of amber measuring about 48x28x 12 mm. It is perfectly preserved, but the head and the right ventral side is covered with milky turbidity. The narrowly conical pygidium implies that this specimen is a male.

The amber piece contains numerous wood debris but seemingly, not further zoological inclusions.

Paratype. Female, Rovno amber, ex coll. J. Damzen JDC-11826 R, author’s coll. FS93BS61 ( Figs 10-11 ) .

The beetle is preserved inside a subtriangular piece of amber measuring about

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Differential diagnosis

Both fossils have been identified as members of the genus Pedostrangalia (s. str.) for the following combination of characters: prosternum convex, not forming an angle with the intercoxal process ( Lepturini ); cheeks developed: head with distinct angulated temples; pronotum without apical collar and with acute basal angles; elytra not shortened, posteriorly convergent and not rounded at apex; antennae long and not strongly dentate.

As for the previous species, the peculiar character of the furrowed tarsi in not visible. In absence of this character, the species might be attributed to the Nearctic genus Pygoleptura Linsley & Chemsak, 1976 , but male antennae are not dentate and female antennae are not short as in this genus. Oth- er genera show either strongly reduced temples or a pronotal collar.

Pedostrangalia rovnensis n. sp. is characterised by elytral apex obliquely truncate, without marginal spine, and pronotum very slightly elongated, strongly sinuous at sides and without lateral angles.

These characters are sufficient to separate it from the fossil P. pristina and P. ostensackeni n. sp., since both show spined elytral apex. Moreover, the pronotum is trapezoidal ( P. pristina ) or laterally winkled ( P. ostensackeni ). The coloration of P. rovnensis sp. n. is entirely black (like P. ostensackeni ), but body and limbs are robust (like P. pristina ).

With respect to the congeners of the Recent, P. rovnensis sp. n. should have looked somehow similar to the Anatolian P. verticenigra (Pic, 1892) and the Balkan P. verticalis (German, 1822) but with much longer temples. Both species belong in fact to the subgenus Neosphenalia Löbl, 2010 . Elytral apex and pronotal shape remind as well of the European P. revestita , especially the melanistic form fulvilabris Mulsant, but elytra are not carinate and the pronotum is without lateral angles as in this species and other ones of this genus. Possibly, P. rovnensis sp. n. shows more affinity with the Chinese P. signifera Holzschuh, 1999 , but the pronotum is not so enlarged at base as in this species and the coloration is completely different.

Description

Male: body length 8.3 mm. Female: Body length ~ 10 mm (difficult guessable due to the position). General habitus small, elongated, drop-shaped; body black.

Head relatively short; cheeks developed; clypeus and forehead transverse; antennal tubercles widely separated, fairly elevated; eyes far from the base of the mandibles, finely faceted; however, their shape not guessable; temples relatively long, a bit shorter than cheeks, parallel-sided, abruptly converging backward; neck almost long. Palps not observable. Antennae 11- segmented, inserted between the eyes, hardly reaching the elytral apex, finely pubescent, extremely finely and densely punctured; scape sub-linear; pedicle as long as broad or hardly elongate, less than one-fourth as long as scape; antennomere III slightly longer than scape; antennomere IV slightly shorter than scape; antennomere V the longest, nearly one-third longer than scape; antennomeres VI and VII sub-equal; following antennomeres decreasing in length, except for the last, about as long as III; proportions according to the formula: 4.2: 1.0: 4.5: 4.0: 5.4: 4.8: 4.8: 4.2: 3.9: 3.5: 4.5.

Prothorax slightly elongate, bell-shaped, regularly enlarged posteriorly, hind angles short and acute, shortly embracing the elytral base; apex straight, finely grooved; sides without winkles; base posteriorly lobed in the middle, finely grooved; disc convex above, without longitudinal furrow, entirely covered with an extremely fine dense puncturing and a fine short recumbent pubescence. Scutellum small, forming an equilateral triangle.

Elytra relatively short, 2.15 times as long as wide at the shoulders, slightly more than 3 times as long as pronotum, flat above, nearly parallel-sided, feebly tapered posteriorly; apex almost transversely truncate, without marginal spine; surface covered with a coarsely fine puncturing and a fine short recumbent pubescence.

Ventral side convex; prosternum regularly convex in lateral view; other characters not guessable.

Legs relatively robust; femora slightly club-shaped; tibiae linear, rectilinearly truncated at the apex, finely punctured and densely pubescent; apex of metatibiae with two subequal spines, 0.4 as long as metatarsomere I. Metatarsi long, a bit shorter than metatibiae; metatasomere I as long as the following articles together; metatarsomere II nearly one-half as long as I; metatarsomere III one-third shorter than II; onychium as long as III (proportions according to the formula: 7: 3: 2.5:?: 2.5).

Etymology

The specific epithet refers to the origin of this amber: Rovno ( Ukraine).

Figures

Fig. 7.Pedostrangalia rovnensisn. sp., male, Holotype, dorsal view.

Fig. 8.Pedostrangalia rovnensisn. sp., male, Holotype, lateral view.

Fig. 9. Pedostrangalia rovnensisn. sp., male, Holotype, ventral view.

Fig. 10.Pedostrangalia rovnensisn. sp., female, Paratype, anterior view.

Fig. 11.Pedostrangalia rovnensisn. sp., female, Paratype, posterior view.

Fig. 12.Pedostrangalia rovnensisn. sp. reconstruction.