Laximicracis Jordal, 2021

Jordal, Bjarte, 2021, Laximicracis-a new genus of Afrotropical Micracidini beetles (Coleoptera Scolytinae), Zootaxa 4966 (1), pp. 91-96 : 92

Laximicracis Jordal , gen. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:BB172A49-19B0-4B6D-B408-B2669A04EFE2

( Figs 1–12 )

Type species: Laximicracis latipes Jordal , sp. nov.

Diagnosis. Antennal scapus straight, longer than funiculus, slightly dilated but never strongly inflated, females with a fine tuft of scant long setae on its dorsal side; funiculus 5-segmented; club much longer than broad, finely pubescent, sutures obscure. Elytra with scale-like setae, in single or intermixed rows. Protibiae broad, with four or five denticles in a straight oblique or transverse row on apical margin. Metatibiae with 3–4 apical denticles, curved anteriorly particularly at the apicolateral margin. Tibiae and femurs with long, coarse, spatulate setae. Ventral setae mainly unifid, occasionally with a few additional short bifid setae on upper part of ventrite 1. Proventriculus with crop spines small and distributed, apical teeth enforced, serrated. Male genitalia with a long straight flagellum, apophyses much longer than penis; tegmen not present; spiculum gastrale half the length of aedeagus.

Etymology. Composed by the stem from the Latin adjective Laxus , meaning wide, the connecting vowel -i and the genus name Micracis , referring to the broadly rounded pronotum of this genus. Gender is feminine as outlined by Alonso Zarazaga and Lyal (2009) for the genus Micracis .

Remarks. In the recent revision of Afrotropical Micracidini, it became apparent that two species of Afromicracis were not typical for that genus, but types were rather poorly preserved. New material of Afromicracis dubia and a new species described below provided sufficient quality of specimens to safely erect a new genus for three species.

Laximicracis bears some resemblance to Neotropical Micracis LeConte, 1868 and Afrotropical Phloeocurus Wood, 1984 , but is clearly distinguished from both by the elongated and nearly sutureless antennal club, 5-segmented antennal funicle, narrowly elongated female scapus, by the anteriorly curved denticles on the meso- and metatibiae, and by the more gently rounded profile of the pronotum. A superficial resemblance between Afro- and Neotropical taxa is sometimes striking, including several micracidine genera ( Jordal & Kaidel 2017), but also seen in genera like Phrixosoma Blandford, 1897 (Jordal 2012) and Microborus Blandford, 1897 (Jordal 2017) . However, molecular data clearly refute hypotheses on close trans-Atlantic relationships and document very ancient splits dating back to late Cretaceous or early Paleo- to Oligocene times ( Jordal & Cognato 2012; Pistone et al. 2018).

Figures

FIGURES 1–3. Legs, male genitalia and proventriculus of Laximicracis latipes.

FIGURES 4–12. Dorsal, lateral and front view of Laximicracis latipes (4, 7, 10), Laximicracis dubia (5, 8, 11) and Laximicracis convexa (6, 9, 12) holotypes.