Aneflus (Aneflus) monzoni, Heffern & Santos-Silva, 2023

Heffern, Daniel & Santos-Silva, Antonio, 2023, Descriptions of two new species of American Cerambycidae, and redescription of Leptostylus subfurcatus (Cerambycidae, Coleoptera), Zootaxa 5343 (4), pp. 338-352 : 339-341

Aneflus (Aneflus) monzoni sp. nov.

( Figs 1–8 )

Description. Holotype male. Integument mostly brown, darker on ventral surface; apex of antennal tubercles, apex of genae, anterior and posterior margins of prothorax, elytral suture, margins of ventral surface of meso- and metathorax, base of tibiae, and anterior margin of abdominal ventrite 1 blackish. Yellowish pubescence whiter depending on light intensity.

Head. Frons with deep fovea on each side; frontal plate obliquely sulcate on each side, coarsely, sparsely punctate; lateral area between antennal tubercles and clypeus densely, coarsely punctate; frontal plate with sparse yellowish pubescence; lateral area with abundant yellowish pubescence not obscuring integument. Area between antennal tubercles, abundantly, coarsely, confluently punctate close to frons, punctures sparser and distinctly finer toward upper eye lobes; with abundant yellowish pubescence not obscuring integument; with a few long, erect yellowish-brown setae laterally. Remaining surface of vertex sparsely, finely punctate, punctures shallower and sparser centrally toward prothorax; with abundant yellowish pubescence not obscuring integument, pubescence sparser centrally close to prothorax; with a few long, erect yellowish setae laterally. Area behind upper eye lobes sulcate and glabrous close to eyes; remaining surface abundantly, coarsely, shallowly, partially confluently punctate; with sparse yellowish pubescence, and a few long, erect setae of same color interspersed close to vertex. Area behind lower eye lobes smooth, glabrous on wide area close to eye, sparsely, very coarsely punctate, glabrous close to prothorax. Antennal tubercles abundantly, coarsely rugose-punctate frontally, punctures finer and slightly sparser toward posterior region, except smooth apex; with abundant yellowish pubescence not obscuring integument, except glabrous apex. Genae moderately sparsely, finely punctate, except smooth apex; apex acute, projected forward; with sparse yellowish pubescence, pubescence slightly more abundant close to eye, except glabrous smooth apex. Wide central area of postclypeus abundantly, coarsely punctate, with one deeper puncture on each side; with sparse yellowish pubescence; with one long, erect yellowish-brown seta inside each deep lateral puncture. Labrum densely, finely punctate on posterior 2/3, smooth on anterior third; with moderately sparse yellowish pubescence on posterior third; with long, erect, thick yellowish-brown setae laterally; glabrous on anterior third, except anterior margin with fringe of yellowish-brown setae. Gulamentum smooth, glabrous on posterior half; anterior half, transversely striate-punctate, with abundant yellowish pubescence not obscuring integument, pubescence denser anteriorly, and long, erect yellowish-brown setae interspersed. Maxillary palpomere IV and labial palpomere III securiform. Distance between upper eye lobes 0.40 times distance between outer margins of eyes; in frontal view, distance between lower eye lobes 0.56 times distance between outer margins of eyes.Antennae 1.3 times elytral length, reaching elytral apex at apex of antennomere XI. Scape abundantly, coarsely punctate, except smooth apex, smooth area wider dorsally; with abundant yellowish pubescence not obscuring integument, except glabrous smooth apex; ventral surface with long, erect yellowish-brown setae interspersed. Pedicel abundantly, coarsely punctate except smooth apex; with sparse yellowish pubescence except glabrous smooth apex; with long, erect yellowish-brown setae interspersed on punctate area. Antennomeres III–XI densely, finely punctate, punctures becoming microscopic toward XI from V, except smooth apex of III–VII; III–VIII longitudinally carinate dorsally close to inner surface; inner apex of III with spine about as long as half-length of antennomere III; inner apex of IV with spine about as long as 1/3 antennomere length; inner apex of V with spine about as long as 1/7 antennomere length; inner apex of VI–VII with spicule. Antennal formula (ratio) based on length of antennomere III (not considering length of spine): scape = 1.04; pedicel = 0.20; IV = 0.83; V = 1.00; VI = 1.08; VII = 1.12; VIII = 1.12; IX = 1.12; X = 1.04; XI = 1.25.

Thorax. Prothorax longer than wide; anterior and posterior constrictions marked; sides slightly divergent from anterior constriction to after middle, gradually convergent toward posterior constriction, then subparallelsided toward posterolateral angles. Pronotum abundantly, coarsely punctate, except smooth longitudinal central area, and subsmooth area close to anterior and posterior margins; with abundant yellowish pubescence not obscuring integument, except dense yellowish-white pubescence posterolaterally; with long, erect yellowish setae interspersed. Sides of prothorax abundantly rugose-punctate, except transversely striate area close to anterior and posterior margins; with sparse yellowish pubescence with long, erect yellowish setae interspersed, except area close to anterior and posterior margins almost glabrous. Prosternum coarsely rugose-punctate on posterior half, finely striate-punctate on anterior quarter, and transversely, shallowly striate on remaining surface; posterior half with sparse yellowish-white pubescence, slightly denser close to procoxal cavities; area close to anterior margin glabrous; area close to posterior half with a few yellowish-white setae; area close to anterior glabrous area with abundant yellowish-white pubescence not obscuring integument, and long, erect setae of same color interspersed. Prosternal process with abundant yellowish-white pubescence not obscuring integument on basal 2/3, almost glabrous on apical third; narrowest area 0.32 times procoxal width. Mesoventrite with abundant yellowish-white pubescence not obscuring integument on wide central area, pubescence denser laterally. Mesanepisterna and mesepimera with dense yellowish-white pubescence. Mesoventral process gradually narrowed toward middle, then widened and projected under mesocoxae; apex strongly notched centrally; with abundant yellowish-white pubescence not obscuring integument and moderately long, erect setae of same color interspersed; narrowest area 0.46 times mesocoxal width. Apical half of metanepisterna covered by elytra. Metaventrite abundantly, coarsely punctate on wide central area, except smooth area close to metathoracic discrimen and central area on each side close to metacoxae; with dense yellowish-white pubescence laterally partially obscuring integument; wide central area with erect, both short and long yellowish-white setae, except glabrous smooth areas. Scutellum subquadrate; with dense yellowish pubescence. Elytra. Abundantly, coarsely punctate on anterior half, punctures gradually finer and sparser on posterior half; sides slightly convergent on anterior half, distinctly convergent on posterior half; apex distinctly obliquely notched, with outer angle as long subtriangular projection, with truncate apex, and sutural angle as moderately short subtriangular projection; with moderately sparse, short, decumbent yellowish setae, more abundant on posterior half, and long, erect setae of same color interspersed. Legs. Femora densely, coarsely, confluently punctate, except smooth apex, inner basal third of pro- and mesofemora, and inner basal 3/4 of metafemora; punctate area with sparse, bristly yellowish pubescence and long, erect setae of same color interspersed, erect setae longer and more abundant ventrally on meso- and metafemora. Protibiae with sparse yellowish-white pubescence dorsally and laterally on basal 2/3, sparse, bristly yellowish-brown pubescence dorsally and laterally on apical third, and dense, bristly yellowish-brown setae ventrally. Meso- and metatibiae with sparse, short yellowish-white setae dorsally and laterally, setae yellower on apical quarter, moderately abundant, long, erect pale-yellow setae throughout, and dense, bristly yellowish-brown pubescence ventrally on apical fifth. Dorsal surface of tarsi with sparse, both short and decumbent and long and erect pale-yellow setae. Metatarsomere I shorter than II–III together.

Abdomen. Ventrites sparsely, finely punctate, punctures slightly denser on ventrite 5, except smooth apex of 1–4; with abundant yellowish-white pubescence not obscuring integument laterally, sparse yellowish-white pubescence centrally, except glabrous apex of ventrites 1–4, and long, erect setae of same color interspersed; apex of ventrite 5 truncate.

Dimensions in mm. Total length, 24.30; prothoracic length, 4.35; anterior prothoracic width, 3.05; posterior prothoracic width, 3.35; maximum prothoracic width, 3.65; humeral width, 4.50; elytral length, 16.35.

Type material. Holotype male from GUATEMALA, Zacapa: Camino a San Lorenzo , 450 m, thorn scrub forest, VI.2000, J. Monzón leg. ( TAMU).

Etymology. The new species is dedicated to José Monzón Sierra of Guatemala City, collector of the holotype.

Remarks. The inclusion of the new species in Aneflus or Aneflomorpha Casey, 1912 is problematic. According to Lingafelter (2022): “ Aneflus have an elongate morphology similar to Aneflomorpha , but the ratio of elytra length to width is lower, with most species having both elytra less than 3.3 times as long as wide ... Nearly all specimens of Aneflus have strongly bispinose elytral apices, while in Aneflomorpha , the apicolateral spine is usually reduced, dentiform, or absent, however, exceptions are found such as in A. aculeata .” Therefore, based on the size of the holotype and elytral apex distinctly bispinose, we prefer to include it in Aneflus .

Aneflus (Aneflus) monzoni sp. nov. is similar to Psyrassa puncticollis ( Chemsak & Linsley, 1963) . Psyrassa puncticollis was originally described in Pseudaneflus Chemsak & Linsley, 1963 ; Martins (1967) synonymized Pseudaneflus with Megapsyrassa Linsley, 1961 . Recently, García& Santos-Silva (2022) synonymized Megapsyrassa with Psyrassa because the type species of the former, Nephalius xestioides Bates, 1872 , has no morphological features allowing it to be excluded from the latter. However, the other species formerly in Megapsyrassa were transferred to Psyrassa but are awaiting further study to determine their correct allocation, which is the case of Psyrassa puncticollis which, apparently, belongs in Aneflus . Aneflus (Aneflus) monzoni sp. nov. differs from Psyrassa puncticollis as follows: scutellum subquadrate, apex truncate (subtriangular in P. puncticollis ); elytra with moderately abundant long erect setae ( Fig. 3 ) (according to Chemsak & Linsley (1963), “erect hairs short, sparse”); apical third of the elytra ( Fig. 5 ) narrower (proportionally wider in P. puncticollis – see photograph in the original description); elytral apex ( Fig. 5 ) distinctly obliquely truncate, with outer projection distinctly longer than sutural projection, and both not spiniform (almost truncate, with outer and sutural spines with similar length and acute in P. puncticollis ); apex of abdominal ventrite 5 ( Fig. 2 ) not emarginate (according to Chemsak & Linsley (1963), “emarginate” in P. puncticollis ). Apparently, Megapsyrassa puncticollis (= P. puncticollis ) sensu Giesbert (1993) corresponds to Aneflus (Aneflus) monzoni sp. nov. That is because the specimen illustrated on Bezark (2023a) as P. puncticollis , which belonged to the Giesbert private collection (now deposited at FSCA), has the pronotum and elytra agreeing better with those of the new species than those of true P. puncticollis .

Figures

FIGURES 1–8. Aneflus (Aneflus) monzoni sp. nov., holotype male: 1) Dorsal habitus; 2) Ventral habitus; 3) Lateral habitus; 4) Head, frontal view; 5) Elytral apex; 6) Scape, pedicel, and antennomeres III–IV; 7) Antennomere V; 8) Antennomeres VI–VII.